The Ripple Effect of Leadership

Leaders, by definition, are people that others follow. Leaders are our point of reference, the people we look to for a sense of where we are in our world. Leaders are people to whom we look for direction. They define our current reality and create the vision for where we’re going.

Leadership is energy and emotion – leaders give it and they generate it in others. Leaders send signals, create waves, set a tone. They may tear us down or lift us up, make us less than we were or the best we can be. Leaders may move us through fear or hope, anger or inspiration, but the point is they move us.

Leaders have an outsized impact on the people around them. Their words and actions have a ripple effect far beyond their immediate audience. From our leaders we understand what is expected and acceptable and what is not, what leads to success and reward and what leads to disapproval and punishment. We read signals and messages in leaders’ words and actions and respond accordingly. People often emulate leaders because they have influence and power, which magnifies the leader’s influence and power. And because people follow leaders, they move whole groups, teams, organizations, communities, and countries.

We can blindly follow a leader or set our own path. We can wait for a leader to emerge or step forward and be a leader ourselves. We can lead unconsciously or with intent. But leaders and followers take note: you are establishing a reality and a direction that has far reaching consequences.

So who do you lead? And, who do you follow?

“And”

“I must hold in balance the sense of futility of effort and the sense of the necessity to struggle; the conviction of the inevitability of failure and still the determination to “succeed” — and, more than these, the contradiction between the dead hand of the past and the high intentions of the future.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald in “The Crack Up”, Esquire Magazine (February 1936)

“And” may be one of the most powerful words in the English language. It gives us delicious combinations like chocolate and peanut butter, inspiring challenges like patting your head and rubbing your tummy, beautiful harmony like sopranos and altos, and helps us weigh our options like pros and cons.

“And” allows us to acknowlege two or more realities at the same time. It allows us to build on an idea without tearing it down. It allows us to learn from a wide range of diverse views and thus broaden and deepen our understanding.

Yet I too often find myself in a binary “either or” world. The answer is yes or no. This must be either right or wrong. That must either be good or bad. I must be either be for or against. You are either on my side or on the other side.

This forced choice limits our options, our creativity, and our possibilities.  “And” says I can have a family and a career. “And” let Steve Jobs imagine a device that could be a phone and a compuer and a camera. At the end of the Great Depression, “and” said we could put people back to work and build an infrastructure that would fuel economic growth for decades to come.

To be clear, there is a place for uncompromising principle. We should not make exceptions to our deeply held values. And, we can honor our core beliefs in ways that are respectful and generative.

For example, I firmly believe everyone should have access to the health care they need. Full stop. Grounded in that core principle, I can acknowledge the real challenges of how to pay for the rapidly rising costs of that care and the challenges of how to preserve and build on the aspects of the health care system that are working while completely re-imagining all of the aspects that don’t. And, by the way, I can acknowledge different points of view on which aspects of the system are working and which aren’t.

The ability to stay anchored in a core value while acknowledging current realities and differing perspectives creates space for the give and take of generative problem solving. And we could sure use some of that.

Today I commit to looking for all of the ways “and” can lead to new opportunities in my life. Will you join me?