Have you ever had to hold a smile for a photo longer than you wanted to? Your face aches, and all you want is your real face back.

That’s how leadership feels for me sometimes. Some days I’m aligned and energised. Other days it feels like I’m wearing a mask and it is more about performance than presence.

This week I stumbled on the John Maxwell 5 Levels of Leadership framework, my eyes quickly rummaged through to figure out what level I am 😁.

At the lowest level, people follow because they have to. Somewhere in the middle people follow you for what you have achieved or what you have invested in them. At the highest, they follow out of respect, for who you are and what you represent. One is about position. The other is about influence🤔.

As useful as this and other frameworks are, in my experience, leadership does not always follow hard and fast rules or neat and orderly steps. Leadership is a journey; unpredictable, messy, full of highs and lows. Keeping up the smiley face when all you want to do is run away and be free. Sometimes it is even keeping up the angry face when you want to be chilled and easy on issues.

We know what good leadership looks like. We know what poor leadership looks like. But in between is the lived experience.

Where battles are won and lost

Where there are good days and bad days

Where doubts creep in, authenticity wavers

Where growth has to be chosen and can be uncomfortable, even painful.

So, the real question for me isn’t just what leadership level are you on? It is, how do you keep leading without it becoming a mask or a performance?

Because wearing masks can be more exhausting than doing the actual work…unless of course you are a performing artist.

Or is performance part of leadership?

Is leadership about the mask you wear? Or is it about the courage to take it off?

For me, the answer is still unfolding.

What about you? How has leadership felt for you lately? real and energising, or more like a mask?