Speaker 1: Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
Speaker 1: performance through strong human relations, team building, and goal achieving.
Speaker 1: This is the seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Speaker 1: Paul Fellovaledo.
Speaker 2: Hello everyone, and welcome to the seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
Speaker 2: It's episode four forty eight. Today's episode might sound a
Speaker 2: little heavy, but I promise to make it clear, real
Speaker 2: and relevant. We're talking about existentialism and how it applies
Speaker 2: to leadership, and don't let the word scare you off.
Speaker 2: This isn't a college philosophy lecture. This is about how
Speaker 2: your choice is, your identity and your responsibility to find
Speaker 2: who you are as a leader, and more importantly, how
Speaker 2: that affects everyone around you. Let's break it down. What
Speaker 2: is existentialism. Existentialism is a philosophical concept that says this,
Speaker 2: you are responsible for creating meaning in your life through
Speaker 2: your actions. No one is coming to hand it to you.
Speaker 2: There's no pre written rule book, there's no magic title
Speaker 2: that makes you a leader. It's you and you are
Speaker 2: the author. In other words, existentialism is about choice, accountability,
Speaker 2: and authenticity. The idea is simple, you exist, You make choices,
Speaker 2: and those choices define who you are. Period full stop.
Speaker 2: So how does this connect to leadership? Let's talk about that.
Speaker 2: You have to remember leadership is a daily choice. You
Speaker 2: weren't born a leader, nobody is. You choose to lead
Speaker 2: every day. You wake up and decide how you're going
Speaker 2: to show up. Are you going to step up or
Speaker 2: step back? Are you going to hide behind your title
Speaker 2: or are you going going to earn it? In existential terms,
Speaker 2: your leadership isn't something you have, it's something you do.
Speaker 2: You lead by choosing to take responsibility, by choosing to serve,
Speaker 2: by choosing to show up with courage even when it's uncomfortable.
Speaker 2: And another thing to remember is the existential leader owns
Speaker 2: their impact. An existential leader never says, well that's just
Speaker 2: the way I am or that's not my fault. Those
Speaker 2: are phrases of avoidance. Existential leadership says, if I made
Speaker 2: a mistake, I own it. If something needs to change,
Speaker 2: I'll lead the way. If someone is struggling, I'll be
Speaker 2: the first to check in. You don't get to blame
Speaker 2: the system, the policy, or the people. You are the system.
Speaker 2: You shape the culture. You create the space where people
Speaker 2: either thrive or suffer. This isn't pressure fact. And another
Speaker 2: existential idea is this. Authenticity is the core. You must
Speaker 2: be true to yourself, and that's huge in leadership. You've
Speaker 2: probably had bosses who were fake, who wore a mask
Speaker 2: at work. Maybe they acted one way in meetings and
Speaker 2: another behind closed doors. That's not leadership, that's performance. Real
Speaker 2: leadership means bringing your whole, authentic self into the room.
Speaker 2: People follow people who are real, people who are grounded
Speaker 2: in their values, people who say what they mean and
Speaker 2: do what they say. Existential leadership forces you to ask
Speaker 2: who am I really? And am I leading in a
Speaker 2: way that matches that? And here's another one. Freedom and
Speaker 2: responsibility go hand in hand. Existentialists believe in freedom of choice,
Speaker 2: but with freedom comes responsibility. As a leader, you have
Speaker 2: free them to act, but every choice has a ripple effect.
Speaker 2: If you slack off, the team feels it. If you gossip,
Speaker 2: it spreads. If you show up late or unprepared, it
Speaker 2: becomes the norm. But on the flip side, if you
Speaker 2: choose clarity, accountability, and empathy, the team levels up. They
Speaker 2: follow your example, not your words. In leadership, you don't
Speaker 2: get to control everything, but you do control how you respond.
Speaker 2: That's the heartbeat of existential leadership. Let me give you
Speaker 2: three questions to take with you from this episode. Use
Speaker 2: these in your leadership journal, your morning routine, or your
Speaker 2: next self check in. Who am I choosing to be
Speaker 2: today as a leader? What actions will I take that
Speaker 2: reflect the leader I want to become? And what am
Speaker 2: I avoiding? And what would it mean to face it?
Speaker 2: These aren't corporate checklists questions. These are human questions. That's
Speaker 2: what existential leadership is. It brings the human side of
Speaker 2: leadership to the surface. So I've said this dozens of
Speaker 2: times in past episodes. You don't need a corner office
Speaker 2: to be a leader. You don't need a fancy degree.
Speaker 2: You need one thing, the courage to lead yourself first.
Speaker 2: That's existentialism. It's not about reading the rule book. It's
Speaker 2: about writing it. Not someday, not when you get promoted.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 2: So here's your challenge. Stop waiting to be told what
Speaker 2: to do, Choose who you are, then act like it.
Speaker 2: That's the kind of leadership the world remembers. This has
Speaker 2: been the seven minute Leadership podcast, and I thank you
Speaker 2: for listening.
Speaker 1: For more Paul Fell of Alito Podcasts, visit paulfellowalito dot com.