Different Rhythms

When I was younger and far less experienced, I believed leadership meant setting the pace for everyone else. If I worked seven days a week, I expected my team to match my rhythm. If they didn’t, I questioned their commitment.

Over time, wisdom arrived quietly. Not everyone runs on your clock. My urgent isn’t their urgent. While I may be optimizing every working hour toward outcomes and goals, others might be optimizing for presence, relationships, or balance. To each his own.

Leadership isn’t about imposing your tempo; it’s about recognizing that people have different meters, different seasons, and different sources of drive.

As a leader, when you stop expecting everyone to move like you, something shifts—you start seeing how each person adds their own rhythm to the collective beat. The team becomes richer, more resilient, and surprisingly, more in sync.