“Heretics are the new leaders. The ones who challenge the status quo, who get out in front of their tribes, who create movements.” ~Seth Godin
My mission is to teach people how to Lead Without Followers in any walk of life by nurturing a quiet and profound sense of personal leadership. However, if you get to know me on a personal level, you might not guess that:
- I meditate and practice yoga, tai chi and qigong, but love gaudy rockstar sunglasses and superhero t-shirts.
- I consider Lao Tsu’s Tao te Ching a personal bible and deck out my apartment with zen-themed influences, but am obsessed with rock-n-roll and blare music so loud that it shakes the floor.
- I espouse the inherent beauty and goodness of life, even with a quiet history of anxiety and depression.
- My dad once told me, “I don’t get it, one minute you’re meditating at Walden Pond reading Thoreau, the next you’re in the middle of Las Vegas Boulevard with a thousand-dollar bottle of vodka.”
He wasn’t really exaggerating (although the vodka was more like $400 with tax and tip, it’s a guy thing!). I’m not a hypocrite: I’m an unleader; a heretic. To get to know me better, read my most revealing blog posts ever:
My mission in life is to connect with others, to help others, and to inspire others through my writing. I consider written word to be my art form, and writing as one of my methods of giving back.
And, in fact, DaveUrsillo.com began with my dream to become a career-long, best-selling author and speaker. I want to do as much greatness in this life as I can possibly muster — I’ve set the bar high, I have big aspirations, and I am determined to have my words reach millions. :)
-
My journey began when I was actually deeply entrenched in the world of politics…
On the White House lawn in '08
- From 2003 to 2009, I worked in five political offices, spanning both State and federal government.
- I graduated college as a political science major in 2008, and promptly moved to Washington, D.C. for a full-time unpaid internship at the White House and begin my career in public service.
- My White House experience was incredible and hugely successful: I was even invited to interview at the President’s Office of the Staff Secretary in the West Wing of the White House.
However, when the international economic meltdown occurred, I was left unemployed, feeling alone, and struggling to find any direction.
Meanwhile, rampant partisanship and political venom were strongly turning me away from wanting to work — even live — in our nation’s capital.
-
MY ENTIRE LIFE to date had been a diverse and desperate search for some form of leadership that would enable me to be the best leader that I possibly could and to truly help people...
So leaving Washington D.C. wasn’t as simple as abandoning some simple, arbitrary endeavor.
I had dedicated my high school and college years to finding some field, some career path, some calling in which I could truly thrive and do as much good in this life as I could possibly muster.
But in every career field I tried, I found problems.
And every problem I saw in every path to “leadership” boiled down to my high ideals: a refusal to “play the game,” and to sacrifice my morals, values and integrity to “get ahead.” I began to quietly loathe the fact that, as a society, we inherently perceive one’s ability to become and thrive as a “leader” based upon their money, their social status, their job title, their number of followers and supporters.
For some reason, it didn’t sit right with me. It even kept me awake one night.
-
ONE OCTOBER NIGHT, I found myself battling an odd bout of insomnia…
Get my free e-book: Subscribe to my blog!
My heart and mind were racing, as if something inside of me was trying to escape.
I sat on my apartment balcony and wrote in my journal. Desperate for answers, I began to question everything. Who am I? What am I doing here? What am I supposed to be doing in this life? I knew in my heart I was a “leader,” but who was I supposed to lead? Then, I had an awakening moment — my epiphany. I questioned:
…Can one lead, without having others follow?
This set off an unstoppable stream of thought and generated answers to questions I hadn’t even asked. For a few fleeting moments, I saw a flash of everything laid out before me — my path, my future, my purpose.
Since that night, I have spent much of my life developing and trying to understand an “alternative leadership philosophy” that teaches anyone how to become a leader in everyday life — the kind of leadership that comes from within.
To “lead without followers” is to embody a quiet style of “everyday” leadership that is deeply personal, internally-focused, and doesn’t require external validation. Free of attachments to job title, social status, salary or follower numbers, anyone can become a highly influential leader in everyday life…
-
HOWEVER, my story doesn’t end there.
In fact, even after my “awakening moment” I was further challenged to abandon the world of politics and conventional leadership. Months later, it was the spring of 2009, and I was running out of money.
I was offered a high-profile job back in my home state of Rhode Island with an ambitious, rising politician — an early favorite to win Governorship 18-months later.
I needed to make money, right? Taking a job like this was what the “real world” was about, right? Becoming completely miserable, unfulfilled, even outright depressed was simply a part of what a “real” job was, right?
Wrong. The job I moved back home for turned out to be everything that I didn’t want for my life.
The next three months felt like three years: I was down to my lowest body weight in years, I became horribly sick several times as my immune system and willpower to be healthy waned. I forgot happiness, I never smiled.
After those three months, I reached a breaking point and summoned the courage to take a leap of faith: I quit my high-profile job, my fast-tracked career trajectory in public service, and left the world of politics behind — amid the worst economic recession in 100 years.
- That’s when I decided to purchase DaveUrsillo.com and start a blog.
- That’s when I started writing, just because it’s the only thing I knew how to do.
- That’s when I began to dedicate my life to exploring this world, its peoples, and the human spirit.
And most of all, that’s when I began a mission to share this alternative leadership philosophy — becoming a leader without followers — to empower you to become a leader in your everyday life, and in order to help us collectively redefine the meaning of leadership in order to save the meaning of leadership… in a world that desperately needs it.
Here’s Where You Get Involved!
Skydiving in Portland, OR
Together, we can change the world by radically redefining the meaning of leadership.
That process begins with exploring life, this world and all its peoples together — won’t you join me on this meaningful exploration of personal growth, self-discovery and happiness? Here’s how you can get started…
Further, I’m happy to do my best to help you in any way that I can, or just meet you! Use the form below to email me or send a message to dave (at) daveursillo (dot) com, or call my mobile office line 401/384-0887. Thank you for reaching out! I look forward to speaking with you :)
