Is This Leadership? Rethinking Power, Purpose, and Public Office

I’ve heard it more times than I can count: “If you want to make change, you should run for office.” Maybe you’ve heard it too. It’s usually said with conviction, sometimes even with admiration. I’ve had people say it to me directly, a suggestion that I should step into that space, take the mantle, and lead from the front. And yet, every time, something in me pauses.

Not because I don’t care. I care deeply. I care about justice, dignity, community, and the collective flourishing of people and planet. But as I observe the current landscape of elected leadership, I keep wondering: Is this really the only way? Is it the best way? Who else? What else?

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth I see far too often: people are running for office, winning elections, gaining titles—and yet, they are not leading with us. They’re not deeply listening. They’re not gathering people across difference. They’re not holding space for uncertainty, contradiction, and growth. They’re not coming in curious. They’re coming in certain—certain they are right, and others are wrong. Certain that leadership is about control and correctness, not connection and co-creation.

And then there’s the matter of ego. Sometimes it’s obvious from the start—rhetoric laced with “I” instead of “we,” an obsession with image over impact. But even those who enter with humble intentions can quickly find themselves ensnared in the machinery of visibility and performance. Leadership becomes less about service and more about status.

So I find myself asking, not just who should run, but how should we lead?

Because I believe leadership is not fundamentally about a position or title. Leadership is about relationship. About capacity. About being able to hold tension, to invite multiple truths, to honor the wisdom of the margins and the stories that rarely make headlines.

The best leaders I know don’t walk into the room believing they have the answer. They walk in committed to finding the answer together. They build power with, not over. They understand that the strength of a leader lies not in how loudly they speak, but in how deeply they listen, and in how willing they are to be changed by what they hear.

That’s not the kind of leadership we often see in our elected systems today. And maybe that’s why people are disillusioned. Maybe that’s why so many are opting out, staying quiet, or pulling away from public life altogether. But if we believe a better world is possible, we can’t just walk away. We have to imagine new ways of showing up and holding up leadership.

So what does that look like?

It starts by expanding our definitions, recognizing that leadership happens in a circle, not just on a stage. That leadership is listening just as much as it is speaking. That leadership is being in service of the whole, not just your base, your party, or your agenda.

It looks like electing people not for their charisma, but for their character. For their willingness to be accountable. For their track record of collaboration. For their demonstrated ability to bring people together, not just people who agree with them, but especially people who don’t.

And it looks like remembering that even the most ethical, empathetic leader cannot do it alone. Leadership is not an individual act. It’s a collective ecosystem. If we want better leaders, we have to be better co-leaders. That means showing up. That means challenging and supporting. That means co-creating vision, values, and viable paths forward.

We need a culture shift, away from hero worship and toward shared stewardship. Away from certainty and toward curiosity. Away from ego and toward empathy.

So yes, maybe some of us should run for office. But more importantly, all of us should rethink what we’re running toward.

Because leadership is not about having the answers.

It’s about being brave enough to ask better questions, together.

So let’s ask together: What kind of leaders do we truly need?

And what kind of co-leaders are we willing to become?