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If that title gives you hesitation—you’re exactly who we need most.

If you put your hand up first, always take the lead, and think you know…well, this is not for you.

As a leadership educator, I believe everyone has the capacity to lead. You might think, “Well, of course you’d say that; it’s your job.” But my experience—in both work and life—has taught me that leadership isn’t genetic. Yes, privilege and circumstances can make it easier to step into positions of authority, but those are titles. I mean those leadership moments that are in your control—the way you choose, influence, and step forward when it matters.

This post is for those of you whose voice, creativity, and empathy are precisely what a team or project needs to move forward. Now is your time. Push yourself. Be confident in what you bring. And if it isn’t a great success? You’ll still walk away a stronger leader because of what you learned along the way.

We need you. They need you.

Parker J. Palmer puts it this way:

“Leadership is a concept we often resist. It seems immodest, even self-aggrandizing, to think of ourselves as leaders. But if it is true that we are made for community, then leadership is everyone’s vocation, and it can be an evasion to insist that it is not. When we live in the close-knit ecosystem called community, everyone follows and everyone leads.” (Let Your Life Speak, p. 74)

Emphasis on: everyone follows and everyone leads.

Now is the time to find that leader–follower equilibrium, because we need you more than ever. Step in with the skills you already have, with care for what exists, and with attention to the community, team, or group you’re leading—whether for a moment, a week, or the next year.

Leaders wanted. Start immediately. What’s holding you back?

Steve