Thank you for bringing forth this important look at the underlying motivations behind leadership. I have been in positions of leadership for over twenty years and I also identify as a highly sensitive person (HSP). Scientific research has validated around 25% of the human population is born with a brain and central nervous system more open to stimuli in our environment.

One of the four common characteristics of being an HSP is sensitivity to subtleties or to use your word, nuance. When you see comments from people who view the world in shades of grey, it’s likely they are higher on the sensitivity continuum. This ability to sense and dialogue about nuance is one of our greatest strengths and we often look at the tendency of leaders to engage in black and white thinking or to strive for raw power as somewhat naive and short sighted, as evidenced by our world’s long history of conflict, extreme income disparity, prejudice and other societal ills.

As the founder of the Global Cooperative for Sensitive Leaders, I envision a different model of leadership. One where leaders strive to uplift those around them instead of hold others down in order to appear stronger, inspire collaborative effort instead of competition and hold space for respectful and constructive disagreement whose end goal is a win-win for all of humankind.

Perhaps it’s time for leadership for a new era…