The Power of Leading with Both Strength and Softness

In my experience, the best leaders aren’t the ones who are all strength, all the time. And they’re not the ones who collapse into softness and lose their edge, either. The best leaders know how to hold both. 

They know that real leadership, the kind that people trust and rally behind, demands strength and softness.  

Strength is setting the standard. It’s being clear on your expectations. It’s standing tall when the pressure’s on. It’s protecting the vision, even when it’s hard or uncomfortable.  

Softness is listening deeper than the surface. It’s meeting people where they are. It’s recognizing that leadership is personal, not just tactical. It’s having the courage to show empathy without losing your boundaries.  

Too much strength without softness? You create fear. Distance. A team that’s compliant but disconnected. 

Too much softness without strength? You create confusion. Drift. A team that’s busy but directionless.  

The real power is knowing when to lean into each…. and never confusing kindness with weakness, or firmness with cruelty. In healthcare, in practice ownership, in leadership at any level, people are looking for leaders who can be both. 

They want to know you have a backbone AND a heart. They want to know you can make the hard calls AND still see them as human beings. In my work, I’ve seen firsthand how transformational it is when leaders learn to lead this way. 

Teams don’t just perform better. They trust deeper. They stay longer. They step into more ownership, because they feel seen AND challenged in the best ways.  

Leading with both strength and softness isn’t easy. It’s easier to default to one or the other, depending on what feels more natural. But the leaders who master both? They’re the ones who build organizations that are resilient, human, and truly worth belonging to. 

And that’s the kind of leadership the future needs a lot more of.