Dave Kashen argues that a leader's energy sets the ceiling for their team's creativity and performance. He pushes back on using authenticity as an excuse to stay comfortable, saying leaders need to expand their capacity by adopting higher-energy behaviors to lift their teams.
If your team's performance is not where you want it to be, try looking at your own energy. Your energy is the ceiling for your team's energy, their level of creativity, aliveness, engagement. And so if you're capped out at your energy, you're going to be a ceiling for the team and limit theirs. And one thing a lot of leaders I work with say is, well, that's just not me. That's just not authentic. Bullshit. It's just not comfortable. And a lot of leaders use the idea of authenticity as an excuse to stay in their comfort zone. It doesn't feel authentic because you haven't been that way before. But a lot of leaders will say, well, I'm not the cheerleader type, or I'm not the loud, big energy type. Well, learn to be. As you become willing to get outta your comfort zone, you'll expand your capacity and you'll therefore raise the ceiling for how alive, energized, and ultimately the level of performance of your team.
