Over time, we all can become more effective leaders by deliberately choosing to enter the fundamental state of leadership rather than waiting for crisis to force us there. But each time we reach it, we return to our everyday selves a bit more capable, and we usually elevate the performance of the people around us as well. Fatigue and external resistance pull us out of it. Is it possible to enter the fundamental state of leadership without crisis? In my work coaching business executives, I’ve found that if we ask ourselves-and honestly answer-just four questions, we can make the shift at any time. They draw on their own values and capabilities. When leaders do their best work, they don’t copy anyone. Most likely, if you made decisions not to meet others’ expectations but to suit what you instinctively understood to be right-in other words, if you were at your very best-you rose to the task because you were being tested. Think back to a time when you faced a significant life challenge: a promotion opportunity, the risk of professional failure, a serious illness, a divorce, the death of a loved one, or any other major jolt. It’s the way we lead when we encounter a crisis and finally choose to move forward. I call it the fundamental state of leadership. Instead, they draw on their own fundamental values and capabilities-operating in a frame of mind that is true to them yet, paradoxically, not their normal state of being. Nearly all corporate training programs and books on leadership are grounded in the assumption that we should study the behaviors of those who have been successful and teach people to emulate them.īut my colleagues and I have found that when leaders do their best work, they don’t copy anyone.

Why is that? What separates the episodes of excellence from those of mere competence? In striving to tip the balance toward excellence, we try to identify great leaders’ qualities and behaviors so we can develop them ourselves. As leaders, sometimes we’re truly “on,” and sometimes we’re not.

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