From 'I' to 'We'

Gary Burnison is CEO of Korn Ferry and the author of Love, Hope & Leadership: A Special Edition.

“It is the tremendous and expressed support of friends and colleagues, both past and present, that has sustained me through this most difficult event of my life.”

These were the words shared with me just a few days ago by a dear friend and colleague who recently lost her husband.

Leafing through one of her husband’s favorite books, she came across an Albert Einstein quote he had carefully highlighted—and it spoke to her deeply:

“Brief is this existence, like a brief visit in a strange house. The path to be pursued is poorly lit by a flickering consciousness whose center is the limiting and separating ‘I.’ When a group of individuals becomes a ‘we,’ a harmonious whole, they have reached as high as humans can reach.”

As we reflect on our own lives, no doubt we’ve all had those moments when someone stepped in and believed—in us and for us. The fact is our primary role as leaders is inspiring others to believe and enabling that belief to become reality.

So, what does that look like?

Lost in unfamiliar territory, we are the stranger’s guidance. Stressed and overwhelmed, we are the one who reaches out. Worried and concerned, we are the compassionate friend. And when the way forward is unclear, it’s our responsibility to extend a hand to others.

This is the essence of leadership.

Of course, we all have different leadership styles. In fact, our firm’s research, drawing on assessments of hundreds of thousands of leaders in more than 2,000 organizations around the world, has identified six overall leadership styles: directive, participative, visionary, pacesetting, affiliative, and coaching.

But inherent in every behavior and style is belief. It must be our opening act of leadership, and the encore that transforms self-interest into shared interest—the sense of “we’re all in this together.”

Believing in someone is an expression of confidence. But believing for someone is a purposeful action.

And when others are drowning in doubt—that’s when we believe for them. Fear turns into confidence, ambivalence into motivation, despair into joy.

Indeed, that’s how we turn “I” into “We.”

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