Every so often in this series I set aside the frameworks and look at a single person whose life shows what quiet leadership actually produces. I call these Quiet Icons. Not biographies, not celebrations of fame, but studies of people whose impact came from depth rather than volume. James Madison is the purest example I've found. The quietest person at the Constitutional Convention built the framework every louder voice has been standing on ever since. Fitting for the week we celebrate what he helped create. Who else comes to mind when you think of quiet figures who shaped something enduring?
It’s not lost on me that I needed to step out of LinkedIn (where loud leadership dominates) to read your article. I’m thankful for your perspective because for years I thought I had to become someone else to be ‘seen’ as a leader (and I tried). Now, I lean in unapologetically as a quiet leader.
Efe, this means a great deal to me. The years you spent trying to become someone else to be seen, that's the exact cost I write about, and the fact that you tried and it didn't fit tells me you were always going to end up here. Leaning in unapologetically as a quiet leader isn't a smaller version of leadership. It's the harder version, because it asks you to be effective without the cover that volume provides. You didn't need to become someone else. You needed to trust what you already were. Glad the piece found you.
Every so often in this series I set aside the frameworks and look at a single person whose life shows what quiet leadership actually produces. I call these Quiet Icons. Not biographies, not celebrations of fame, but studies of people whose impact came from depth rather than volume. James Madison is the purest example I've found. The quietest person at the Constitutional Convention built the framework every louder voice has been standing on ever since. Fitting for the week we celebrate what he helped create. Who else comes to mind when you think of quiet figures who shaped something enduring?
It’s not lost on me that I needed to step out of LinkedIn (where loud leadership dominates) to read your article. I’m thankful for your perspective because for years I thought I had to become someone else to be ‘seen’ as a leader (and I tried). Now, I lean in unapologetically as a quiet leader.
Efe, this means a great deal to me. The years you spent trying to become someone else to be seen, that's the exact cost I write about, and the fact that you tried and it didn't fit tells me you were always going to end up here. Leaning in unapologetically as a quiet leader isn't a smaller version of leadership. It's the harder version, because it asks you to be effective without the cover that volume provides. You didn't need to become someone else. You needed to trust what you already were. Glad the piece found you.