“He simply picked us and joined us”
Seth Godin on Chip Conley
This week Chip Conley and his friend Seth Godin are collaborating on a series of mini-blogs on Chip’s “Wisdom Well” site.
This week I was also on a video call with a client who is looking to mine their diamond, their singular gift, a special task almost impossible to do alone, hence I am coaching and supporting them on their quest.
Now, this client also (the world can be small!) knows Chip, so it occurred to me to read from one of Chip and Seth’s posts. In particular, to note that I felt the tiny statement by Seth that I “mined” from it is a singular gift that only Chip can do the way Chip does it.
Chip leads by picking people and then joining them. He has a great instinct for people, then when he is in the room with them, he is as curious and intrigued by learning from them as by sharing his own wisdom. He truly joins them, in energy and discussion.
For the full blog, I’ve shared it below, along with a link to the Wisdom Well. I love their short daily blogs, subscription recommended 🙂
Who Leads?
First things first: I was weird. Chip was an all-star. Generous, handsome, smart and ready to open the door for anyone who needed a hand. Second: The real leap in Chip’s search for Wisdom that day at Stanford was going first. Not waiting to be picked, but becoming the picker.
That simple act of wisdom by Chip transformed my life in two ways. First, it connected me with some fellow travelers at a moment when I was totally lost. Those sessions in the anthropology department taught me five times more than I learned in my entire time at Stanford.
But much more than that, Chip’s initiative taught me an essential lesson, one of leadership and humility. He never hogged a spotlight, never sought to profit from his role as the leader. He simply picked us and then joined us.
Leadership isn’t management. Leadership doesn’t require authority (in fact, it often disdains authority). Leadership definitely doesn’t require the right answer. Instead, leadership is where we find wisdom, not the other way around.
Seth Godin, shared on Wisdom Well