Hello and Happy Monday, Subscriber First Name.

I hope you are keeping your head up and doing your best to find moments of optimism and joy. It feels like its truly one day at a time.

It is an interesting time to be a leadership and wellbeing coach, especially one who exclusively works with nonprofit and social impact professionals. One of the more frequent questions that has emerged in recent conversations is, “how am I supposed to lead right now?”

Of course, leadership is not a one-size-fits-all approach and there is no one right answer to this question. But despite all of the nuances in leadership, I’ve been telling most people to do this:

Be yourself.

I know, I know Subscriber First Name, this is so cliché. But I’m being serious. Right now, the best thing we can do is be our best and most authentic selves when faced with a world that feels confusing, deceitful, and uncertain.

Being your best self also means that now is the time to really know yourself. Be honest about your fears. Get real about understanding your habits. Write down the things you’re really good at and be curious as to how you can put them to use.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: my personal leadership philosophy is that leadership isn’t about what you do or how much you make or what your title is…

Leadership is about who you are.

And if we don’t know who we are, then we don’t know how to lead. Good leadership is knowing how to anchor to yourself, your values, and your truth, especially in times when it feels like the ground is constantly shifting underneath us. Not sure where to start? Try carving out a few minutes today to quietly reflect on the questions below:

Let’s also remember that we are because of others. The people around us shape us…

Over the last few months of our #SlowRead book club, we’ve been reading Belonging without Othering: How We Save Ourselves and the World. The authors write that there is an, “interactive and social dimension of identify development.” This is true of our leadership development, too. To really know our leadership, we have to get out into the world and socialize, listen, and connect with others. Perhaps one of the boldest ways you can learn more about your leadership is by straight up asking others about how the see you, and what they believe might be possible for you when it comes to leading in times like these.

So, Subscriber First Name, are you courageous enough to ask someone to give you that kind of feedback? Are you ready to really know yourself, and how the world sees your leadership? Below are a few quotes from leaders that I’ve been working with one-on-one who have been doing this work. They’ve courageously answered the question about how they need to lead today: