The Leaders Who Actually Changed Things For Me

The leaders who actually changed things for me weren’t the ones with the most polished plans. They were the ones who asked what I needed before deciding what I needed.

That’s the whole difference, honestly. Inclusive leadership isn’t a style you adopt for a meeting and drop afterwards. It’s whether the people affected by a decision were in the room when it got made, or just told about it once it was finished.

I’ve watched teams get louder and better the moment someone stopped trying to represent everyone from memory and started actually asking. Diverse perspectives aren’t a nice extra on top of good leadership. They’re what good leadership is built from.

I also think this kind of leadership has to be taught, not assumed. Nobody’s born knowing how to check their own blind spots. The leaders who get this right are usually the ones who admit, out loud, that they don’t have the full picture yet.

Who’s a leader that actually asked you what you needed, instead of guessing?

If you’re building toward leadership yourself and want to do it differently, that’s exactly what the Self Advocacy Collection is for, coming soon. Link in bio, lighteningup.com.au.

Madeleine x