Helen Speaks

I don’t especially see myself as a leader, at least not in any self-aggrandizing sort of way. I don’t usually feel like I should lead and people should follow except in very specific situations. We all have our own path and I generally enjoy collaboration and facilitation rather than straight up taking charge.

That said, as I’ve grown older I’ve grown more comfortable with important leadership skills. Taking responsibility, speaking up when things need to be said, taking the lead when I feel that I have something to offer.

The leader-like quality I’ve noticed in myself is the fact that I’ve gotten better at not looking around for an adult to come and fix things.

When some disaster strikes, I’ve become more comfortable with being the adult. Not panicking, not becoming the victim and not just high-tailing it out of there, but stepping up and doing what needs to be done.

I think it can be easy to want to be a leader for the power, the acclaim, the control, especially if you feel like you don’t have those things, but without the motivation to genuinely make a difference, claiming leadership because you want influence and power ultimately won’t help you or anyone else. Dictators with glorious parades in their honour are seldom the finest examples of just and fair rulers.

On the other hand, there are times when any of us could find we are the adultiest adult, the one with the cool head or the relevant expertise. The junior clerk who’s also the fire marshal or first aider, the only adult around when a lost child realises they’ve lost their parent, or perhaps the only one brave enough to step up and say something needs to stop.

Maybe I don’t think any of us is a leader until we are called – but if you’re called, step up and answer!