Run Toward the Roar

by John Robertson of FORTLOG

It’s About the Sound of Your Voice

(in an Age of AI)

I don’t want to get into any issue with you, but I’d like to take you back a few years to the pandemic. Remember masks? I know I have a hearing impairment, and I don’t always get sounds or speech very well. Then add a mask and it does not work well for me.

A friend of mine, Brent, nailed it: “With everyone wearing masks, I finally understand what the teacher on Charlie Brown is saying.” We laughed. Haven’t we all felt that “wah wah wah” moment?

And this principle applies to leadering.

When Our Words Sound Like Charlie Brown’s Teacher

Have you ever listened to someone speak and realized people are hearing noise but not meaning? Here’s the uncomfortable truth: communication is never what is said; it’s what is heard. People are watching long before they’re listening. My grandma used to say, “What you are speaks so loudly, people don't hear what you're saying.”

They notice how we respond when the Teams meeting starts late, when the coffee pot is empty, when the report is behind, when the pressure rises. Those small reactions decide whether our later words carry weight or become background noise.

AI - artificial intelligence - can write, design, code, summarize, and prepare content at breakneck speed. It can draft emails, build agendas, and even help you prep for a difficult conversation. But it still can’t do the hard work of leadering itself. It can’t set aspiration for a whole organization, make the tough call when values collide, build trust, or carry accountability.

In other words: AI can accelerate our output, but it can’t replace our presence.

The Core Shift: From "Command" to Context

As people, AI agents, and automation increasingly work side by side, command-and-control leadership starts to fall flat. It has been failing for years with the different values in the workforce. Leaders won’t always be the smartest person in the room or the fastest. So, the call shifts from commanding people [what I call Ranchers] to creating context: clear values, decision rights, guardrails, and a culture of trust.

Shepherd-Guides Don’t Just Talk. They Walk the Talk without the wah, wah, wah.

A shepherd doesn’t drive sheep from behind. A shepherd walks with the flock. Watches. Protects. Notices the limp long before anyone else does. A shepherd talks as they walk and here’s what’s fascinating: sheep respond to the shepherd’s voice.

Leadering works the same way. Credibility isn’t built in speeches. It’s built in steps. When walk and talk don’t align, people see lips moving and hear Charlie Brown’s teacher.

Leadering Is Presence, Not Position

This is why I’ve been using the word leadering. Leader can be a title or a role — leadering is how you show up when it matters most. Leadership can be focused on external expectations, performance, metrics. The bottom line is that leadering is the active, moment-by-moment embodiment of values, trust, or what gets called ‘character’ under pressure.

• Leadering is how you show up when no one is watching, when no one is applauding. When it would be easier to react than respond. It’s about being the person others trust, not just doing leadership tasks.

• A shepherd-guide doesn’t ask, “How do I look right now?” They ask, “What do they need right now?”

• Pressure Reveals Purpose. The reality that many learn, sometimes too late, is that critical moments don’t build character, they reveal it. Leadering means leaning into pressure with clarity, courage, and conviction. Just like my analogy of a tea bag in hot water.

• It is about being who we say we are, or Values in Action. Iconically, our values aren’t what you and I say, they’re what you or I do when it’s hard. Leadering is the real-time application of values that earn trust and drive impact.

“Only Human” Muscles We Can’t Delegate

• Providing the care the person needs, not just a number to call for care.

• Aspiration: setting the “why” and engaging others to own it.

• Judgment: making hard calls when values are in tension.

• Real creativity: breakthroughs require framing, guardrails, and courage.

Great Leaders Fight for the Bottom of the Pile

Do you remember the old kids’ game, king of the castle? It was that simple model where we would strive to make it to the top of some hill and anyone else who tried to climb up, we would shove, push or try to knock back down. 

The world teaches “king of the castle” leadership. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a degree, we need the next one; a promotion, an income, whatever it is, there seems to be a force trying to knock us back down as you and I cannot be the top. Shepherd-guide leadership flips that.

Great leaders fight for the bottom of the pile. They lift others. They take responsibility. They carry weight that isn’t theirs alone to carry. Not because they have to, but because they choose to.

In organizations today, AI can become a shiny new thing. Everyone marvels at speed and outputs while skipping the questions that matter: Is this true? Is this wise? Is this aligned with our values?

Leadering requires the courage of true humility, the clarity, the guiding which only you can provide, aided by AI and by your team.

Shepherd-Guides Don’t Chase Blame, They Create Space

Shepherd-Guides help people see beyond the moment. Not just “Something went wrong.” but “We get to choose how we respond.” Not “Who dropped the ball?” but “Who’s picking it up and who are we becoming as we do?” When pressure hits, humans drift toward fight, flight, freeze, or appease.

Shepherd-guides offer another way: Being before Doing. Purpose under Pressure.

Leadership talks tasks and strategy. Leadering reveals character. Anyone can lead when it’s calm. I AM leadering shows up when others retreat. That’s not weakness. That’s influence at its strongest.

Where Trust Is Actually Built

People don’t follow our mission statements. They follow our lived consistency. You and I can say we value respect. But the parking lot, the meeting room, and the Monday morning mistake tell the truth.

Here’s the hard part:

• Ethics are what we say is right

• Morals are what we actually do

• Values are what we claim matters

• Virtues are those values in action

When those don’t line up, trust erodes no matter how polished the words. Integrity isn’t about claiming goodness. It’s about integration when belief and behavior, the walk and talk, match under pressure. That’s the difference between a rancher and a shepherd-guide. A rancher drives from behind.

A shepherd-guide walks ahead visible, steady, and worth following. Shepherd-guides don’t just hold values. They live them where it costs. And that is where trust is born.

People don’t follow what we say we believe, they follow who we prove we are when it’s hard.

Questions to Encourage Your Leadering

• If someone followed you for a week—what would they learn about your values?

• How do you want people to drive you, non-physically? 

• Where are you letting AI, busyness, or fear speak for you?

• What truth needs to be named, kindly, in your world right now?

Because whether we intend to or not, we are always shepherding and guiding someone. And they are learning how to respond to life by watching how we respond to it.

That’s leadering.

And this is my desire for you. Be the one that people can look to, trust and even turn to in their critical moment. There is no greater success that matters [aka significance] then It's about the Sound of Your Voice.

Every day, every moment, we influence. The choice is what kind of influence do we want to have.

A Practical Resource for You

I'd love to give you a free resource to help you implement leadering in your organization. There is an individual version for personal reflection and a team version for a group to walk through. Please feel free to share this with others who might benefit from it.

Dive Deeper

There's been a shift in leadership: teams aren't following titles these days. This teaching video explores why this doesn't work anymore, what teams are actually following, and how leadering changes your organization.