In the case in question, a peer--I'll call him Danger Man--went first on an challenge exercise the whole team had to do. Danger Man became completely and utterly afraid, expressing his fear in a very visceral, palpable way. As he screamed out in front of everyone, I was at first a bit embarassed for him, to be honest.
As the situation developed, however, Danger Man's willingness to unashamedly stay with his fear (and we all get there at some point, being human), to just put it out there with his peers watching, to not run or keep it in and pretend he wasn't fearful.....well, it moved me, and moved in me from 'amazing' to 'inspirational' to practically life changing. I saw in that moment the power of being a leader: not to be more than human, but to be simply human, perhaps to being completely human.
The impact was not just personal, either. It was a riveting experience for the entire leadership program, even those who happened not to be there in that specific moment with him. It was a pivotal experience in the 6 day retreat.
That moment provides one of the seed inspirations for this blog.
Leadership: the art of being willing to be human, while others
watch.
Sure, there's more to leadership than just that, but it does seem a mighty good place to start!
