No leader is an island
Where does leadership come from?
I watched a video of the keynote presentation from the NIODA Symposium of 2020. Dr James Kranz covered various ideas I agreed with and some I found more challenging.
One that has stuck with me was that leadership lies not in the individual but in the system. Leadership is not innate alone. It is not individual traits, behaviours, beliefs and attitudes. It is an emergent property of the organisation's dynamics.
This is counter to everything society taught me. Ever since my primary school made me Deputy House Captain in Year 6. Through my Army officer training. Into my career as a software engineering leader.
But it makes sense. Context makes leadership visible. Am I leading my team while I hang the washing before a remote meeting? Am I leading them while I commute to work? Dr Kranz states that systems thinking has leadership as an output of the system, not an input. I'll be reflecting on that for a while.
The other idea that struck me was that enrolment is more valuable than empowerment. Don't 'free' people to perform leadership. Join them deeper to our shared purpose. And we do that through conversations.
Work and learning happen more often through conversation and relationships. Embrace that. Focus on leadership of ideas instead of leadership of individuals.
Without purpose our work is hollow. It loses meaning. Tie work to purpose through conversation. Use meaningful relationships to fuel passion and connection. That's leadership.