The Point of No Return

Most writing about leadership doesn’t throw it into the category of mystery, crime, romance, thriller, or dystopian genres. The title of this blog does just that. And if we’re getting honest about the lived experience and nature of leadership, it’s all of these things, and more.

Although AI will spit one out, there is no set definition of leadership. In reductionist context, its most often defined by the form and function that you need it to accomplish. Because most leadership is driven by power based on authority wrapped in materialistic gain and status (centered on the intellectual and technical prowess of the person involved), leaders still largely form and function in an autocratic endgame. We want the “Great Man,” who will provide us with the safety, security, and prosperity we desire, without us followers shouldering much responsibility - especially when things go horribly wrong. Except, as FIFA, Wells Fargo, Volkswagen, Boeing, and Big Pharma have demonstrated, the followers, somehow, are always the greatest losers. Is this the point of no return then in the leadership paradigm? Not even close.

The point of no return is when you realize that you are the only one, and the most equipped one, to lead yourself. And the dawn of such an enlightenment does not occur on our best day, or even a normal, run-of-the-mill day. It most often occurs in our darkest hour, in the pit of despair, when our backs are up against the gates of what some would call hell, and what I would say is just a power over which we cannot extricate ourselves. This is the beginning of the point of no return in who we are, and who we can become as leaders. Some don’t make it through. It’s that harrowing. But for those of us who harness the power of the point of no return, it’s the greatest rabbit hole you’ll ever descend into.