Leadership Starts Earlier Than Most People Think

In many research environments, leadership is associated with a formal role. A title changes, a group grows, a grant is awarded, and only then does leadership seem to begin. Before that, people often see themselves as “just” researchers, responsible for their own work and little else. This way of thinking is understandable, but it misses something important.

Long before anyone is officially in charge, leadership already shows up in small, ordinary moments. It appears in how problems are framed, in whether someone takes responsibility when things become unclear, and in how disagreement is handled when the answer is not obvious. None of this requires followers in the formal sense, yet it shapes how others respond.

When people talk about leadership, they often mention direction, vision, or motivation. These are useful words, but they can obscure the mechanics underneath. In practice, leadership in research tends to rest on influence rather than authority. Influence here does not mean persuading people at all costs, and it certainly does not mean manipulation. It means putting forward reasons, making thinking visible, and allowing others to engage with that thinking critically. The choice to follow or agree remains with them.

This distinction matters in research because disagreement is not a problem to be eliminated; it is part of the work. A leader who cannot tolerate counterarguments may achieve compliance, but at the expense of rigour. Over time, this weakens both the science and the people involved in it.

Another aspect that is easy to underestimate is time. Leadership is often judged by how someone performs in moments of pressure or success. Less attention is paid to whether that standard can be maintained over months and years. Research projects are long, demanding, and uncertain by their nature. Energy rises and falls, enthusiasm fluctuates, and setbacks are common. Leadership that only works when motivation is high is not enough.

Sustaining good leadership over time requires attention to limits. This includes the limits of others, but also one’s own. In research cultures that reward endurance and output, taking care of oneself can feel like a distraction from the real work. In reality, it is a condition for continuing to do the work at all. People who ignore this often discover the cost too late.

Leadership, then, is less about stepping into a role and more about how one behaves before and after that step. It is shaped in moments that rarely feel important at the time but accumulate. By the time others are formally “following”, much of the groundwork has already been laid.