“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

When you’re in a leadership role with others relying on your guidance for success, there is a lot of pressure to be flawless, stoic, or have all of the answers. A contrast should be drawn between this unattainable perfectionism often placed on leaders, and purpose-driven leadership.
In order to be a truly impactful leader, you’ll have to shift away from the ideal that you must perform error-free at all times. Impactful leadership comes from having a clear purpose and direction to lead others in.

It isn’t about having a perfect journey in order to arrive at your destination, but rather, embracing bumps in the road, rerouting to travel different paths, stopping to take in the view and celebrate little accomplishments, and having a destination to guide you forward.

The Cost of Perfectionism in Leadership
Perfectionism limits creativity and growth that comes from risk-taking. With perfectionism, plans are usually very set in stone, leaving no leeway for new ideas that could potentially provide improvements.

You have to accept that not everything will go as planned and failure may be imminent—and really, failure is just a stepping stone forward. It teaches you what didn’t work and what not to do next time, calling you to reassess a given situation or applied tactics and adjust to do or be better next time.

The emotional toll of perfectionism can be great as well. It can cause burnout due to the amount of pressure it puts on others, anxiety because followers will feel that they can’t speak up and be themselves, or paralysis, because if something isn’t perfect and failure isn’t an option, there’s no room for reassessing, readjusting and trying again. Perfectionism doesn’t allow the necessary growth or learning that true success reflects.

Perfectionism is a great byproduct of modern society and hustle culture—that leaders must always have the answers is unrealistic. Instead, leadership is about learning and guiding with a solid end-goal or direction.

What Purpose-Driven Leadership Really Means
Beyond titles and metrics, having purpose in leadership is about what you value. Having a purpose will help you decide how to best move forward. Ask yourself: What do you want to accomplish? What are your ideas for getting there? What resources do you need? What tasks can you delegate to who? How and where can you create space for pivoting if need be?

It’s a misnomer that leadership happens alone. Purpose should be a collective act, something that aligns or unites a group together through resilience and trust. Leadership isn’t leadership without people who follow.

Purpose in leadership provides a guiding compass during times of uncertainty. When things don’t go as planned along the way, your goal or destination remains the same. You just might have to take a different path to get there! Purpose is more sustainable than perfection because it allows room for growth and learning for everyone involved. Successful, wise leaders don’t get everything right the first time around.

They take mistakes and gather data from them, learning from failures and using it to better move forward. With purpose as a destination, you can never truly get lost.

Modeling Imperfection as a Leadership Strength
There is power in being a vulnerable and transparent leader. Admitting mistakes and sharing lessons you’ve learned shows others that you hold yourself accountable, you value growth over perfection, and shows others that you can exhibit empathy and understanding.

Having wisdom isn’t about being an all-knowing leader, it’s about being a leader who learns with grace.

So-called imperfections are often where we find our humanity—it’s what makes humans relatable. This creates a sense of psychological safety among teams or groups, because imperfection as a leadership trait is admirable in the sense that it’s relatable.

When people feel that they can relate to you, they’re more likely to approach you with their own ideas, issues, or input. This will bolster unity and trust as you work toward a collective purpose.

Shifting from “Prove Yourself” to “Serve the Mission”
In order to get realistic about leading with purpose, get clear on your personal values first. Knowing who you are as an individual will help you understand the values you want to carry with you into a leadership position. However, it’s important to note that leadership isn’t meant to be about proving yourself.

In hustle culture, workplaces or other groups, there’s this individualistic idea that you need to prove yourself in order to be successful. As a leader, you have to let go of the need for that external validation to feel successful and measure your success through impact instead of approval.

How do you accomplish this?

Make sure that you align daily actions with your long-term purpose. Think of your purpose as the main goal, and think of your daily actions as the sub-tasks or steps needed in order to work toward your long-term purpose.

Make your sub-tasks actionable and remember to gather resources and collect data as your progress forward. Leave room for regular reflection and recalibration to continue moving forward with clarity. Define purpose as “serving the mission” and creating a positive, collective impact that leads to shared success.

Clarifying your organizational values is imperative to cultivating group success. Leadership isn’t a solo activity, and it isn’t about having all the answers, but instead asking the right questions. Make sure that part of your planning involves asking followers or group members purpose-driven questions before making decisions or coming to conclusions.

Organizational values should reflect the desired impact of your purpose as well as the individual values carried by those involved under the guidance of your leadership.

A huge part of figuring out what you do want is knowing what you don’t want, and asking questions can help bring clarity on this. Your purpose is your mission, and impact means inspiring others to get involved, to dream and ideate, to do more and want to be more.

Let perfectionism be a thing of the past. When you find yourself in a leadership role—whether that be at work, in a recreational activity, club, another kind of group, or at home—lead with intention and authenticity. Follow your arrow and let your values inspire others along the way.