True leadership is not about avoiding discomfort. Even though it sometimes seems like it.
It is about being able to hold it. With presence, with steadiness, and with a heart that remains open.

Here’s a poem I wrote as part of something larger I’m currently working with, and weaving into a greater body of work. I offer this as a tale for the part of you that already knows this truth.

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The Leader Who Can Hold Discomfort

Leadership will inevitably bring you into moments
where the air feels heavy,
the stakes feel high,
and the path ahead is uncertain.

In the old times,
discomfort was avoided,
softened,
or quickly fixed.
Not necessarily because it was resolved.
Rather because it was intolerable to stay with it.

But in the new era,
a leader’s strength is measured,
in part,
by their ability to hold discomfort
without collapsing,
without rushing to premature solutions,
without numbing themselves to the tension.

Discomfort can be the space where truth ripens.
It can be the crucible where clarity is forged.

To hold discomfort is to stay present
when the easy way out is to distract or disengage.
It is to keep the heart open
even when your chest feels tight.
It is to breathe through the unknown
until what is real begins to reveal itself.

True leadership doesn’t avoid discomfort.
It stands in it,
holds it with grace,
and invites others into a steadiness
that does not deny reality
nor collapses under it.

When you can hold discomfort,
you become the kind of leader
others instinctively trust.
Because your presence says:
“It is safe to be here.
We don’t need to rush.
We can stay until the truth becomes clear.”

This doesn’t mean seeking discomfort for its own sake.
It means not running from it when it arrives.

Because the leader who can hold discomfort
can also hold transformation.

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With presence and steadiness,
Paula
xx