By Joel A. Davis Brown
In an era defined by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (V.U.C.A.), traditional leadership models are proving inadequate to meet global challenges like climate change, social polarization, and inequality. This article explores the transformative leadership exemplified by LGBTI+ communities, whose resilience, authenticity, and cultural innovation provide a blueprint for fostering inclusive, heart-centered, and impactful leadership.
In the era of Trump, Orban, Meloni, and other populist leaders around the world, you wouldn’t be alone if you started questioning the nature of leadership, both at the macro level and at the micro level. We are at a time in the global sphere where leadership is critical to meet many of the challenges ahead, including climate change, social polarization, inflation, increasing migration, and business engagement. Unfortunately, the mainstream form of leadership we are witnessing is demoralizing, deflating, and regressive.
Yet, as we examine leadership, the problem lies with not only the practice of leadership, but also the definition and models of leadership that formulate our concept of leadership. Typically, it seems, leadership is seen as a business orientation, or something that we only practice from 9 to 5 or within the confines of the workplace. In other instances, outside of our corporate spheres, leadership employs a hierarchical, individualistic, and unimaginative model that feels stunted, static, and out-of-touch for the average global citizen. This is perhaps why the concept and practice of leadership feel stale, unevolved, and uninspired.
Given the V.U.C.A. world we live in – one that is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous – there is an opportunity to decolonize how we look at leadership. Leadership is not an orientation exclusively for military drills, football matches, or corporate boardrooms. It exists in the quiet spaces where we seek to find our purpose. It exists in the communal places where we engage our neighbors and friends, and it most certainly exists at intersections where we must navigate multiple identities and enduring perspectives about how the world should exist.
As we sit within our current reality, one of the places that we can look for guidance as we seek to enhance our understanding and practice of leadership is to marginalized groups who employ an insider view and outsider view of our modern world. Those who operate at the margins of society can oftentimes provide great insight into the human condition. In this vein, studying the example of the LGBTI+ people can be one way to bear witness to sturdy examples of transformational leadership.
As it stands, LGBTI+ enjoy greater freedom in Europe than arguably any place on Earth, despite facing more violence, harassment, and bullying than they have in recent years. As social observers, what we should also be asking ourselves is how LGBTI+ people have been able to not only survive but thrive among a global landscape that is still…you guessed it…volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous? LGBTI+ people are no different from their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts in wanting fulfillment, seeking purpose, and longing for freedom. However, what makes the LGBTI+ cultural phenomenon noteworthy is their ability to consistently and culturally self-actualize and self-direct. Despite the numerous obstacles in their path, LGBTI+ people are able to overcome hardship and contribute mightily to society at-large. Further, LGBTI+ people have been able to inspire larger society to be more free, authentic, social justice-minded, and liberated. In other words, LGBTI+ people have been able to positively impact themselves and their environment, thus illuminating a potent and unique form of transformational leadership.
Of course, some would interpret this idea as little more than puffery. But LGBTI+ possess a unique social and leadership acumen, by virtue of their cultural pathway, that can be instructive for others on the planet who want to live in the world with greater joy, intentionality, and freedom. This CulturalGenius™ of LGBTI+, in part, stems from the wisdom that before we lead others we must first learn to lead ourselves. Due to bias, recrimination, and stigmatization, LGBTI+ people must routinely face their insecurities and gather the internal fortitude in order to leverage their gifts and cultivate spaces for growth and personal evolution. Our world would operate at a higher consciousness if more of us spent time examining who we are and why we behave the way we do. In no small measure, LGBTI+ people have been able to face, rescue and organize themselves in glorious ways, even when there are still far too few places celebrating who they are.
Yet, beyond the internal dimension of personal development work, LGBTI+ people continue to make an indelible mark on the world. Whether it is through activism, community-building, or non-binary thinking, LGBTI+ people continually design interpersonal spaces that allow for our collective humanity to be more greatly expressed. When we think about pioneering innovations in fields like computer science, the searing clarity of social movements like #BlackLivesMatter, or the innumerable pieces of transcendent creativity that dot the social landscape, LGBTI+ people have transformed their environments in ways that have helped advance the world, even while facing great peril, certain discrimination, and occasionally the brutal reality of death.
Therefore, the LGBTI+ example is one of many emerging forms of leadership to study to facilitate higher forms of doingness and beingness, the latter of which is the most important aspect of leadership. Even if you do not identify as LGBTI+, the LGBTI+ cultural journey can prove insightful if we dare to move away from our familiar perches, insular perspectives and antiquated frameworks. We cannot build a more perfect world with the same consciousness that constructed the world we inhabit now. As the traditional leadership models fade away and lose luster, we owe it to ourselves to learn and listen to this diverse, nuanced, and multi-faceted population that exists in every part of the globe. It is time for LGBTI+ people to be seen as teachers in fomenting a form of inspirational, heart-centered, creative, and joyous leadership the world so desperately needs.
Dr. Joel A. Davis Brown
