The idea of being a leader, right now, might feel impossible or foreign because it’s so often associated with words like CEOs, Prime Ministers, Presidents or Captains

These roles are leadership roles. That’s known and given. 

But leadership is so much more than this. 

We need to actively talk about an expanded definition of leadership to include everyone, because anyone at any time in their career has the potential to be a leader.

During the years when you are considered an “emerging professional”, you might see the company leaders go off and do their leadership training. This group of leaders will have separate meetings and activities to attend to. While this is expected – they are the nominated, responsible leaders of a team or organisation  – it can also send a subtle message of “they are the only leaders here” which may feel disempowering or make you think you aren’t a leader because they are.

This raises a question. When can you start to lead? 

My answer? Whenever you want to.

The reason for this is because a leadership role title is not the only way to be a leader. 

You can start to lead now because you can embody a leader now. You can live and work to the values of a leader. You can be a leader by simply taking ownership of your work in a way that a leader would. 

Taking ownership of your work

Leaders take responsibility and are accountable for things. You can do the same thing with every tiny task. It’s taking responsibility for getting stuff done on time, communicating if you need help, and accepting feedback with grace. Even if you are not the project leader or team leader, you can still role model the behaviours you would want to see in a leader. You don’t always have to be the leader to behave like a leader. 

Look for ways to help

In Jay Shetty’s book Think Like Monk he says to find happiness, we should live a life of service. There are ways you can help all around you; you just have to look for them. Get involved in the growth and strategic direction of your company. It could be from anything as urgent as getting involved in Diversity and Inclusion committees and sustainability work to as fun as setting up a book club. By getting involved and being proactive, you step onto the path of leadership.

Embodying a leader and adopting the mindset of a leader 

The ideas I shared are less about leadership roles and more about an attitude of leadership.

And it might be simply about leading yourself. You don’t necessarily have to be leading a group of people to be a leader – you must start with yourself anyway, living and leading to your values, embodying a leader, setting goals for yourself and doing what you need to do. These are things associated with self-leadership. 

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You might have read the opening paragraphs of this blog unconvinced. But the examples and ideas I shared for how you can start to be a leader now are not dependent on a role title. They are  about how you show up in your life and work. It’s about attitude and mindset, and living to a set of values. 

So when you see your team’s leaders going for their leadership meeting, don’t let that make you think you are not a leader. Those roles are just one type of leadership. You can start to be a leader now within your sphere of influence, even if you’re simply just leading yourself.