To Be a Leader, Help Just One Person
Small actions can have an outsize impact
Let’s face it: Things weren’t exactly feeling cheerful for most of us before the coronavirus hit, what with a fraught election, the climate crisis, and — well, you can choose whichever social issue currently troubles you most. There’s no shortage.
Add a global pandemic, and it’s easy to feel like we’re living in a leadership vacuum right now. Trust of elected officials is near an all-time low. Our faith in business, media, and NGOs isn’t exactly soaring, either.
But too often, people take an overly narrow view of what leadership really is. At the risk of sounding like one of those motivational posters your high-school guidance counselor had hanging in their office, leadership isn’t about your title. Or your bank account. Or your number of Twitter followers. It’s about committing yourself to elevating at least one life other than your own.
Here are three ways you can begin leading today, no matter who or where you are:
Think in terms of solutions
Of course, few of us have the power to enact sweeping policy, or allocate financial resources on any large scale. But recognize what you can do, and then — do it. As the poet June Jordan wrote, and President Obama later quoted…
