Empowering others through your leadership

Mandela once said that his greatest fear and enemy was not those who put or kept him in prison but he himself. He was afraid of who he was, he said.

In the same way, Martin Luther King said that once his sufferings mounted, he soon realised that there were two ways he could respond to his situation. Either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force.

Defining your leadership through freedom

Both leaders demonstrated not only a raw vulnerability and fragility but also a deep sense of freedom. Their freedom came through their willingness to put their trust in a being they had never met face to face. Their introspective impulses, rather than being restrictive, or burdensome, were in fact ultimately liberating and empowering.

More recently, I read the incoming leader of Uber international, Dara Khosrowshahi, in bidding farewell to his Expedia employees, who also revealed a similar vulnerability. Despite its phenomenal worldwide success and profitability, Uber has not been without unwanted distractions, including claims of sexual harassment, bullying and an intellectual property lawsuit. His farewell letter to staff read in part:

I have to tell you I am scared. I've been here at Expedia for so long that I've forgotten what life is like outside… But the times of greatest learning for me have been when I've been through big changes, or taken on new roles… you have to move out of your comfort zone…

Vulnerability is a great asset

It is easy to assume this sort of vulnerability to be a sign of weakness, but it can also be a significant source of strength for a leader. Laying bare one’s fragility can often be the point from which openness and trust begin or are rekindled. When it comes from a leader, others are generally buoyed by the display of honesty.

Foundations of leadership

One of the great challenges for any leader is to be comfortable in their own skin; to know who they are at both their best and their worst. Leadership is not merely knowing yourself but at critical times when your leadership is tested, manifesting the will to battle your fears. Leaders need to find a peaceful self acceptance and the conviction that they have a worthy contribution. Often this comes only after they have accepted their weaknesses and limitations and have learned from them, using them as a source of inspiration or guidance in a process of self awareness.

This self awareness is the foundation of one’s integrity and authenticity, the true measures of character. Integrity is nothing more or less than understanding that I cannot honour truths selectively. To be a successful leader, one needs to master a bunch of personal qualities, amongst them integrity, courage, authenticity, respect of self and others. It is then and only then that one can truly lead others.

I have often thought that leadership is the potent combination of strategy and character, but if you have to be without one, forego strategy rather than character. Leaders who don't know themselves or are not true to themselves, cannot lead effectively because they have forfeited what should be their most powerful tool, their integrity - the reality of who they are.

Authentic power is service

At the heart of great leadership is a desire to serve others, to empower them and foster their success. Transcendent leadership allows one to serve a greater mission than self interest alone, what Pope Francis calls ‘real power’. Being a leader today in any capacity is not about having followers who are hanging on every word, waiting to be told what to do and how to do it. Successful leadership is about engaging and empowering people to do what they are capable of doing, and building confidence and trust in them, whether it be a sporting team or international conglomeration or anything in between. Communication is key; written or spoken, a leader’s genuine words carry tremendous weight.

Setbacks and surprises are inevitable

It is true that our beliefs and commitments drive our actions. These convictions, generally, are the foundation of a meaningful journey and lasting contribution. If our leadership does not rest on a foundation of solid convictions then we may never achieve what we set out to do. Importantly too, we also need to build in a sense of adaptability and acknowledgement in the need to change tact sometimes. The most successful people are those who have a good plan B and know when and how to execute it. Things often go wrong and when they do, it is important to have a plan which does not compromise our initial intentions, but rather, strengthens our resolve to achieve it, albeit perhaps by a different route.

After all, again to quote Pope Francis (Lowney, 2013, Why he leads the way he leads), ‘only fools set out on a long journey without a compass or GPS to guide them.’ A leader is no different. It is just that their compass is his or her convictions, attitudes and habits, which are infused with experience and knowledge.

Had cause to dip into a Plan B recently? I would love to hear your own thoughts about leadership and managing people and processes. Get in touch!