Leadership is one of my passions. But, what we are seeing from so many people who are in positions of leadership is not leadership at all.
There are positive leaders – who influence others in a positive way – and there are negative leaders. Which do you see when you turn on the news?
Leaders in elected positions, who are meant to protect and serve their constituents, lying, threatening, accusing, and encouraging divisiveness. Leaders who take every opportunity to incite conflict and blame others. Leaders who miss every opportunity to move our country forward by promoting an agenda of racism, bigotry, sexism, and hate.
Being a leader who stands up for what is right takes courage; it takes seeing something bigger than yourself. In our world today, whether we are talking politics or the pandemic or systemic racism, there are very few leaders who are showing us that path.
We each have the power within us to be positive leaders and impact our world – make it better for everyone and not just for a few. We must find our voice: not the voice of the past, but the voice of insight and learning.
When our leaders bring the level of discussion and debate down, rather than using their influence to elevate and inspire, we all lose. We must hold our leaders to a higher standard. We should be able to expect our leaders to be truthful. We should be able to expect our leaders to have integrity. We should be able to expect that our leaders put the needs of all people before their own personal needs. We should be able to expect our leaders to speak out against injustice and promote civility.
It is not the time to stay silent. It is not the time to ignore the ignorance of people in power. It is the time to find your voice, speak up and speak out against racism, against injustice, and against negative leadership.
We can, and must, expect leaders at all levels to be better. We deserve leaders who are committed to being better for all of us.