JS Tip 562: Informal Leadership

The Southern Utah Veterans Home asked us to explore informal leadership.

An informal leader is one who—regardless of position—sees a need, steps forward, and resolves that need. 

For example: Harriet Tubman. 

She was neither born nor appointed to leadership. 

She was born into slavery in 1822. She escaped but returned thirteen times to rescue others. She used the Underground Railroad network of antislavery activists and safe houses. 

During the Civil War, she served as a cook, nurse, scout, and spy for the Union Army. She personally led a Union Army raid along Virginia’s Combahee River that freed 750 enslaved people. 

Later in life, she fought for women’s voting rights.

She was neither paid nor cited for her work. Her only monetary reward was—much later—a widow’s Civil War pension.   

In 2016, the United States Department of the Treasury announced plans to place Tubman’s portrait on the front of the twenty-dollar bill. 

So. 

Go. 

Find a need. Step forward. Resolve the need. 

We love this stuff. We love this work.