How Did We Get Here?
- Lisa Askins
- Aug 31
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 2
Why leadership lost its center — and how we find it again.
We didn’t arrive here by chance. The way we see leadership today has slowly changed, shaped by cultural and systemic shifts over the past hundred years.
Once, leadership was a social philosophy rooted in wisdom, moral vision, and the common good. By the mid-twentieth century, it shifted to management science. Efficiency and control became central. Later, with globalization and competition, measurable results became the benchmark of success. Then branding and image elevated leadership as persona, making presence and charisma matter more than depth of character.
At the heart of every culture is the same truth: people create meaning together, and we are responsible for what that meaning becomes. Throughout history, societies have carried this truth in different ways.
Some cultures are rooted in narrative, where belonging is built through story, history, and lineage. Myths of origin, founding events, and heroic figures create continuity across generations. Think of national founding stories or epics like the Iliad.
Other cultures are rooted in practice, where belonging comes from shared cycles of action. Continuity renews again and again through place, kinship, and ritual. Think of communities marking the seasons with festivals, or traditions that bring people back to land and each other through ceremony.
Both are ways of making meaning. Story gives us continuity across time; practice gives us renewal in each generation. Story binds us through memory; practice binds us through rhythm. The challenge comes when either hardens into ideology or when responsibility is forgotten. Story can be twisted. Ritual can become empty.
The task of leadership is not to avoid meaning making, but to take responsibility for it and create meaning with clarity and integrity, so what we pass forward strengthens life instead of diminishing it.
This brings us to our context. Our culture values performance and image. Belonging depends less on lineage or ritual and more on productivity, visibility, and achievement. Here, meaning comes from what we do and how we present ourselves, not from who we are or what we carry forward together.
Our shared points of connection are often invisible, fragile, or fleeting. We may work side by side yet feel isolated. We may succeed by external measures yet feel like we don’t belong. Without story or practice to bind us, only the thinnest ties remain.
This has consequences for leadership. When effectiveness is elevated above integrity, when presence is valued above responsibility, leadership risks becoming hollow. The threads of wisdom, conscience, and shared responsibility fray, leaving us with leaders who are celebrated for direction and execution but not necessarily trusted for character.
This is the culture we live in now. Naming it matters—because only when we see the bigger picture can we begin to choose a different path. And if we want leadership to mean more than image or efficiency, we must turn hidden connections into real community and ground it in responsibility and relationship, not just in execution.
Here is where the work begins:
We notice where performance is valued more than responsibility, and where speed is valued more than care.
We remember by bringing story and practice back into our communities. We remind each other not just of what we do, but of who we are.
We choose integrity, compassion, dignity, and responsibility. These are not distant ideals, but daily habits in how we speak, decide, and lead.
Each beginning restores a thread. Over time, the weave strengthens. And in that strengthening, leadership finds its center again.
Let’s talk. If you’re navigating change and want to lead with more clarity, confidence, and connection, I’d love to support your next step.
