September 27, 2018 | Read Time: 3 minutes
Many Western cultures disproportionately value individuality, putting tremendous stock in singular leaders or celebrities (think: Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, George Washington, Che Guevara, Gandhi).
In reality, however, powerful social-change movements are the work of a collective, and the brainchild of many committed and brave individuals. The most visible leaders become icons, but rarely do they alone drive lasting change. When leaders mentor other leaders to succeed them, as Socrates did for Aristotle, and Aristotle for Plato, the impact can be transformative. (Those three, for example, arguably formed the foundation for much of our modern thinking and philosophy.)
When I look at the high-profile movements around me today — Black Lives Matter, equal opportunities for the LGBTQ community, Parkland, the Tea Party, the immigrant “Dreamers,” the Arab Spring — I find it difficult to name a single leader at the helm.
As susceptible as any of us to the myth of the singular leader, I found this realization disconcerting at first.
I started to look more closely into these movements. As I did, I started to see a formula: First, we progress at an accelerated rate when leaders enable others around them to be leaders as well, rather than focusing on being the most visible figureheads. Second, progress is unstoppable when leaders cultivate other leaders to carry the work forward. Third, leadership can come from anywhere: young people, the media, the retired, parents, you, and me. If we were to push to find one, we would find the movement being led by a group of stand-up comedians!
Inspired by the stories of successful leaders who “lead from behind” and enable others, I decided to try it out myself.
My “choice” was driven in part by necessity. About five years ago, my friend and colleague Robin Chaurasiya and I, working from our two-bedroom apartment in Mumbai, started Kranti, an organization with the goal of empowering victims of sex trafficking to be social-change leaders. For the first couple of years, we were cooking three meals a day for the girls, taking them to school, doing homework with them, taking them to art and dance classes, writing fundraising proposals at night, and running around to partnership meetings on Sundays. We burnt ourselves out. I took another job and only supported Kranti part time. Robin took some time to go through therapy, coaching, and meditation, and came back to Kranti a different kind of leader.
We knew we had to put the empowerment model into place or risk losing any hope of impact.
Now, the older girls take the younger ones to school, help them with homework, and go to their Parent-Teacher Association meetings. Each girl runs her own fundraising page on Global Giving and writes reports to the donors. They self-organized and divided the household chores. The girls are traveling the world and delivering talks on their right to an education, against caste and class discrimination, and working to heal other victims of sexual abuse like themselves.
This is now a bona fide movement, with marginalized girls becoming the social-change leaders for our generation, and it feels unstoppable. I might leave, Robin might retire, but the movement will go on. Sumaiya and Saira and Ashi and Sapna and Kavita or any number of other girls who are now empowered will lead it, enabling other younger girls to become leaders along with and after them.
That, to me, is leadership.
To learn more, visit LeaderStories.org