Lisa Bartlett

It’s July? I know as I’m writing this that it is still June — June 30th, to be exact — but I have been meaning for weeks and weeks to get back to writing. Every time I sat down or even thought about sitting down, something or someone or some task intervened.

And honestly, it has been a lot.

The past few months have run the gamut from our beloved Ellie dog passing away, to finally moving my dad from Ohio to Savannah, to a long-awaited trip to Japan, and, of course, work. Always work.

Speaking of work, 2026 has been an unpredictable year so far. We have been down, then up, then down again, and at this point I think I am simply grateful that the business is still in the black overall for the year. Whether that remains true over the next six months is anyone’s guess. I think many of us are craving a little stability right now — in business, in life, and maybe in the world in general.

As you might expect, as a former podcaster myself — or maybe still a podcaster at heart — I listen to a lot of podcasts each week. Some are just for fun, but plenty are for professional development, leadership, and education. Along the way, I landed on what may be my new favorite leadership quote:

“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” — commonly attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower

My prior favorite, for reference, has always been:

“The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary.”

That one is attributed to so many people that I’m not even sure who actually said it first, or whether it has simply become one of those sayings that belongs to all of us now.

But back to leadership.

I have been thinking a lot lately about how successful leadership looks different for everyone. For a long time, I believed that if I could just emulate this person or that person, I could become as successful as they were. Or if I adopted the latest leadership advice circulating online, I would finally unlock the right formula.

But I am finally realizing that leadership is never going to look exactly the same from one person to the next. The real key is learning to lead in a way that works with who you are as a person — not against it.

Because if you are simply trying to mimic someone else, you are almost certainly going to fail. Not because their way is wrong, but because it is not yours.

And there is very little that is less inspiring, less motivating, or less effective than an inauthentic leader.

Leadership, at its best, is not about copying someone else’s style. It is about understanding what must be done, knowing who you are, and finding a way to bring people along with you — not through force, not through fear, and not through pretending to be someone you are not, but through clarity, trust, and authenticity.