What Does Being the Best Possible Leader Mean?

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I’m Robert Frost, co-founder of Maximy.

We help people live fully and impactfully by supporting them to be the best possible leaders they can be – in the many roles and relationships that matter to them.

That involves understanding ourselves, developing what we know and can do, and building the support we need to navigate life’s opportunities and challenges.

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So, what do we mean by being the Best Possible Leader? Let’s start with someone who has made a difference to you.

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Think of someone who helped you.

Perhaps they believed in you when you doubted yourself. Took the time to listen. Helped you understand something difficult. Challenged you to try harder. Or stayed beside you when life became painful or uncertain.

It might have been a teacher, a parent, a friend, a colleague or someone you knew only briefly.

Whatever their role, something about how they showed up helped you. Their attention, judgement, kindness or courage made a difference.

Now think about your own life. The people you spend time with. The choices you make. The things you encourage, support, challenge or leave unsaid.

You have an influence too. How you use that influence signals your specific type of leadership.

We are all leading a life

Every day, we make choices about how to live.

We decide what deserves our attention, what we believe, how we respond to people and where we put our time and energy. We make plans, form relationships, face difficulties and try to work out what matters.

Sometimes we do this thoughtfully. Sometimes we react without much thought at all.

At Maximy, we believe leadership begins with how we lead ourselves. It extends outwards into the different roles, relationships, tasks and activities that make up our lives.

You might be a student, friend, partner, parent, colleague, neighbour or carer. You might lead an organisation or contribute quietly within your community. Your circumstances will change as you grow older, but your choices will continue to matter.

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To understand the idea fully, let’s look at its three words: 'leader', 'best' and 'possible'.

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What does ‘leader’ mean?

At Maximy, we define a leader as: A person who effectively enables and contributes to the success, wellbeing and positive impact of themselves, other people, organisations, the wider community and the planet.

In everyday language, this means helping yourself and others do well, caring about wellbeing and taking responsibility for the difference you make.

Contributing means doing your part. Enabling means helping others do theirs.

It includes achieving worthwhile things and helping others achieve them. It also means considering how those results are achieved, who benefits and who might bear the cost.

You can practise leadership by supporting a friend, speaking up about a problem, keeping a commitment or helping a group make a thoughtful decision. Your influence may reach one person or many thousands. In either case, how you use it matters.

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What does ‘best’ mean?

‘Best’ can sound like a demanding word. We use it with the understanding that we are all human: we make mistakes, have blind spots and remain works in progress.

Being our best does not mean being perfect or better than everyone else. It means learning what excellent leadership looks like in the situation we face and steadily improving our own contribution.

As a friend, could you listen more carefully? As a parent, could you understand before reacting? As a colleague, could you be clearer about what you can deliver? When making an important decision, could you look beyond your first assumption?

We learn through experience, good examples, reliable knowledge and honest feedback. We discover strengths we can use and habits we need to change.

Tomorrow’s best can be better than today’s.

That is true at whatever age we are. The things we want or need to learn may change. The possibility of making a wiser choice, deepening a relationship or contributing something valuable remains.

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What does ‘possible’ mean?

Life rarely gives us perfect conditions.

We have limited time and energy. We may be dealing with illness, money worries, family responsibilities, uncertainty or loss. Sometimes we lack the knowledge, confidence or support a situation requires.

‘Possible’ brings our ambition into contact with that reality.

It asks: What is the strongest, wisest and most responsible contribution available to me in these circumstances?

Sometimes that will mean making a difficult decision. Sometimes it will mean resting, asking for help, admitting uncertainty or saying that we cannot take on another commitment.

We also need to question limits we may have accepted too quickly. Could preparation make the task easier? Could someone teach us? Could we share the responsibility? Could a useful tool or technology help?

What is possible can expand through learning, practice, recovery, collaboration and support. We can care for ourselves today while building our capacity for tomorrow.

Your whole life matters

The different parts of our lives affect one another.

A difficult relationship can follow us into our studies or work. Exhaustion can change how we speak to someone we love. A supportive friendship can give us courage to face a challenge elsewhere.

This is why Maximy takes a whole-of-life approach.

Being the Best Possible Leader involves considering your own success and wellbeing alongside your responsibilities and your impact on others. It means making conscious choices about where you put your effort and recognising that you cannot give everything to every role at once.

Your impact also reaches beyond the people you know. What you buy, support, create, tolerate and contribute towards can affect communities and the natural world. We cannot control every consequence, but we can become more thoughtful about the future our choices help create.

How do we put it into practice?

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Being the Best Possible Leader involves three interconnected ways that we can develop and strengthen throughout life.

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Your Potential Practice – your eyes

This is the habit of stepping back from everyday busyness to see more clearly. You explore yourself, other people and the wider world, question your assumptions and consider what could be possible. It helps you notice opportunities, risks and better ways forward.

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Your Leadership Core – your engine

This is what powers and guides how you live and lead. It brings together three things: how you understand, manage and lead yourself; the capabilities and behaviours you develop; and the people, tools and resources that support you. Your core needs ongoing care, practice and development.

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Your Leadership In Action – your execution and contribution

This is how you put your understanding, capabilities and support into practice – in your roles, relationships, tasks and activities. It shows up in how you listen, decide, act, keep commitments and respond toothers. It also involves noticing the impact of your actions and inactions, then learning and adapting.

These three ways continually strengthen one another. You notice something, learn what is needed, take action and pay attention to the result.

When you fall short, you take responsibility, repair what you can and learn.

The difference you can make

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Return to the person you thought of at the beginning.

They may never know the full difference they made to you. A conversation they barely remember may have stayed with you for years. Your contribution can matter in the same way.

Being the Best Possible Leader means continually striving to bring the highest available standard to the reality of each moment. It is a commitment we practise throughout our lives.

Begin with the life you have, the people around you and the choices within your reach.

What could you understand, strengthen or do differently to help yourself and others live better?

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Thanks for reading

Best,

Rob

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