Most organizational websites are relatively similar: About Us, Programs, Partners, Events, Get Involved and the like. There is an expected pattern that help us intuitively navigate what we need to know about an organization even if we know nothing about it.
Recently, I visited a website that presented information I didn’t expect, and I was intrigued. Under the usual About Ussection, was listed some of the usual topics such as Our Work, Our Story, Our Leadership, but what I didn’t expect was a very detailed narrative about Our Struggles. Even more so, every page listed out books and articles as recommended reading to give greater understanding about the topics discussed on the page.
Intrigued, I read the Struggles page in detail, and loved it. I wondered what it would look like if PEP did something similar? I wondered what I would write on the page under such a heading?
I will admit that these days I feel like I am always learning. I am learning new things, and I am relearning things I forgot. There are things I think I used to be good at that I need to practice again if I am going to depend on certain skills as “strengths”.
I find “authentic leadership” is better described as “learning leadership”. When I am honest about my abilities, there is an accompanying vulnerability and recognition of the things I wish I did better. The burden of leadership is not simply the (at times) overwhelming responsibility, but the desire to be better for the people you are leading.
These days, the hard work and goodness I see in just about everyone around me makes me more aware of my foibles – probably because even when I think I could do better, they provide encouragement, deference and kindness.
I recently re-read a line from Community: The Structure of Belonging that read, “leaders bring the kitchen table and the street corner into being.” More than offering direction or ideas, they create new contexts and use their power to convene. There is an inherent vulnerability in this as it means power is distributed rather than held. Yet, in doing so, so are the struggles. Struggles are easier to name and manage when they are shared, because then it is not the struggles we must own, but the learnings and possibilities that come from them.