Who is Leading You?

John Gillis and I have a draft of an article on Leading by Two.  We have been leading each other to get here.  Now, we’ve asked a handful of people to read what we have written and help “lead” us to make it better.  It’s one of those “be careful what you wish for” situations where, after working on something for months and feeling like “this is pretty good,” we’re about to find out:  Well, maybe not SO good.

So, I ask:  Who is leading you?

And today, as you consider your answer, you might employ this wonderful description of a leader, from an article the late David Foster Wallace penned about John McCain:

David Foster Wallace

“[A] real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.”*

Who does that for you? Do you thank them? Are they active enough, engaged enough with you, that you’re being led to do and be more?

Perhaps this morning you might invite such a leader or mentor to lunch or coffee, so as to help you:

Lead with your best self!

*David Foster Wallace, “The Weasel, Twelve Monkeys and the Shrub,” Rolling Stone, April 13, 2000, accessed on 11/5/17.

  • Thanks, I love the definition. Adding it to the few that truly get us to think rather than just a bunch of same old words and thoughts. Kouzes and Posner do it with the ‘art of struggle’

  • Dan, I like to thank you for the good advice summer (2013) since I never did thank you for your kindness. When the guy I was dating kept threatening to kill me you told me that “nobody deserves to be treated like that.” I can’t remember all you said but Thank You very much! Your far away friend, Patricia

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