Daring Leaders - Bravery with one's SELF and then the World...

Tough conversations. Owning up when you go wrong. Delegating not just work, but authority too. Practicing gratitude consciously. Having the courage to be vulnerable. Bringing your heart to work. That’s a daring leader. And that isn’t gender specific. 

Emotional stoicism doesn’t make life easy at work, it makes work difficult and disturbs life. You are brimming with all these things that you are feeling, and you pretend to carry on at work like it doesn’t affect you. And then you go and bleed over people who have nothing to do with you feeling that way. 

What is a safe way to be emotional at work, without being hysterical? Why do we equate being emotional to being hysterical and to waterworks?

Jacinda Ardern took on a whole nation of grieving folks. She stood up for everybody, humbly navigating New Zealand from their worst ever terror attack. The country is healing, already, not a month after the incident. She cried with them, she wore a headscarf, she met community leaders and opened speeches with Arabic greetings. She got her heart to work. She implemented anti- gun laws within 2 weeks of the shooting. Leaders who wear their hearts on their sleeves, also get work done. Oh and yes! She breastfed her infant during a parliament session. That takes courage and bravery of another kind, in the face of fascism, gender politics and just general misogynist societies. 

Tim Cook, took over from the legendary Steve Jobs and to begin with nobody thought he had it in him to build Apple into a tech powerhouse. But he did. Cook says “The old adage goes, you have two ears and one mouth, use them in that proportion.” He listens attentively to those around him and trusts first. Part of being a leader is understanding that you don’t know everything, and handing some of the workload to others on your team will go a long way in helping you become a successful leader. Under his leadership Apple has become the first American company to hit a trillion dollar evaluation. Also his coming out letter was a big boost to LGBTQ rights, Apple’s stocks didn’t tank, people didn’t protest and the supreme court legalised gay marriage. I cant even begin to explain how much of courage/ determination/ desperation/ audacity that must have taken. In a situation like this, those words can be used interchangeably. 

Anna Nimiriano is the editor of the Juba Monitor newspaper in South Sudan. Her daily work entails being afraid that she will be jailed or killed while talking about issues that affect women. The newspaper that she works for depoliticises coverage in favour of talking about gender issues, children’s issues, welfare issues and so on. Ever since Anna has taken over, such stories have seen a rise of over 25% and also revenue from sponsors who want to reach out to a largely female audience. What’s at stake for her? Her life most definitely and her conviction that through this she can play a role in making South Sudan a better place for women and children. 

António Horta-Osório, Lloyds Banking Group CEO acknowledged that he had been having mental health issues. A man in such a powerful position coming out in the open, gave space to conversations that people weren’t having. It could have been sheer audacity or sheer desperation or just a call for help, but it was the right step in lifting the taboo over “mental health”. What was at stake? His entire career probably. But because he owned up, many more are owning up too, seeking help and improving their quality of life. He made it ok for people to acknowledge that life gets to you and that it’s human to get help. Even a Group CEO needs help with his mental health. 

Satya Nadella misspoke at a women’s conference on a women’s pay issue, telling women that they shouldn’t ask for raise and rather trust in the system. It was inferred to mean that women were having “imaginary” equal pay issues. He issued an apology the next day, stepping up internal messaging at Microsoft on making people aware of the diversities in their teams and to combat their unconscious biases. As much as I hate to put it like this, but a powerful male leader acknowledging that women don’t face imaginary crises or imaginary glass ceilings or imaginary workplace bias, puts these issues in perspective. It concedes that women don’t cry wolf and that these are actual issues. Actions like this taken by leaders in power help to negate the unintended backlash of a potentially transformational #Metoo movement. 

Greta Thunberg is a Swedish environmental activist. Last year, she went on strike alone to draw attention to the climate emergency situation, following the hottest summer in Sweden. “I am doing this because nobody else is doing anything. It is my moral responsibility to do what I can,” she says. “I want the politicians to prioritise the climate question, focus on the climate and treat it like a crisis.” Greta is 16. Last week, there was a talk in London on Earth Day talking about the extinction rebellion. Greta walked onto the stage to thunderous applause, a standing ovation. What’s at stake here? Pursuing climate protection policies could cost jobs and livelihoods, an economic slowdown; not pursuing it, kills your future definitely. A teenager, a female teenager finds it in herself to take up an existential cause because of one tiny thought “why study for a future which will not be there”. And instead of thinking what can a ‘single person’ do – she takes action. 

I am in awe of such powerful leaders, across generations, genders, ethnicities, political leanings, sexual orientations and religious beliefs. I am amazed by how being a leader has nothing to do with what “criteria” apply to you, rather it’s all about your value system and your courage to take action. These leaders aren’t afraid of bringing their emotional selves to work, they aren’t afraid to share their vulnerabilities, they aren’t afraid of apologising and taking action for a higher purpose they believe in – even if they might be the only ones. These are leaders who are true to their personal convictions of ‘being the change’. They are the ones I call #thedaringleaders.

Which #daringleaders do you know of?