I live a few blocks from where both Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass lived and are laid to rest. Just knowing that has always given me a great pride in my town and its great history of cultivating leaders, who are also doers who impact the world.

These two great thinkers, writers and agitators are the very definition of Outlaw Leaders™ who lived their lives fully to make an impact and changed the world with their presence.  Their vision for a different world still has yet to be fully realized.  But, I believe so much of what they hoped for has been moved forward and I’d like to think that if they were alive right now, they would be further emboldened to paint a future even beyond their expectations. 

I also know that their spirit and vision are still alive today.  They are alive in every leader who is standing up to change our world through movements like Black Lives Matters and Me Too.  They are alive in every leader who is listening, paying attention, and then acting to create meaningful change in their organizations. And they are alive in all the young people who are galvanized to change the world with their activism.

Outlaw Leaders™ that I work with are willing to have hard conversations and most important are willing to listen.  In the past few weeks so many leaders and companies have responded to our country’s racial injustice with this question: how can we do better? But that is not enough. They need to take it a step further and articulate a vision based on what they’ve learned that can truly change the world. But that can only happen through action.

Leadership is knowing when to to listen, when to dream, and when to take action.

Outlaw Leaders™use their EDGE: Explore, Dream, Grow & Excite to learn from the past, engage and listen, paint a new vision forward, and then - - they do it.

I’m an Outlaw Leader™ are you?