Editor’s note: When I started “The Porch” twenty years ago, and as I have written each one of the over 240 issues since, I have pictured two of us sitting on the same porch in changing conditions – simply pondering the issues of business and life. There have only been two issues when I have leaned into current news as the basis for the article. The timing of those two “first-Thursdays-of-the-month” would have been tone deaf to do otherwise. They have also proven to be the kind of moment where the veneer of our everyday life is ripped-away offering us the ability to see more clearly. More honestly. More truthfully. This is the third time.

No society, in the history of the human species, has ever had more information available on what it takes to be a leader. There are models, tools, lists of skills, and supposedly well-researched instruments with sophisticated algorithms that feed a leader all they need to know to lead. This includes a plethora of content on servant leadership.

You would think, with all those resources, that we would live in an era of a plethora of incredible leaders.  By this point, they should be a dime-a-dozen.  What might be the greatest test of the “quality of the quantity” is in just how stunned you are … how moved you are … when you actually see an incredible leader. I would propose that the great assessment of a leader is defined by their WITH-NESS.  As in …

Are you WITH us? All of us.

Here I mean WITH in the purest, deepest since of the word. This is a WITH that doesn’t look in the mirror of leadership and think about “me” … it is one that looks out over everyone and longs to have a deeper connection with the “we.”

I think it’s been evident this week that we have seen a stunning and heroic example of this in Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine. The example of the WITH in his leadership is undeniable. The fact that his rare example of leadership is so stunning, should be a lesson to all of us that is deeply telling.

You don’t have to look very far back to see that Zelensky didn’t stumble across a powerful dose of humble courage this week. You can look just two years ago into the words he, no doubt, conscientiously chose for his 2019 Inaugural Speech.  As he carefully articulated his vision, he wasn’t only talking to the impressive majority of 73% of the electorate who voted for him … he made it clear that he was talking to 100% of his fellow citizens.  He made his humility even further clear in that it was he who was their fellow citizen as he shared that everyone was president now — a phrase that he thoughtfully stole from his 6-year-old son.

I trust that Volodymyr Zelensky would be the first to admit he is far from being a perfect human being. Yet, he is delivering to us a perfect example of leadership at a time where the cost to himself — and even more terrifying in the cost to his incredibly beautiful family – simply could not be any higher.

This moment of history is being played out right in the middle of our own lives.  Like many other alarming moments in history – it will come and go. But this is not only a moment in history. It is a teachable moment.

It is a lesson in leadership that needs to live on.

It should cause each one of us to take pause – especially every chairman of the board, every CEO, every organizational leader at any level, every university president, every pastor … and yes, every politician – and ask: How much WITH is in my leadership? Not the “with” as in being with my few, but rather the WITH as in being WITH everyone.

Every part of me wants to suggest that this should be a wake-up call to all of us in what each of us should demand from a leader. It would be nice, but I would propose that it can’t be demanded.  It doesn’t come from the outside.

It must come from the leader’s own inside.

And here-in lies the problem. Deep inner work is not easy … and for the majority, it’s not a priority. I’m not talking about taking instruments or exploring models.  Those can certainly be helpful data points, but they will never replace the deep ongoing meticulous, messy, and sometimes muddy inner work that connects us to our core. It is a humbling and sometimes humiliating experience. That is why the dearth of humility that we see amongst leaders, who stand on large platforms today, reveals the lack of depth of their leadership. And in those rare occasions where we do a second take when we see a humble leader, many are quick to label them as weak … all too quickly forgetting a profound spiritual teaching that in my weakness I am strong.

The greatest essence of leadership isn’t learned in a book.  It is discovered when we choose to go inside and find the humility which eventually connects us to our core. This past week hasn’t been a lesson just for leaders. I would propose it is a once-in-a-lifetime lesson for each one of us.

Perhaps my favorite part of Volodymyr Zelensky’s Inaugural Address was a humble moment in which he shared this advice to his fellow citizens: I do not want my picture in your offices. The President is not an icon, an idol, or a portrait. Hang your kids’ photos instead and look at them each time you are making a decision.

Not only is it great advice, but it’s also a stark and heartbreaking reminder of the cost of the depth of his leadership. I pray that he can look into the pictures of his two precious children for years to come. It isn’t guaranteed and he certainly knows that.  It should give every leader – and each one of us – a reason to want to dig ever deeper. He has certainly given each of us an example to dig WITH.

As always, I’D LOVE to hear your comments, insights, and wisdom. Please SHARE BELOW.