A dear friend and colleague recently sent me a message that has stayed with me:
“Love yourself for everything you’ve been, everything you are, and everything you will be.”
These words resonate deeply, because embracing our whole selves, our histories, our strengths, our imperfections, and our aspirations, is essential to leading with purpose.
In a world filled with noise, conflict, and competing priorities, it is easy to lose sight of what first ignited our passion for this profession. It’s easy to grow weary, to turn inward, or to retreat from the magnitude of what needs changing. Yet it is precisely in these challenging moments that we must return to our inner compass, that place where purpose lives. Let that light be your true North.
Leading with purpose requires intention. It calls us to lean into the work that gives us meaning, to hold fast to the values that guide us, and to gently quiet the noise that distracts us or causes us to question our worth. The world will always offer reasons to doubt, delay, or diminish our voice, but you are here because you have already done great work, and because there is even greater work ahead.
For nurse leaders, whether in academe, practice, or research, leading with purpose is not a lofty ideal. It is a discipline. It is a daily commitment to show up with clarity, compassion, and courage. It means asking ourselves questions that matter:
- What is my leadership aspiration?
- What impact do I want to have on learners, colleagues, patients, and communities?
- How do I currently show up, and how might I show up more intentionally?
- What beliefs or habits might be holding me back from the leader I am becoming?
Purpose-centered leadership also requires self-awareness. Many of us hold tightly to values like expertise, credibility, or achievement, values that serve us well, but can also unintentionally constrain us. When we focus too heavily on appearing knowledgeable, successful, or “put together,” we may limit our willingness to take risks, to be vulnerable, or to try new approaches that align with the leader we aspire to be.
As nurse leaders who champion quality improvement and believe in the power of PDSAs, this is our opportunity to create a small test of change in our own leadership practice.
- What story do you tell yourself that keeps you from stepping fully into your purpose?
- What would it look like to experiment with letting that story fade?
- What would success look like, not for perfection, but for progress?
As ALSN members, you are shaping the future of nursing leadership science. You are nurturing the next generation of nurse scholars and influencing systems that affect care across the continuum. Your purpose matters. Your presence matters. And your leadership, rooted in authenticity, reflection, and courage, has the power to transform the environments in which you work and the people you serve.
This month, I invite you to reflect, recalibrate, and reconnect with the purpose that called you to nursing leadership in the first place. Let it guide you. Let it strengthen you. And let it remind you that who you are, and who you are becoming, is exactly what our profession needs.
With gratitude for the purpose you carry,
Heather Nelson-Brantley, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, CNE, FAAN
