Leadership 101 - Introduction
The Not So Basic Basics - 1/6
NOTE: This module draws from my earlier work under Black Market Leadership. The ideas here predate Chaos Studies in Leadership and form the foundation that made this work possible.
This opening module sets the foundation for everything that follows. It argues that leadership development is fundamentally misunderstood and too often reduced to soft, people-only skills divorced from real stakes and real consequences.
The purpose of the module is to establish three non-negotiable fundamentals that must be understood before any serious leadership development can occur. These fundamentals provide a mature, reality-based perspective on leadership—one grounded in responsibility, outcomes, and the fact that livelihoods, capital, and futures are always on the line.
The module covers:
Why leadership matters — not as a slogan or assumption, but as something leaders must be able to articulate clearly from experience to build credibility, authority, and trust.
The two pillars of leadership — one commonly emphasized in corporate environments, and one largely ignored. Understanding both changes how leadership is evaluated and practiced.
What leadership actually consists of — the core elements leaders must develop if they intend to grow in capability rather than just style.
This is not inspirational fluff or a social experiment. It is a practical, grown-up framework for understanding what leadership is, why it matters, and how to develop it holistically.
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to black market leadership's first module, the not so basic basics of leadership development in this module. I think, first of all, this should be an introductory module. This should be the first thing you do in leadership development. Why? Because and the goal, this module is to provide you three fundamentals, three fundamentals, which are the prerequisites needed in order to develop as a leader. So why do I say all this? Look, a lot of leadership development today is just soft, fluffy stuff. It's so it's all about people interpersonal skills, which are very important. But there's so many things left out. And I think a lot of people have this perspective of the all people is because they don't understand leadership, why it's important. What what's the essence of leadership and how to develop as a leader holistically? They don't understand these things. Well, you're going to after these three hour, after this module, after learning these three fundamentals. That's why I've made this. And I think another reason I made this is, I guess you might say will be kallus or inspiration's. What is the I've worked with a lot of business owners, founders, even some investors, shareholders, people who have put their livelihood in the success of a venture of a company.
You know, they have different expectations. They don't see businesses. They don't see leadership as a social experiment, which I think a lot of leadership coaches and develop people who develop leaders do. It's not a social experiment. It's real. People's livelihoods are on the line. And I think if you hold that in a real serious way, you start to look at leadership differently. And that's what my goal is in this series. And this modules to help you give you three fundamentals that will give you a really new perspective of what leadership is, what again, why it's important and ultimately how to develop as a leader. So in a sense, if I could be so bold, my goal is to provide you a grown up perspective on leadership development. So saying that what are we going to talk about today? Well, three fundamentals. First, we're going to talk about the why why leadership, why is it important now? And I got to be careful. I don't jump into this, but a lot of people say it's important. But why are you just taking them on faith or can you actually articulate why it's important? You really understand why it's important.
I think if you understand it, then you have a better way of convincing people your moral authority improves, your credibility increases, but you got to really understand and know it. People who just talk about almost like book learning or academics or people who have no stake in leadership, they have one way of saying it. But you I can show you a way to actually talk about it from your own experiences. And that itself is going to really, really help you convince others to follow your lead. The second we're going to talk about are the pillars. Leadership has two pillars. And just so happens that a lot of corporate America, most of corporate America focuses on one. If you can talk about the other, you're going to enlighten a lot of people, probably in your boss or your investors or whomever, people who are important in your life. So that's the two pillars. And the ultimately the third step goes to what is leadership as a whole. If you're going to develop what are the major, major elements within those two pillars that you need to focus on? Well, guess what? You're going to get this in this series. So with that, let's just jump into this.