Lead by Following

Many get into coaching or consulting thinking they’re helping others, so they come in with an attitude of how they’ll change everything. With the best intentions at heart, they methodically set about destroying everything, acting as a surrogate for the leadership in the company.

The role of anyone in these jobs isn’t to change the company; even if you succeed in briefly initiating a change, it will crumble away under the weight of entropy. Instead, your actions need to be neither gentle nor harsh, without expectation of an outcome, and with an open line of communication.

Forcing change is met with resistance, and resistance burns resources, which is not to anyone’s benefit. Change comes from within. The leader embraces action without desire, and when resistance is felt, goes with it to find opportunity.

Having ideas and sharing them is fine, but you do so without expectation, as though creating a jumping off point for a conversation. There’s no desire because desire creates suffering. Push to find the points of resistance, and work with them to make the team stronger.

No one can know the future. Marketing companies and AI consultants might have you believe otherwise, but the future can’t be known because it doesn’t exist. When you think of the future, you’re imagining your desires or fears coming to pass. When they don’t, the response is either disappointment or dismissal, and neither leads to growth.

Guiding a client by listening, drawing them to the present where they can act with purpose instead of reacting with fear… That’s how you lead.