Breaking the Cycle: Why Leadership Should Lift, Not Just Command

I’ve been in the corporate world for just a year. Not long, but enough to see patterns that are hard to ignore. Most of my time has been spent on the lower side of the ladder pushing ideas up, supporting others, and never pushing anyone down. I came in with a vision, ready to contribute, ready to make a difference.

And yet… my voice wasn’t always heard.

It’s a strange thing: you give your ideas, your energy, your perspective, and it often feels like authority just tells you what to do. Not because you’re wrong, but because that’s how things have always been done. The same cycle repeats no matter who rises to power, the old patterns persist.

I talked to my peers, trying to understand if it was just me. Turns out, it’s not. Many of us come in full of ideas, full of energy, ready to lift things up but we’re met with a system that keeps us in check.

But here’s the question: is this what we want?

I don’t think it has to be. We can create workplaces where every voice matters, where leadership is about lifting others, not maintaining control. A place where respect isn’t tied to rank, and collaboration isn’t just a buzzword.

If we don’t challenge this, we’ll keep going in circles where pushing ideas up is harder than it should be, and innovation suffers. But even in just one year, I’ve learned something powerful: change is possible. It starts with listening. It starts with valuing every voice, no matter where it comes from.

Because when leadership lifts, the whole team rises.