Rethinking Leadership: What If We've Got It All Wrong?

Debra works in transformation, helping organizations move from strategy to real, workable outcomes. Her career spans tier-one banks and complex, regulated environments, where she focuses on bringing structure, clarity, and follow-through to large-scale initiatives.

  Leadership  

Everyone has an opinion about what makes a great leader.

Open LinkedIn and brace yourself for the tsunami of posts: "10 signs you're not ready to lead." "The 7 traits every great leader shares." "Harvard studies reveal top leadership styles in the era of AI."

Articles. Checklists. Frameworks. Leadership has become both a buzzword and a blueprint. It used to be lived, now it's branded.

For those leading transformation programs (or PMOs/VMOs/TMOs), it's even more layered. We're told to be servant leaders, strategic visionaries, change agents, and organizational coaches—all while delivering complex portfolios on time, on budget, and within scope.

But is it really that complicated?

It's a catch-22. The deeper we dig into leadership theory, the more help we seem to need to unravel it. I think we've over-engineered the idea of leadership.

The Stewardship Mindset
For me, real leadership comes down to one thing: stewardship.

Not authority. Not charisma. Not a checklist of traits or titles. Not even the ability to facilitate a flawless retrospective or manage up effectively.

It's a mindset. And mindsets aren't measured in bullet points. It's about taking ownership, not just of deliverables, but of people, organizational culture, sustainable change, and long-term impact. As AI and automation …

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