Chris Lewis and I wrote The Silent Rebellion: Becoming a Modern Leader. Now, more than ever, it is time to care and time to lead.
We featured the stories of eleven extraordinary cause leaders in our book. We were deeply inspired. When servant leadership is placed above all else, change happens. Today, I want to extend that spirit of collaboration to you.
Why Modern Leadership Needs a Silent Rebellion
I know that genuine leadership is not about titles or authority. It’s about emotional intelligence, empathy, and the courage to care.
Leadership today is about reading the room. As Gillian Johnson, founder of Recovery Meetups, wisely said, “grow your empathy to identify who is not present in the room… and make room for that person.”
The Power of Being Seen
We all crave acknowledgment. At work, in our families or in the boardroom, we want to be recognized. People want to be seen, heard, understood, and valued. True leadership is rooted in fellowship. Fellowship is the antidote to fear. This involves listening, reflecting, and caring deeply about the well-being of those around us.
The TEAM LEWIS Foundation supports over two thousand charities. It’s not about numbers. It’s about nurturing a corporate culture of care and responsibility.
Empathy and the Modern Leader
Collaborative leadership isn’t just a preference. It’s a necessity. We often face assumptions that require us to lead with empathy and compassion. We focus on the matter at hand rather than battling stereotypes.
Our “soul-bag” is the skin we live in. It is simply a marker of our “seen” identity such as hair color, height, race, or gender. Yet, our unseen or selected identities may mean much more to us. Our identity as a parent, a member of a particular faith, a cancer survivor or even a fan of a certain sports team can influence how we see ourselves. The hand we are dealt may be beyond our control. Yet how we nurture, educate, and represent ourselves is entirely up to us.
As the poet Robert Burns wrote, “Oh would we had the gift God gave us, to see ourselves as others see us.” Emotionally intelligent leaders see others with both compassion and pragmatism. They recognize that everyone is worthy of acceptance and understanding, including ourselves.
