Are you comfortable calling yourself a leader? Most people would answer no. Is there something holding you back?

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? ~Marianne Williamson

Is it possible that you’ve touched someone’s life—even changed their life’s trajectory so profoundly—without even realizing it?

And what the heck could leadership possibly have to do with lollipops? And why did I just mention lollipops?

Watch this 6-minute Ted Talk by a guy in a funny hat (Drew Dudley) to find out how one simple gesture might just make you a leader. I can almost guarantee that you’ll be incredibly inspired. You may even find that you deserve to be called a leader.

About Drew Dudley.

“I’ve never thought of what I do as ‘teaching’ leadership,” says Drew. “For me, it’s always been about trying to find a way to help others explore the concept – what it means to them, and to their communities.”

Drew Dudley helps us understand leadership in a more nuanced, practical, and entirely hopeful way.

We’ve made leadership into something bigger than us, something beyond us. We’ve shrouded it in arrogance — turned it into something few of us will publicly admit to possessing. Leadership is now about changing the world and nothing less.

But Dudley, who has spoken at TEDxToronto and other high profile venues, has other ideas. As the founder and director of one of the largest leadership development programs in North America, he embraces the idea that leadership can’t really be taught, only learned — an idea that has resonated with thousands of people over the years.

Dudley has helped raise millions of dollars as the Founder or Chair of several organizations dedicated to supporting scholarship funds, social entrepreneurship and charitable initiatives. During his term as the National Chair of Canada’s largest fundraiser for post-secondary students, Shinerama: Students Fighting Cystic Fibrosis, Dudley and his team broke numerous fundraising records. Now the Founder and Chief Catalyst of Nuance Leadership Inc., he works with dozens of corporations, charities, non-profits, universities, colleges, and other organizations around the world to empower people to increase their leadership capacity. [Source of “About Drew Dudley”: The Lavin Agency]

Photo: The Lavin Agency

Please share your experience with being a leader!

Think about the endless ways we can make a difference in the world. For good!

* Originally posted on my blog, Putting It Out There.