Introduction

Are leaders born or made? Can you lead from below? What does it take to be a leader? These and many other questions have been debated for years and will be for years to come. That is what makes leadership so complex.

The concept of leadership has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. I have participated in leadership training, read countless books and articles on leadership and attended more leadership workshops than I can remember. I’ve had the opportunity to test and try most of these concepts during my four distinctly different careers. And yet, I think I just now really “get it”.

By “get it” I am referring to a recent epiphany about leadership. (By the way, I normally believe if a word has more than three syllables, you are probably using the wrong word!) But I love this one! Merriam-Webster defines an epiphany as “a sudden awareness of the essential nature of something.”

My epiphany came while reading about Winston Churchill and his leadership style. It occurred to me that most of what is written about leading is based on historic observations of great leaders such as Lincoln, Patton, Reagan, etc. That makes perfect sense - It usually takes a historical perspective to judge great leaders. But it got me thinking “why can’t we learn something today by observing today’s leaders?

The answer to that question was my epiphany. Yes, it takes historic context to pass judgment on significant leadership traits; those great decisions and bold moves that prove to be a major turning point. In fact, these significant traits comprise much of what has been written and taught about leadership.

The answer to “what can we learn today?” lies not in those big things, but in the small aspect of leadership which I refer to as: The Subtleties of Leadership. I believe these subtleties are just as important as the larger, significant traits for two reasons.

1. Without exhibiting Subtleties of Leadership, you may never rise to a role in which you can exhibit the more significant traits.
2. Second, without a focus on these leadership nuances, they are often violated without even knowing it!

That is why I started the Subtleties of Leadership blog; to point out those small, but critically important aspects of leadership that crop up each day in everyone’s lives. By paying attention to these subtleties, you will begin exhibiting the qualities of leadership that will put you in a position to take make “great decisions” and make “bold moves” and know that those around you will rally to your cause.

So what can readers expect from this blog? Each post will address one simple leadership subtlety. They will be easy, straightforward commentaries based on leaders that surround us today, not just supposition. These short lessons are taken from real experiences, mine and other readers, that you can use immediately. And, they will help you regardless of whether you lead a Fortune 500 company or exert leadership from within a cubicle farm.