What December’s light can teach you about leadership

THE ART & SCIENCE OF LEADING SELF
The Power of Light

My friend, December holds a certain kind of symbolism. It’s the time of year when light becomes more than decoration. It becomes a signal, a reminder across cultures and histories that clarity is still possible even when conditions are challenging.

Christmas tells of a star bright enough to guide travelers across uncertain terrain.
Hanukkah remembers oil that lasted longer than reason suggested it could.
Kwanzaa marks each evening with the Mishumaa Saba, candles that represent unity, purpose, creativity, and faith.

Each one uses light not as ornament, but as guidance.

They come from different cultures and honor different contexts.

Yet, they all point toward a shared idea: light helps you see what matters.

I lived that during two Christmases I spent deployed to combat zones.

White Lights in a Combat Zone ✨

Both environments were spare: dust, barriers, long hours, and the steady tension that comes with missions that don’t pause for holidays.

In both instances, leadership ensured white lights were strung in common areas.

Nothing elaborate. Just a line of lights interrupting concrete, gravel, and plywood.

And it shifted the environment. Not dramatically. Just enough for people to slow down for a moment, speak differently, or acknowledge the season in a place that may not celebrate it.

The lights didn’t change our circumstances.
But they changed our awareness of the moment we were in.

That distinction has stayed with me.

What These Traditions Teach About Leading Yourself 🔑

When you look across the December traditions, each one points to a principle that strengthens self-leadership — especially when the world around you feels strained or complex.

The Christmas star is about orientation.

You may not control the environment, but you can choose what anchors your attention. Practicing mindfulness increases the space between stimulus and response. The awareness that follows steadies your thinking.

Hanukkah teaches the courage to resist assimilation.

It’s the reminder that when pressure rises, clarity of identity matters. Awareness helps you recognize where external expectations are shaping you and where you’re being invited to stand firm in what you know is right.

Kwanzaa teaches purpose and responsibility.

It’s a reminder that while leadership style is personal, its impact is communal. Awareness helps you see how your choices shape the people around you. It invites you to act from intention rather than pressure, and to contribute to progress that lifts more than just you.

Across all three, light symbolizes the same thing:

the clarity that becomes possible when you’re willing to pay attention.

Awareness doesn’t erase difficulty.
But it changes how you enter it.

Connection to Self-Leadership 🔗

The thread across all three traditions — and across those white lights in a combat zone — is simple: light creates awareness.

And awareness is the entry point to self-leadership.

It’s what helps you pause long enough to choose your mindset, your language, and your next action instead of letting pressure, urgency, or old habits do the choosing for you.

Light doesn’t remove difficulty.

It simply reveals where you stand inside it.

And that clarity shapes how you lead yourself forward.

Final Thoughts for the Close of the Year💡

As the year winds down, you don’t need a sweeping plan or a perfected strategy. You need awareness that helps you see yourself clearly before you step into what’s next.

So, as you move through the last days of December, pay attention to where light already exists in your life:

👉🏽 in a conversation that softens tension

👉🏽 in a moment that clarifies your thinking

👉🏽 in a decision where you choose alignment over approval

Light doesn’t promise ease.

But it gives you enough clarity to take the next step with steadiness.

That’s how you close out the year in a way that strengthens your self-leadership.

MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD 📢

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