AJ Enslin

There is a side of leadership we spend a lot of time learning about because it's relatively easy to see. We learn how to communicate, manage people, build teams, set goals, make decisions and create a culture people want to be part of. There are books, courses and entire industries built around helping us become better at those things. Then there is another side of leadership that is much harder to put into a framework. Why did that person's criticism bother me so much? Why do I keep stepping...

For a long time, I thought leadership began when someone gave you something to lead. A business. A team. A church. A nonprofit. Maybe just a handful of people who suddenly looked to you for answers you weren't entirely sure you had. I've had the privilege of leading all of those in one form or another, and looking back, I don't think that's where leadership began at all. By the time people start following you, much of the groundwork has already been laid. You bring yourself with you. Your...

When we're young, success seems fairly straightforward. Build the business, earn more money, buy the house, reach the next promotion, achieve the goal. There's nothing wrong with any of those things. The question is what happens after you've done them. I've met people who were incredibly successful and quietly empty. I've also met people who had very little by the world's standards but whose lives had influenced hundreds of others. The difference wasn't achievement. It was significance....