Eight Tenets of Effective Leadership

"Leaders can cast light or shadow on others. They must deal with their inner journey in order to manage those shadows and light."

- Parker Palmer, Let Your Life Speak

When I was 22 years old, a mentor gifted me a copy of Parker Palmer's book Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation. It was a time when my interest in career navigation and leadership development was just surfacing, and I remember copying down quotations like the one above in a purple and blue notebook.

I've returned to this book again and again over the years. And after the election two weeks ago, this quotation was ringing in my mind.

On a personal level, both my local and national results left me feeling sad, angry, confused, scared, and anxious.

And on a professional level I am concerned and alarmed about a profound setback to the practice of leadership as a whole.

Sharing the tenets of effective leadership is my core mission.

After researching and teaching foundational leadership practices for over a decade, these are things I know to be true:

1. Effective leadership starts from a place of genuine care for people. That means learning their names and saying them correctly and speaking to and about people with respect. That means never yelling or using dehumanizing language meant to humiliate others.

2. Effective leaders are consistent. They operate from a clear set of values. They aren’t volatile. They communicate clearly and thoughtfully, not flippantly. They make people feel safer, not on edge.

3. Effective leaders are authentic. They acknowledge what they don’t know, own their mistakes, and show their own humanity. They draw on the guidance of those who have expertise to figure out the way forward, together.

4. Effective leaders are inclusive. They acknowledge that everyone brings their unique identities, experiences, and perspectives to the table. They notice and value individuals.

5. Effective leaders serve those they lead. They know they are not there to wield power over others or soak up individual glory—they respect the privilege of the responsibility they’ve been given to act in service of shared interests, not their own.

6. Effective leaders foster a culture of team psychological safety, where people can voice ideas, criticisms, or concerns without fear of retribution or humiliation. They don’t surround themselves with only those who will agree with them—they welcome a diversity of perspectives in the name of making sound decisions.

7. Effective leaders inspire engagement. They rally people to be committed out of a sense of purpose, not compliant out of a sense of fear.

8. Effective leaders practice self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy. They don’t just say Trust me as a command—they show that they are trustworthy through their words and actions.

These are the qualities of leadership that I aim to propagate through coaching and leadership training, both through my own business and as a facilitator for Harvard Business’ corporate leadership development programs. The research to back up all these leadership tenets is clear—they foster better teams and better business outcomes.

And yet.

In voting President Elect Donald Trump to a second term, we’ve elevated leadership practices that are abusive. They are not okay. They are harmful. His status shows other leaders that it’s acceptable to lead through brash, flippant, dehumanizing, and volatile practices. That’s a lot of shadow cast across a lot of people.

And that's just his delivery, not the content of his message and agenda. To me personally, they do not move us toward the world that I want to see for myself, my daughters, or the leaders I work with.

So many of us have experienced the traditional, old style of coercive leadership that aligns with these practices. Its effectiveness has been disproven by research. There is another way to be.

What kind of leader do you want elevate in the world?

What kind of leader do you want to be?

I’m going to keep doing the work that I do. That’s my part. Keep coaching clients into healthier work situations. Keep sharing these effective leadership practices. Keep talking to my kids about what it means to lead well. And helping leaders gain the tools to work with their own shadows so they can cast light on others.