I’ve learned how to lead from just about everything life has thrown at me.

That might sound dramatic, but when I think back on the people, situations, and seasons that shaped me, the common thread isn’t always comfort or clarity. It’s learning. Leadership, for me, hasn’t come solely from formal titles or structured training programs… it’s come from real life. Unfiltered and uncurated.

Adversity, for example, didn’t just show up to break me. It came to build something in me that success never could: resilience. When everything felt uncertain, I found out just how steady I could be.

Parenthood? Whew. That one’s a daily leadership bootcamp. It’s taught me patience, how to communicate at different levels, and how to pivot in real-time. You ever try explaining something complex to a child while you’re half-asleep? That’ll test your strategy and grace in ways a corporate setting never will.

If you find that life is throwing you a plethora of curveballs, then perhaps it’s due to not learning the lessons that you were supposed to.

Then there’s betrayal. That one cut deep, but it sharpened my discernment. It taught me how to protect my peace, how to respond without reacting, and most importantly, how to lead with integrity even when trust has been shattered. There’s strength in staying quiet, especially when you’ve got every reason to be loud.

Relationships, whether professional, platonic, or personal have shown me the value of vulnerability. They’ve taught me how to ask better questions, how to own my flaws, and how to listen without waiting for my turn to talk. You can’t lead people well if you don’t understand them. And you won’t understand them if you never risk being known yourself.

The Bible has been my blueprint in ways I can’t fully explain. It’s given me purpose when the path wasn’t clear, and principles when the pressure tried to make me compromise. It reminds me daily that leadership isn’t about power… it’s about posture.

I’ve taken notes from horrible leaders too. Not to mimic them, but to understand what not to do. They’ve shown me how toxic environments can mask themselves as productive, and how ego will always sabotage the mission if you let it.

Thankfully, I’ve also been blessed with mentors; leaders who believed in me before I had language for my own gifts. They pushed me, challenged me, and helped me see that the weight I was carrying wasn’t a burden, it was preparation.

Then there are the creatives. The ones who don’t wait for instructions, but create what they need. They’ve taught me how to dream with boldness, solve problems without a script, and lead with imagination. Some of the best strategies I’ve developed came not from spreadsheets, but from sketchpads and soundchecks.

The truth is, I don’t take any space I’m in for granted. Every room I’ve been occupied, every season I’ve survived, every conversation I’ve engaged; it’s all part of the story. I pay attention. I listen. I reflect. And when I’m called to, I lead. Not perfectly, but intentionally.

You see, leadership isn’t just learned in office spaces and books. It’s learned in the ordinary moments, the mess, and the situations we never asked for but grew from anyway.

If you find that life is throwing you a plethora of curveballs, then perhaps it’s due to not learning the lessons that you were supposed to. Once you learned from your prior misses, that homerun becomes inevitable.