Do I Need To Be A Leader In Order To Speak My Truth?

If you're creating a podcast, putting yourself out there and speaking your truth, it can feel as though you are positioning yourself as a leader.

So, what does this mean to you? You may see yourself as a natural leader, or you may simply have a passionate desire to share your message, while still finding it difficult to see yourself as the leader of a tribe. In both instances, understanding what leadership means in the context of giving your message to the world is important if you’re going to connect with your audience.

Where Leadership Stems From

Leadership does indeed stem from owning your space and influencing others. This means that people who want guidance, or are looking to be encouraged or inspired, may turn to you in your role as a podcaster. For this reason, it's really important that the views of others are taken into consideration and incorporated into your reality.

There are those who adopt positions of strong leadership who have so utterly lost sight of anything other than their own position that their ability to create enormous damage is huge. You need to hold onto the understanding that an intrinsic part of authentic leadership lies in not diminishing anybody else simply based on their views, their position in the community, or who they inherently are.

Holding onto that knowledge means keeping in mind that, even if you are alone in your studio when you are creating your podcast, you're talking with people and contributing to a bigger conversation that involves everybody. This understanding is where the leadership lies. The conversation is inclusive.

Accepting Your Humanity

When you’re owning that the conversation is inclusive, so that you can adjust your view and create space for other people’s truths, then even when you’re feeling vulnerable or weak you can take strength from knowing that the power of learning is also leadership. Some leaders mistakenly believe that they should know all the answers, and this is not the case.

Leadership doesn’t equate to infallibility. As a leader, you still need to effectively live in your humanity. This means that you need to be willing to own your truths responsibly, as a way of being, and as a way of sharing.

It's unfamiliar to a lot of people to be in their humanity to that extent—to allow themselves to be vulnerable, to be weak, to not know, to get things wrong, and to not have all the answers. Particularly when they're in a position of leadership.

Equally, when it comes to those who are looking for guidance, a leader who does not claim to be all-powerful can feel quite threatening. This is because people can draw a false security from those in leadership positions. It creates a boundary. However, it’s a false boundary because it’s not rooted in reality.

All of this means that allowing yourself not to be the guru, and to actually be a human being in a way that isn't threatening to people, can be a tricky balancing act. You want to be in your humanity, and yet you also want to ensure that you’re not destabilizing people and not taking away your ability to have a voice and create an influence.

The Intense Freedom Of Ownership

Once again, this circles back to the natural power of authenticity. The refreshing freedom that stems from coming to grips with errors in judgment or action that may have spanned years or decades, based on misconceptions or identity-based illusions, is where you find the key to creating the balance that allows you to have your humanity without it being seen as threatening to others.

The misinterpretation of reality can lead you down some unfortunate pathways. Reaching the level of refreshing freedom is not trivial. It's a soulful level of refreshment that occurs upon acknowledging the nonsensical, occasionally ludicrous, duplicity that you’ve been living. There's a soulful healing that takes place at that level.

When you reach a place where you recognize the deep truth that a negative pattern in your life that has impacted you and the people around you is 100% about you, then suddenly all the ones become zeros and all the zeros become ones. When you’re willing to own that truth, then there is intense freedom waiting for you.

When you're in a position of responsibility—responsibility within a relationship, in a family, at work, in your neighborhood, or wherever it may be—then recognizing where something stems from gives you the power to take ownership and create change, honesty and truth. When you’re doing all those things… well, that's true leadership.