At its core, leadership is influence. And influence isn’t earned through authority alone - it’s cultivated through consistency, ethics, discipline, and a lifestyle others want to emulate. Take a temperature check and ask yourself: Do I know what my priorities are? Am I authentic or mere rhetoric? What am I avoiding in my leadership right now? Where do I feel most alive and most drained? What feedback have I received that I haven’t yet integrated?

There’s a proverb that says, “Where there are no oxen, the stalls are clean.” In other words, life is messy - especially human life. And that mess? It’s a commonality that makes us real. And when vulnerable authenticity is present, trust follows.

Empathy greatly impacts our communication and connection which in turn form the basis of all influential leadership