As a Leader
How you lead, where you shine, and where the real growth is.
As a Storyteller leader, the people around you tend to value the way you make the work feel meaningful. You connect people to the bigger picture and to each other in a way that most leaders simply cannot.
You bring engagement and heart. When communication is unclear, you make it clear. When people feel disconnected, you bring them back together. Your gift as a leader is that you make people feel seen, and that creates the kind of loyalty that cannot be manufactured.
One of the defining choices every leader faces is how much control to hold and how much to give away. Neither extreme is right or wrong. The most effective leaders understand which way they naturally lean and can flex deliberately when the situation calls for something different.
The leaders who grow fastest are not the ones who change who they are. They are the ones who understand themselves clearly enough to know when to lead from their strengths and when to stretch.
Your strengths here
- •Your preference may be to make involving people and keeping the energy high central to how you lead, which tends to create real engagement and collaborative momentum.
- •Your preference may be to lead in a way that is light on process and structure, trusting people to find their own way and use their own judgment.
Worth being mindful of
- •Consider making cleaner decisions independently when the situation calls for pace, as very high consultation can occasionally create dependency rather than building independent capability.
- •Consider providing more explicit clarity about what good looks like in your area, as some people may find it hard to perform confidently without a clearer sense of the standards being applied.
The way you communicate as a leader shapes everything around you. It affects how safe people feel to share ideas, how clearly they understand what is expected, and whether they leave conversations feeling energised or uncertain.
Leaders do not just communicate information. They communicate what they value, what they notice, and who belongs. Every interaction sends a signal, even the ones you do not intend.
Your strengths here
- •You thrive in communication that is warm, enthusiastic, and genuinely two-way. You find purely transactional or flat communication demotivating and you do your best work when the relationship behind the communication feels real and energised.
- •You are comfortable with high-level communication and you do not need a lot of detail or precision to feel informed. You are happy to fill in the gaps myself and you find overly detailed communication more distracting than helpful.
The ability to have a difficult conversation well is one of the most important capabilities a leader can develop. Not just the willingness to have them, but the ability to have them in a way that lands, preserves the relationship, and results in real change.
Avoiding a difficult conversation is never neutral. It sends its own message, and that message is usually not the one you intended.
Your strengths here
- •Your preference may be to make people feel deeply respected and supported even during the most challenging of conversations.
- •Your preference may be to raise difficult topics based on your direct observation and judgment rather than building an extensive evidence base first.
Worth being mindful of
- •Consider making sure the care you bring to difficult conversations does not dilute the clarity of the message, as people need to hear what needs to change as well as feeling that you are on their side.
- •Consider bringing more specific examples into difficult conversations, as people tend to find feedback much easier to act on when it is grounded in concrete situations they can recognise.
Remote and hybrid working has changed what leadership looks like day to day. The skills that made someone effective in person do not always translate automatically across distance. These observations reflect how your natural preferences tend to show up when you are leading people you cannot see.
Physical presence used to do a lot of the work of leadership without anyone noticing. Remote working makes the invisible visible very quickly.
Your strengths here
- •Your preference may be to work hard at maintaining genuine human connection across distance, which tends to make your team feel close and engaged even when they cannot see you.
- •Your preference may be to communicate at a high level remotely and trust people to fill in the detail themselves, which tends to suit independent and experienced team members well.
Worth being mindful of
- •Consider occasionally stepping back and letting the team hold its own rhythm, as very high contact can occasionally create dependency rather than building independent capability.
- •Consider providing more explicit context and clarity in your remote communication, as people working at a distance may have less access to the informal information that helps them fill in the gaps.
Every leader has a relationship with change. Some find it energising. Some find it draining. Understanding your natural relationship with change helps you lead it more consciously, whether that means channelling your appetite or stretching your comfort zone.
The best change leaders are not necessarily the ones who love change the most. They are the ones who understand their own relationship with it clearly enough to lead others through it well.
Your strengths here
- •Your preference may be to find the status quo genuinely difficult to settle for, which tends to make you a powerful champion of new ideas and transformative thinking.
- •Your preference may be to move into change without requiring extensive planning upfront, which tends to keep pace high and avoid over-engineering solutions before they are needed.
Worth being mindful of
- •Consider channelling your appetite for novelty in directions the organisation can actually absorb, as the pace of new ideas can occasionally outrun the capacity of people and systems to keep up.
- •Consider investing more in understanding the key risks and dependencies before committing to a direction, as some upfront analysis tends to prevent predictable problems from emerging later.
Not everyone on your team is motivated by the same things, communicates in the same way, or needs the same kind of leadership. Understanding the four DISC styles and what each one needs from a leader is one of the most practical tools you can develop.
The best leaders do not treat everyone the same. They understand what each person needs and adjust accordingly. That is not inconsistency. That is genuine leadership.
Leading a Drive Preference
Direct, decisive, results-focused, and values autonomy above almost everything else.
D styles are driven by results, control, and the freedom to make things happen at pace. They want to own their area, set their own direction, and be judged on outcomes rather than process. Recognition through achievement matters more to them than praise.
Give them real ownership and clear goals, then get out of the way. Be direct with them, challenge them on their thinking, and hold them accountable to high standards. They respond well to leaders who are confident, straight-talking, and willing to push back. Keep your communications brief and focused on outcomes.
Micromanaging or prescribing how they should do their work. Lengthy meetings with no clear purpose or outcome. Vague feedback that does not tell them exactly where they stand. Being indecisive or changing direction without clear rationale.
D styles often need help slowing down to bring people with them. Help them see the value of investing in relationships and building team buy-in before moving. Their greatest development edge tends to be around patience, empathy, and understanding the impact of their pace on the people around them.