Professional Documents
Culture Documents
lead
how to
without followers
By
Dave Ursillo
Lead Without Followers (formerly, The Quiet Leader) is what I call an alternative leadership philosophy: a radical redefinition of what it means to be a leader. In a world that desperately needs a new generation of selfless, inspired and dedicated leaders, my new book Lead Without Followers (September 2011) empowers men and women in any and every walk of life to become genuine, effective and influential leadersevery day. This philosophy is the culmination of the last 3 years of my life. Its why I started blogging. Its why I quit a job I hated, abandoned a life of unhappiness and have dedicated every minute of every day to share this positive message with the world. But youll learn more about all of that as you read on :) This e-book is a brief introduction to the Lead Without Followers philosophy. I was inspired to hire the very talented Lisa Valuyskaya of IdeaStylist to design this e-book as a free gift for my blog readers, friends and fellow World Domination Summit attendees after nearly 100 positive comments, hundreds more ReTweets and Facebook Shares of this simple, informal blog postan imaginary speech I never gave. For your warm support over the years, thank you. Rest assured: This story is just beginning. :)
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave by Dave Ursillo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at www.daveursillo.com.
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
Introduction
How do you tell a conference of 500 of some of the most talented and ambitious game-changers around thatin spite of their noble aims, world-shifting aspirations
And yet, as I sat in the crowd in Portland this past weekas one of five-hundred facesI couldnt help but drift into vivid daydreams of what I would say, and how I would say it, as if I was on that stage after all.
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
After red-eyeing back to Boston from Portland early one morning, I wrote the speech as it flowed to the forefront of my mind; raw and hardly-formatted, authentic and in free form. Read it in your head as you would on stage, in a group, in front of a crowd or however you please.
theres a sensation of unabashed unity, a common denominator among us, a shared foundation of support and learning that makes us each a complete equal to those sitting around you. you share a passion,
an interest, a hobby, an appreciation of, and upon that humble basis you are suddenly interwoven with hundreds and thousands of amazing and unique people, in a very special way.
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
in spite of the titles and taglines of all of the wonderful workshops and spectacular speeches this weekend in Portland, you know, I really dont think that special feeling we all feel has been about attracting a following or gaining popularity or achieving mega-noticeable goals.
what has united us is far less about writing and speaking, or tweeting and SEOing.
Lead in your field, lead in your line of work, lead your life, lead among your communities, lead in your industry
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
Yes, every one of these speakers is here to intrigue you, to entice you, to encourage you and to absolutely implore and even demand you to lead. Think to the shared message each presenter has spoken, the true reason that drew us here and that we each feel cascading and flowing between us in this room:
take personal responsibility, take the initiative, take charge, take the time, take a chance, take advantage of the moment, take hold of all of the wonderful opportunities that lay before you.
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
......fair point :)
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
Before we go any further, we should step back. I want to introduce myself and tell you a little bit about my story. after all, the reason were all here is to connect with one another as human beings, and to share our human stories. my name is Dave Ursillo (since youve all probably already forgotten) Im a 25-year-old writer from Rhode Island currently living in Boston, Massachusetts. And outside of simply calling myself a writer because writing is truly my deepest passion in life, I suppose I would also call myself a leader.
and suddenly, being the best leader that I could be in a world that appeared to so desperately need it became the single biggest, solitary priority in my young life.
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
i found problems and had qualms with just about every one of these experiences, and was ultimately turned away from themor simply realized i was not passionate enough to invest my entire life into them as fully as i possibly could have.
why couldnt i seem to find any true fit for my deep-rooted passions for helping people, and serving others, and doing good, and making positive change in the world? why could i not find the right field of leadership that suited my talents and skills, as well as my passions and drives?
i was sitting in my really nice apartment in the nations capital, feeling very lonely, and lost, and helpless.
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
so, as a true writer, i grabbed my journal. it was a cool night but i wanted to be outside so i wheeled my computer chair onto my little cement patio, bundled up a bit and wrote to the glow of the street lights below.
i remember replaying the experiences i just described to you, over and over again in my head. all those fields of leadership. politics, government, journalism, military, athletics and i tried in that moment to find the missing link.. the hiding key what was evading me so well and spinning me into a confused and desperate state at 22 years of age. and then, i remember writing,
you see, ingrained in my mind was a social paradigm, a cultural meme, something that dictated i was a follower, not a leader. that i needed to work my way up to be any sort of real leader. that i needed to play the game, invest my entire life proving something to someone for some set of reasons i didnt agree with, but were (apparently) unquestionably unchangeable, static, stagnant, permanent and forever.
but everywhere i had been looking, there were rules, regulations, confinements and constrictions that made you play the game.
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
11
in a system that requires you to play games with real human beings, encourages to throw out your moral character and your values. who even knows if by the point where i could have possibly done some good by elevating my way through that system, reaching some place or position of genuine power and status and influence who knows if Id still be even a shred of my former self or if Id just be another corrupted, compromised player who cut corners and cheated himself out of who he truly was just to get ahead.
moment that i will always remember, without knowing what i was thinking or why, i wrote,
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
12
what is leadership? and what does it really mean for someone to be a leader?
Your drive, your passions, your talents, your loves and wishes and dreams your ability to lead your life by good example, by your own choosing and in your own unique ways...... who says we need anyone elses permission to do that?
does anyone outside of your individual self give you power or permission to take charge, to assume personal responsibility, to take positive action, to fight the status quo, to overcome acts of evil and indifference, to inspire, to take up the torch and carry it on, and on, and on, in the darkest of nights?
No!
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
13
And so for what reason would you ever allow someone to say that youre not a leader because you dont have followers?
and command an audience of hundreds? or wear a fancy suit? or get called Senator or Congressperson? or make a 6-, 7-, or 8-figure salary per year? or drive an expensive car? dont these things what I call social qualifiers of success that we all innately and often subconsciously recognize as qualifying someone as successful and powerful and influential and, thus, an expert or pro or leader arent they the very things that corrupt people, that distract our attention, and cloud our judgement, and stain the purity of our souls?
why should we rely upon these things to tell us and the world at large who are leaders when we can lead by good and noble example more purely and freely and boldly without them??
Dave Ursillo How to Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave Dave UrsilloLead Without Followers: the WorldHow to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
14
.although the name of this session is how to lead without followers the truth is that here today, im not going to deliver the how part, only the why.
of life, with your own ambitions and longings and dreams to guide you
Dave Ursillo
How to Lead Without Followers: the World Domination Summit Talk I Never Gave
ebook design by
In spite of its How-To title, this non-speech was meant to be a tease merely an introduction to some of the compelling and powerful ideas that constitute this revolutionary alternative leadership philosophy called, Lead Without Followers.