The Leadership Table
- Vernon C. Lindsay, PhD
- 13 hours ago
- 3 min read
When collective leadership voices sit at the table, everyone eats. The self-centered leader cares only about their own meal or stake in the product, service, or mission. While independence is essential to initiating tasks, interdependence is critical to lasting success.
If we embrace the connective components of leadership, we can go further as individuals, groups, and a nation. Unfortunately, in many instances, we’ve adopted self-destructive behaviors. The finite aspects of our lives support small perspectives and poor decisions.
Where does this come from? Consider the war in Iran, the Shreveport, Louisiana, tragedy, domestic violence in Fairfax, Virginia, the mass shooting in Ukraine, and the calls for better leadership become painfully obvious. We don’t need bifocals to see challenges across political parties, communities, and terrains.
Among the troubling incidents of this week, the domestic violence cases in Shreveport, Louisiana, and Fairfax, Virginia, hit me hard. At the center of both instances lies a broken mental health system and warped understandings of masculinity. If we prioritize increasing access and improving the quality of holistic health programs and services, we can address many of the challenges impacting Black men and other members of vulnerable communities.
As a Black man in America, I feel the responsibility to do more. I can’t rely on leadership from the White House. Instead, I must write, propose ideas, and act to address problems.
This week, I wrote an article for PsychDiscourse about the cases and had conversations with other Black men and my sons about the deaths in Louisiana and Virginia. From these discussions, I also explored options to impact health and wellness programs.
Pain often precedes corrective actions. We hate suffering but recognize that sometimes it’s necessary to improve our lives.
Thinking about working out. It’s often not enjoyable, but to achieve results, it’s crucial.
This week’s news came to me while at the gym.
While running on the treadmill, I looked up. My feet tapped the surface below while the news ran above. CNN played on the TV screen, and I read the caption while completing an interval speed training run.
Amid the dim lighting, my fellow gym rats talked, lifted weights, flirted, and took long breaks between sets while on their phones. I pushed myself for 33 minutes, pressed stop on the torture/treadmill, and then went in search of an empty bench. On a Sunday morning before 8 am, the gym was crowded, so I had to change my routine.
After my cardio and strength workouts, I moved to the dance studio and practiced capoeira. Building from a previous day’s batizado ceremony, I drilled kicks, escapes, and acrobatic movements. Another twenty minutes passed quickly; I stretched, then cleaned up and headed to my children’s swim meet.
Less than twenty-four hours later, I returned to the gym. My son and wife joined me for an early Monday morning session. While warming up, the Shreveport tragedy flashed across the screen.
How could someone kill eight children and shoot two women? Within seconds, I questioned the motive behind the murders. I guessed domestic violence played a role.
Later, I learned of the details regarding the tragedy. A father, struggling with mental health challenges, murdered his children and shot others. As he attempted to escape from the police pursuit, officers killed him.
Death invoked life into these ideas on leadership, health, and wellness. We must do better with deconstructing masculinity myths and improving the mental health system. Our current approach may feed ourselves and our families, but what about everyone else?
The people are starving.
Ubuntu says, “I am, because or therefore we are.” It’s a way of thinking, knowing, and being that fosters collective connectedness.
Create a wellness circle, prioritize group spiritual practices, find a gym partner, invest in books, courses, or other materials that support leadership development. Subscribe to this blog and receive next week’s post delivered to your inbox.
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