The New Face of Leadership
You!
by Dawn Willock
Jun 18, 2024
Forget everything you know about leadership. Seriously. Toss out the corporate jargon, the corner office fantasies, and the image of a suited executive barking orders from a high-rise. The world has changed, and the old guard’s rules for who qualifies to sit in leadership are obsolete.

Image credit: Pinterest
Look around. More and more people are ditching the 9-to-5 grind to start their own businesses, build niche communities, and take control of their destiny outside the corporate protocol. Coaches, instructors, service providers, small business owners—this is the new face of leadership. And guess what? That means you and me.
You might not see yourself as a leader because you’re not playing by the old rules. You don’t have a fancy title, a corporate ladder to climb, or a team of minions to do your bidding. But that’s the point. Leadership isn’t about fitting into a mould but breaking it.
Leadership today is raw, real, and relentless. It’s about influence, not authority. It’s about creating impact, not just profits. It’s about building something meaningful from the ground up. The truth is leadership isn’t a title bestowed upon you by someone else—it’s a role you step into every day with every decision you make.
In the last few years, we have seen significant growth in people becoming coaches and service providers for niche communities. There are no offices, management teams or hierarchy pathways; more often, the business owner, a virtual assistant, and outsourced employment for marketing and sales.
But they do have communities. Private groups on social media, where their communities gather, WhatsApp groups, platforms where their community accesses courses and content, in-person retreats, masterminds, and Zoom gatherings.
This is where leadership is massively overlooked.
You may not have a huge team, but you do lead your community.
In today’s world, having only 100 people in your community would be considered small, but if we look at larger companies that are leading 100 people on their team, that would be considered impressive. In such a position, one of the areas of development that sensible companies address is leadership skills.
Somehow, the translation of this has been lost among the millions of coaches and service providers who serve their niches – the principle of being a leader of a group of people hasn’t quite been recognised.
Frustration, overwhelm, procrastination, self-doubt creep in…
You’re great at delivering your genius. You’re not so experienced in running a business and realise you need to upskill.
Marketing, strategy, planning, sales, cash flow, messaging… the list goes on, and millions of small business owners flock to other masterminds to learn… learn… consume… and consume…
Let’s be clear: I’m not discouraging those learning environments. I’m in masterminds myself – running a business is fucking lonely and it’s a great shout to get yourself in those rooms. However…
And this is just my observation, but I know I’m right.
You can swot and consume as much as you like, but why do you think it’s not all penetrating?
Because, first and foremost, you need to know who you are. And if you don’t, you can’t lead yourself, so how can you expect to nurture your community sustainably?
You’re taught to nurture them for sales and prime their buying response, but are you taught to lead them?
Has it ever occurred to you?
I ponder how I managed to become successful within the leadership of my niche. I think starting a business before the benefits of online resources meant it was just a natural thing to do. There was less noise… Maybe that’s why I can see the holes.
Nail the leadership, and I promise you, the path becomes A LOT less resistant.
Like – we’ve never done a cold call EVER to gain custom.
The persuasion tactic is BANNED when we take enquiries – we can be 100% customer-centric.
People come to us on reputation. That reputation was built from leadership – and yes, of course, I now have a team to lead, but it started with leading people in my community.
I guess the first question I have is, do you even consider yourself a leader?
And if that’s not too resistant to you, can you consider what impact it might have on both your life and your community if you embodied that?
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
If you get stuck… call me.
Dawn
Truth is Service
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