THE NATIONAL LEADERSHIP NETWORK

by Lee Davidson

Leadership, for me, has never been about titles or positions. It’s been a slow, soul-deep becoming, shaped by lived experience, not in spite of it. I’ve walked through spaces that told me my story was too much, too raw, too complicated. I’ve felt the sting of systems that flatten people into data points, that speak of “resilience” while quietly eroding the spirit. 

I’ve met the glass ceiling that’s been rebranded with well-meaning language, a silent suggestion that lived experience is valuable, but only within certain limits.

But I’ve never bought into that.

Because my story isn’t a limitation, it’s my strength. I’ve learned to carry it not as a weight, but as a compass. 

It has taught me the unshakeable worth of my own humanity and, in turn, how to see and honour the humanity in others and love them fiercely. 

I’ve learned that leadership isn’t about leading from the front, but about walking alongside, listening deeply, holding space, and co-creating something better.

In a world that can so often forget its own heart, I’ve found beauty in the simple, radical act of connection. 

In the courage it takes to stay soft in hard places. In the moments where we look at each other and say, “I see you. I hear you. You matter and so do I.”

I’ve come to believe that creating spaces of mutual respect, understanding, and dignity isn’t just work , it’s a calling. 

And underneath it all, there’s something deeper. A word that feels too small for what it is: love.

Love, not as sentiment, but as presence. As action. As the quiet, defiant choice to see people as whole, even when the world tries to break them into pieces. 

Love isn’t easy to describe. Maybe that’s because it’s not meant to be spoken , only felt. It lives in the spaces between words. In the way we show up. In the way we stay.

This is the journey. A rising. A remembering. A returning to who we’ve always been.

🦋