Here's What Separates True Leaders from the Rest

Some moments shake you so hard that life is never the same after. They force you to confront who you are, what you believe, and how you move forward. For me, that moment happened in March 2023.?

A man jumped off a bridge in front of my truck. I couldn’t stop. He didn’t survive.?

For months, I was consumed by it. I let that moment define me. The weight of it dictated how I saw myself, how I interacted with others, and how I navigated each day. It would have been easy to stay in that space—trapped in guilt, in grief, in the endless loop of replaying it all in my head.?

But then I realized something: The story I told myself about that event would either confine me or shape me. And I got to choose which.?

The Power of Perspective?

When we go through something difficult, our first instinct is often to resist it. To ask, Why did this happen to me? To get stuck in frustration, regret, or self-doubt. But leadership—true leadership—starts when we flip that question: What can I learn from this??

That doesn’t mean the pain disappears. It doesn’t mean we erase the event. It means we take responsibility for how we move forward.?

That’s what conscious leadership is all about.?

What Conscious Leadership Really Means?

A lot of people think leadership is about authority. Position. Power. But that’s a lie.?

Real leadership is about awareness—of yourself, of your impact, and of the responsibility that comes with both.?

A title doesn’t make you a leader. Influence doesn’t make you a leader. Your actions do. And before you can lead anyone else, you have to be able to lead yourself.?

That’s where most people get stuck. They think they can compartmentalize. That they can be an unintentional, unfocused version of themselves in their personal life but still show up as an elite performer at work.?

It doesn’t work like that.?

If you’re a 5 out of 10 personally, you can’t expect to be an 8 out of 10 professionally. You don’t just switch versions of yourself when you step into a meeting or a leadership role. You bring you—and if that version of you is running on autopilot, the cracks will show.?

The Challenge Most People Ignore?

So here’s the uncomfortable truth: You have blind spots. We all do. The only question is whether you’re willing to acknowledge them.?

Ask yourself this:?

What’s one thing about yourself that you know you need to work on—but usually avoid thinking about??

Most people won’t take the time to answer that. They’ll move on, too busy or too distracted to sit with it.?

But the ones who do? Those are the people who grow. The ones who stop running from the hard stuff and start becoming the leader—the person—they’re actually capable of being.?

Which one will you be??