Leadership Isn’t a Title. It’s a Choice.
- Eddie Geller
- Sep 24
- 2 min read
Yesterday, I was watching my son’s basketball team. At one point, they were up by 10. By the end? They’d lost by 15. In another game, the same story — this time losing by 20.
When my son walked off the court, he said something that hit me hard:
“There just wasn’t enough fight in the team.”
And he was right. You could see it. The energy dropped, heads went down, and no one rallied the group. The coach didn’t step in to spark them either.
But here’s the truth: they didn’t need to wait for the coach.
Leadership Can Come from Anywhere
We tend to think leadership is the coach’s job. Or the captains. Or the managers. But in reality, leadership is not a title — it’s a behavior.
In that moment, any one of those players could have stepped up. They could have huddled the team, shouted encouragement, demanded more fight, or simply lifted the energy with a big play or words of belief. That’s the thing about leadership: it doesn’t require permission. It doesn’t wait for hierarchy. It’s within anyone, at any level, in any moment.
The Same Is True in Business
In organizations, we see the same pattern. Teams hit a setback, the energy drops, and everyone waits for the manager to “fix it.” But what if leadership showed up from anywhere in the team?
Imagine if:
A junior analyst rallied the group after a missed target.
A team member spoke up in a tough meeting when everyone else went quiet.
An individual contributor reignited momentum on a stalled project by reminding everyone of the goal.
That’s what healthy, resilient cultures look like. Everyone carries the responsibility for fight, energy, and belief.
Leadership as a Muscle
The best teams, in sports or business, don’t just rely on one person to rally them. They build a culture where leadership is distributed. Where anyone can step in, take the reins for a moment, and bring the group back into the game.
It’s not about hierarchy. It’s about courage. The courage to speak up, to push forward, to inject energy when it’s needed most.
Final Take
Watching my son’s team reminded me of this simple but powerful truth:
You don’t need the title. You don’t need the permission. You don’t need to wait for someone else to rally the team. Whether you’re on the court, in a locker room, or in a boardroom — leadership is a choice. And the moment you step into it, you change the game.
