Leadership isn’t about going faster. It’s about knowing your pace
A brown horse with a black mane and tail is galloping next to a white horse in a green field with brown docks, with dark green trees covering the hillside in background
My husband and I move through life at different speeds.
I tend to be quicker, more immediate. He’s more measured, more deliberate. That doesn’t make either of us right or wrong, just different.
It’s taken time, but we’ve learned to appreciate that difference. If we each tried to pull the other into our pace, we’d end up in conflict. Instead, we’ve found harmony and connection by letting go of judgement.
This same principle applies to leadership.
How do I lead?
People often ask me: How do I lead?
The honest answer? There isn’t one. I can only tell you how I lead, and even that’s hard to define.
Leadership is something we feel rather than following set formulae.
When it flows, I know and whenthere is resistance, I feel that too, usually in my body before my head catches up.
Recently, someone asked me what I meant by “flow.” I told her she’d understand once she worked with the horses. Sure enough, she did. Because some things can’t be explained with words. They have to be experienced.
But ironically, here are some words to help you find your own embodied experience of leading in flow…
If things are going well, if your team’s engaged, your relationships are strong, then you’re moving towards what matters and you don’t need to fix what isn’t broken.
But if things feel stuck, tense or off-track, I feel the resistance and that’s the signal to pause and reflect.
A call to reflect
Jude Jennison sitting on a stone bridge with trees behind her with sunlight coming through them
Here are some of the questions I ask myself when I notice things aren’t working:
What emotions am I noticing in myself?
Is my influence having the impact I intend?
How am I contributing to the problem?
What small shift in my behaviour might help?
What does this person need from me right now and how can I help meet their needs, as well as my own?
And my favourite question that I ask myself many times a day: What’s needed now?
This last question invites flexibility. It calls us to let go of habit and be present to the moment.
We’re surrounded by leadership models, frameworks and techniques but real leadership often comes down to something simpler and more human.
It comes down to self-awareness, self-management and relationships.
It requires curiosity instead of criticism.
It calls us to notice what’s happening and have the courage to respond differently.
If you’re noticing tension, resistance or disconnection in your work right now, ask yourself: What needs to change?
And if you’re not sure, message me and I’d love to help you explore that.
