Leading With a Liminal Mindset
You don’t have to be “ready” to lead—just willing to be real.
I thought I’d be ready to leap.
But it turns out, I’m still in-between. Still molting. Still becoming.
And maybe that’s not a problem to solve—maybe that’s a space to honor.
This whole month, we’ve been exploring what it means to lead with heart when things feel uncertain.
We started with the importance of knowing yourself (thanks, Escher).
Then we got brave about ethical collaboration—creating grace and space for ideas that don’t cause harm.
Last week, I shared how my body is still recovering from the performance trap—and why slowing down is my new rebellion.
So it only feels right to end the month with this:
You don’t have to be finished becoming to show up as a leader.
You don’t have to have the map to take the next step.
What Is a Liminal Mindset?
“Liminal” means threshold.
Not where you were. Not yet where you’re going.
It’s the hallway. The pause. The edge.
A liminal mindset embraces the both/and of becoming.
It lets you lead while you’re learning.
It says: “I don’t need to have it all figured out to be of service. I can show up, even in process.”
A Story From the Middle
When I was a second-year teacher at Harvard-Westlake, I was asked to chair a newly formed Communications Department. We affectionately called ourselves the Island of Misfit Toys—we came from performing arts (speech & debate), journalism (previously housed in the library), student leadership (which didn’t even have a department), and more.
I was honored—and before I could even get overwhelmed, I was sent to a training called Leading from the Middle… and I loved it.
It was about what it means to lead as a department chair: someone who is both faculty and admin. Someone who’s expected to hold authority, but also empathy. Vision, but also humility. It taught me to live in the space between—to balance what Ronald Heifetz calls “the balcony and the dance floor.”
That training gave me language for what I’ve felt ever since:
Some of the most important leadership happens from the in-between.
Not at the top. Not at the bottom. Right there in the messy middle.
Try This: A Journal Prompt for the In-Between
What am I learning in this in-between season?
What do I know now that I didn’t know before?
Who am I becoming—and how can I honor her, even now?
There’s wisdom in the pause. Power in the process. And leadership in the not-yet.
This is the kind of leadership I’m writing about in my upcoming book. Not the glossy kind—but the human kind. The kind that leads with heart, even in liminal space.
