"Leader".
One of the most overused words in business, politics, and social media.
Everyone with a title, a team, or a bank account now calls themselves a leader.
Spoiler: 99% of them are not.
Real leadership is not about status, followers, or money. It is about carrying a weight that most people cannot see... and even fewer can handle.
What leadership is NOT
Leadership is not management.
Directing people or assigning tasks makes you a manager, not a leader.
Leadership is not wealth.
Having money or power does not mean you inspire others or can hold a team through chaos.
Leadership is not a label.
The louder someone calls themselves a leader, the less likely they are one.
What TRUE leadership looks like
A true leader is operational under pressure
No matter the crisis, the uncertainty, or the chaos, a real leader finds resources within themselves. They switch into operational mode when others freeze.
No blame game
Leaders don't waste time pointing fingers. They absorb responsibility and move forward.
Hands in the mud
Leadership means getting dirty when necessary. Not watching from a safe distance, but acting in the mess, at the frontline.
Carrying invisible costs
The sleepless nights, the risk of being wrong, the loneliness of decision-making. True leaders pay this price silently.
Sacrifice over comfort
Leadership is not glamorous. It demands reputation, energy, even health at times. It means living with constant vigilance.
Strength through vulnerability
This is one of the less understood characteristics of leadership, and a paradox of power: a leader holds position not because they are invincible, but because they act even when they doubt.
The Grey Zone of leadership
Real leadership lives in the Grey Zone: this place of ambiguity, incomplete information, and no guarantees.
Leaders act without certainty, they move without applause.
They also are ready to pay the high price of failure and everything that comes with it. They bear the weight others would never accept for 24 hours.
Being a leader is not about how many people follow you...
It's about whether you can hold the charge: when everything collapses, when no one has answers, when the cost is invisible.
True leadership is a burden.
To the leaders reading me here, I deeply respect you.
Stay lucid,
Oriane