Full Circle Leadership

Summary

A framework for understanding diverse leadership and project life-cycles in collaborative groups and emergent environments.

My friend is the ultimate ‘Dreamer’ — always thinking big, a million ideas a minute. This is in contrast to myself, a ‘Doer’ who jumps straight to assessing the feasibility of practical implementation. Until then, I’d seen us on two ends of a spectrum, representing conflicting approaches. Our community is full of visionaries, and I’d often felt frustrated by what I saw as unfocused hype and distraction.

But that day, my friend shared with me how challenging it is to constantly feel pressure to think big, to be the one urging people not to undershoot and miss opportunity. There was a deep calling there, a courageous optimism. He longed for a bit of structure to channel his energy, but didn’t know how to create it for himself. Similarly, I shared with him my struggles of constantly chasing after fire starters with a bucket of water, and insecurities about being too risk-averse.