Leadership in a Time of Rapid Change

"These are the times that try men's souls" is a quote that has been applied to numerous moments in history, and is certainly applicable for many now. Only a few pockets of certainty remain as the economic implosion has rippled out in shock waves to people of all socio-economic categories. It is a time that has seen leaders crash and burn, and in their ashes are the retirements plans, investments, and jobs of millions of others. Obviously this has triggered anger, even outrage, from those who are the mostly innocent victims of the unbridled risk taking of people not even known to be part of the lives of the victims. There are few around the globe who have escaped the fear, loss, and deprivation of the last months. What happened to leadership? The headlines have focused on a cluster of financial leaders who moved from their moral anchors to engage in a massive game of obscene profits and life threatening risk.
Less obvious in the news are the thousands of leaders who have exchanged predictability in their job with sleepless nights of wrestling for answers to keeping their businesses alive and their employees employed. Just recently the stories are emerging of companies and communities who are pulling together to share the burdens, resources, and pain. It is in this group that heroic leadership is becoming evident. It is in these scenarios that we learn once again, that leadership is not a label on the door. Leadership is the behavioral expression of the richest core values of caring for friends, neighbors, employees, and strangers. It is in this group that leaders arise as the need for leadership emerged. Leaders have stepped up, not because of pay, not because of position, not for ego, but because someone, or many someones, needed a leader.
Each person is a leader if they respond to the need when it rises up before them.
It is clear that this time in our collective history we are experiencing the complex interconnectedness of the global community. Only a few decades ago a community would pull together to rebuild a burned barn for a neighbor, repair a damaged house for a person down the street, or replace the daily goods of a family whose possessions had been scattered by tornadic winds. In the growth of population, the increase of diversity, and the busyness of our lives we lost our neighborhoods and scarcely know one another. That is changing. We are once again helping each other pick up the pieces, hunt for or create jobs, support one another in grief.
Vision may be global, but all action is local. As we move through the months ahead we will be reminded of the skills we have been too busy to grow, the talents we may have overlooked, and the people we need and who need us. Our country, businesses, and communities need leaders who lead from the heart now more than ever. They also need leaders who look after others before themselves. Let's all step in and step up. Use these times of chaos to build the base for new beginnings. Encourage others, and rebuild your tool kit for the future will never be like the past. But it can be better.