Leadership is About Them but Requires You

“About them” and “Requires you” are the twin centers of gravity for leadership.

Leadership is about them. Narcissists are not true leaders. True leadership focuses on serving others and larger purposes than self-exultation. Nothing short of a Big Why is sufficient to your calling for leadership. You and everyone you will ever meet is deeply wired for grand purposes. Leadership is part of the privileged work of drawing out grand purposes. 

Leadership requires you. You can abdicate leadership but you cannot outsource it. Just as there are no self-executing plans there is no leadership without self-leadership. You must act. You must do things, not just know things. You must work on your leadership craft in order to be effective at serving others.

Leadership is a craft precisely because there is no single formula for balancing “About them” and “Requires you.” Hold both in creative tension to find joy in the leadership journey.