Dear TLI family,
As we saw last week, the accomplishment of big things or impressive results is not necessarily the result of leadership. There are other words for it, power, competence, management, execution. Those realities exist, and they matter, but they are not leadership in its fullest sense.
This week, I want to get to the heart of just what leadership is.
As you are aware, there are countless ways to define leadership. From transformational to values-based, from behavioral to adaptive, the literature offers no shortage of frameworks and models. One thing, however, is certain, there is no real consensus on what leadership means. Leadership is one of those realities we all instinctively recognize when we see it, yet we struggle to define it with precision.
It took me eight years of being immersed in the leadership space to finally narrow the definition down to one word. What strikes me most is that the answer has always been there, right in front of us, revealed not in theory but in example, embodied in the life of the greatest leader of all time, Jesus Christ.
Leadership is service.
There is no need to complicate it further. Leadership, properly understood, is service ordered toward the good of others. This truth is both simple and demanding. Simple, because everyone is capable of serving. Demanding, because authentic service requires humility, self gift, and a willingness to place others before ourselves.
From a Catholic perspective, this has profound implications. Christians are called to serve others. They are also called to lead others to Christ. In this sense, each of us is called to be a leader. Leadership is not reserved for those with titles, platforms, or authority. It is rooted in vocation and lived out wherever God has placed us, in our families, workplaces, parishes, and communities.
In secular circles, leadership is often described as the capacity to influence others. There is nothing inherently wrong with the word influence. It captures an important aspect of leadership. Yet I have come to favor a different word, inspiration.
When Christ served His disciples, He certainly influenced them, but His effect on them went far beyond influence alone. By washing their feet, by laying down His life, by loving them to the end, He inspired them to do the same for one another and others. He ignited their hearts. He transformed them interiorly. What followed was not mere compliance, but conversion.
True leadership, servant leadership, is meant to inspire! It is meant to awaken something deeper than obedience or agreement. It is meant to set hearts on fire, an image far more powerful than simple influence. Inspiration moves people freely, joyfully, and generously toward the good. It forms leaders in turn, not just followers.
This is the vision of leadership we subscribe to at Tepeyac Leadership. We are not interested in producing effective managers detached from virtue, nor influencers detached from truth. We seek to form virtuous, servant, leaders, men and women who understand that leadership begins on their knees and is expressed through service rooted in hope, faith and love.
Having identified the model of leadership we believe in at TLI, next week I would like to conclude this three part reflection by once more defining the arena in which this leadership is meant to be lived. Tepeyac Leadership does not form leaders for abstraction. We form leaders to be sent.
Next week, we will reflect on what we mean by leadership in civil society, and how lay Catholics are called to bring the light of the Gospel into the structures, cultures, and institutions of the world.
Until then, may we continue to reflect on how we are being called to serve, and through that service, to lead others closer to Christ in 2026.
In Christ and Our Lady of Guadalupe,
P.S. The countdown is on for the 2nd Tepeyac Leadership Gala, secure your tickets today by clicking below!
A special invitation from Andrea Picciotti.
