05/17/2026
You know what's exhausting? Trying to be the leader everyone expects you to be.
The one who never gets flustered. Who always has the answer. Who runs a perfect organization where nothing ever falls through the cracks.
Anna Quindlen wrote about giving up on perfection, and she's talking about something most of us don't want to admit: we're spending so much energy trying to look like we have it all together that we've forgotten who we actually are.
Maybe you're a leader who needs to think things through before making a decision, but you force yourself to be decisive on the spot because that's what "strong leaders" do. Maybe you're naturally collaborative, but you think you have to have all the answers yourself. Maybe you actually care about work-life balance, but you're performing hustle culture because that's what gets respect.
Stop performing. Start leading like yourself.
Your team doesn't need a perfect leader. They need an honest one. One who admits when they don't know. One who leads in a way that feels true to who they are, not who LinkedIn says they should be.
This week, pick one thing you've been doing because you think you're "supposed to" and try doing it your way instead. See what happens.
๐ท Photo via: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/23/books/review/nanaville-anna-quindlen.html