lowercase leaders

There are thousands of books about LEADERSHIP in the world in multiple languages. Although the word "Leadership" invariably starts with a capital "L", it doesn't always have to be about big “L” leadership, showcasing high profile leaders doing leading things. I think leadership starts with a lowercase “l”. Here's why.

First of all, all big “L” leaders started small. There are no “born” leaders. There are?people who took the lead, liked it, learned how to be good at it and once they knew how to do it effectively, got others to follow. Virgin's Richard Branson couldn’t get a flight home from a vacation and so hatched a plan to get other stranded passengers to pay for a seat on a chartered flight. He saw that he could provide this service with some added value, took the lead and voila, the birth of Virgin Airlines.

Secondly, it’s not always the big name "leaders" that lead for purpose – it could be you or me. For example, there’s Danielle Crismani who, during the 2010?Queensland floods in Australia was frustrated with not being able to physically help with the community clean up, from her suburban family home.

She did know how to cook and?came up with the idea to start baking and delivering food for the State Emergency Services volunteers. She rallied support from others in her community who could assist and founded Baked Relief . More recently, Baked Relief managed a Love to Lockdown project for the state of Victoria during Covid and in the state of New South Wales,?600 gifts were sent anonymously to nominated people during their lockdown. ?

In my view,?you don’t even have to BE a leader – just be first. Anyone?can take the lead by being the first on a dance floor, the first to post, share or comment, the first to initiate a conversation or the first to speak up. Just be the first one to take action.

So, who comes to mind as a lowercase?leader that you know? Tell us about them by leaving a comment.