Many in education follow the work of Brene Brown––showing up with vulnerability and the accompanying courage. She often cites a quote from Theodore Roosevelt, from his speech titled Citizen in a Republic:
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
What is the work of leadership? What does it look like when a leader is “in the arena”?
Brown provides some insights into the answers to these questions in this talk.
- It’s not about winning or losing. It’s about showing up and being seen.
- If you are going to show up and be seen, there is only one guarantee: you will get your ass kicked.
- If you’re not in the arena also getting your ass kicked, I”m not interested in your feedback.
Leadership is about doing the work; creating something new, transforming systems. It may be different work than other roles in the system, but leaders get their hands dirty; they are marred by the “dust and sweat and blood” like everyone else doing the work. Doing the work takes courage because it often means pushing back on the status quo, winning some battles while losing others. It requires decisions that are not always popular and guided by a greater vision that others may need more time to enroll in.
Brown’s final point proves valuable as a means of managing the fallout from showing up. Who is actually doing the work as well? Who is exercising courage and being vulnerable? Listen and reflect on that feedback. But there are far too many “thought leaders” in the “cheap seats” who have no skin in the game and who are often more than willing to share their opinions on how you should be leading and what should be going on in your organization. Unless you’re leading something, I’m really not interested in your feedback. Leadership means having a practice and doing the work.
How are you showing up and being seen? Are you in the arena or in the cheap seats?
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