The Leadership Disconnect: Stop Waiting, Start Leading

Your inbox pings. Another company-wide email announcing a leadership initiative to "drive innovation from the bottom up." Meanwhile, in a conference room upstairs, executives discuss how to get their teams to "take more initiative."

The irony would be comical if it wasn't so frustrating.

We've created a bizarre corporate dance. Employees wait for permission to lead while leaders beg for initiative. Both sides staring at each other across an imaginary line, waiting for the other to make the first move.

The Waiting Game

In meeting rooms across the world, team members sit silently thinking of improvements they'll never suggest. "That's not my job." "No one asked me." "Management wouldn't listen anyway."

Simultaneously, leadership teams draft elaborate programs to "empower employees" and "foster innovation culture."

The result? Employees feel unheard while leaders feel their teams lack drive. Both are right. Both are wrong. Both are trapped in a cycle neither created but both perpetuate.

The Permission Problem

Here's the truth: real leadership has never required permission.

Leadership isn't a title. It's not something bestowed upon you. It's a choice you make every day, regardless of your position.

When you notice a broken process and fix it rather than work around it. That's leadership. When you share knowledge that makes your colleague's work easier. That's leadership. When you question inefficient practices rather than accepting "that's how we've always done it." That's leadership.

The most effective organizations aren't divided into "leaders" and "followers." They're communities where leadership emerges organically from every level.

Stop Asking, Start Testing

I've spent years watching talented people leave companies they love because they couldn't find ways to contribute meaningfully. They tried the official channels – suggestion boxes, innovation programs, leadership initiatives – but found themselves stuck in approval limbo.

The problem isn't a lack of ideas. It's a lack of pathways to test those ideas safely.

This is why we need to Fork our companies. Not to break them or replace them, but to create small, safe experiments that prove value before requiring extensive buy-in.

When you Fork, you:

1. Start small – test improvements in your immediate environment
2. Gather real data – show results, not just theories
3. Build coalitions – find co-signers who see the value
4. Scale gradually – expand what works, abandon what doesn't

Leadership is a Verb, Not a Noun

True organizational transformation happens when we stop treating leadership as something that belongs to certain people and start seeing it as something anyone can do.

Your company doesn't need more people with "leader" in their title. It needs more people willing to act like leaders regardless of title.

• Leaders see problems and address them
• Leaders test solutions instead of just complaining
• Leaders build coalitions rather than waiting for consensus
• Leaders share credit generously and take responsibility privately

Today is Day One

The next time you catch yourself thinking "someone should fix this," remember: that someone is you.

Don't wait for the perfect moment or official permission. Don't wait for leadership to ask for your leadership.

Start today. Start small. Find one thing – a process, a document, a meeting format – that you can improve. Test it. Measure it. Share the results.

Your company isn't just where you work. It's where you spend most of your waking hours. It should reflect your best thinking, not just your compliance.

The leadership your organization needs isn't coming from above. It's already inside you, waiting to be expressed.

Stop waiting. Start leading.

Meaning awaits you.