Yesterday, I looked up and saw a full rainbow stretched across the sky. Not just a partial arc, but one of those rare, perfect, horizon-to-horizon rainbows that makes you stop mid-step and just breathe it in.
I know rainbows often get pulled into analogies about hardship. You know, the storm passes, the rainbow appears, hope after difficulty, and so on. But as I stood there, what struck me wasn’t the usual “light after dark” message, as powerful as that is. It was the rainbow itself. The way no single colour is what makes it beautiful, but rather the way the colours sit side by side: distinct, vivid, and together.
And it made me think that leadership is a lot like a rainbow. Not one colour, not one trait, but the interplay of many.
Why one colour is not enough
Leadership advice can often be boiled down to one defining quality.
- Be decisive.
- Be empathetic.
- Be strategic.
- Be visionary.
We hear these words so often that they almost become clichés. And yet, no leader I have ever worked with and admired was just one of those things.
In fact, if you cling too tightly to a single colour, the picture gets distorted.
A leader who is all “red” decisiveness without balance becomes inflexible.
A leader who is all “blue” empathy without limits risks drowning in the needs of others.
A leader who is all “yellow” optimism can miss the shadows that need attention.
The reality is that it is the combination that makes it work. Just as a rainbow is not really complete without the full spectrum, leadership shines when the colours coexist.
The colours of leadership
So, I thought we might play around with this a bit. Using the rainbow as guidance, what are the colours of leadership? Each one of us could create our own palette of course, so here is one way I see it:
- Red: Courage and decisiveness. The fire to make a call when others hesitate.
- Orange: Energy and creativity. The spark that ignites ideas and momentum.
- Yellow: Optimism and clarity. The warmth that helps people believe in what is possible.
- Green: Balance and growth. The ability to steady the team, nurture development, and keep things sustainable.
- Blue: Empathy and listening. The calm space where people feel heard, valued, and respected.
- Indigo: Depth and reflection. The willingness to look inward, to sit with uncertainty, to ask questions rather than rush to answers.
- Violet: Vision. The ability to see further than the day-to-day, to stretch thinking into what could be.
As you can see, no one colour is better than another. And no leader lives in perfect balance all the time. But when the spectrum comes together, when a leader can draw from red one day, blue the next, indigo when it matters, and violet when the future needs shaping, that is when leadership feels complete.
What happens when colours get dimmed
Of course, not all colours get equal airtime. Some leaders are praised for certain hues while being told to hide others.
Women, for instance, are often encouraged to dial up the blue of empathy but tone down the red of decisiveness, lest they be called “too assertive.” Men, on the other hand, might be rewarded for their decisive red but discouraged from showing the blue of vulnerability. Or any label in between. I have heard them all in my 25 years in the industry as I am sure you have.
But the end result? Leaders “trained”, through “feedback”, end up having a rainbow with missing bands. Making a much duller picture. A leader who feels incomplete and frankly, will not be marketable in an ever-changing environment.
Part of the challenge, I think, and the opportunity of leadership today, is refusing to flatten into one acceptable colour. It is learning to embrace the full spectrum, even when the world tries to dim it. Or your manager’s latest feedback session.
Context matters: which colour shines when
Another truth about rainbows: you do not always see every colour equally; it is, after all, an optical illusion. Sometimes the red is bold and dominant. Other times, the violet barely peeks through.
Leadership is similar. Certain moments call for more of one colour than another.
- In a crisis, red courage may need to lead.
- In a team conflict, blue empathy might be the most powerful tool.
- When the future feels uncertain, violet vision becomes essential.
Good leaders are not defined by having every colour turned up to full brightness all the time (my head hurts just seeing that!). They are defined by knowing when to let one shine and when to blend the hues together.
The quiet power of the blend
What struck me most as I stood staring at that rainbow was not the individual stripes of colour, but the way they bled into one another. Red into orange into yellow, seamless and soft.
Leadership works like that too. It is not about showing up as 20% courage, 30% empathy, 50% vision, perfectly portioned out. It is about the blending. The ability to weave between traits fluidly, so your leadership feels whole, not fractured.
It is the manager who moves from decisive problem-solving in a meeting to quietly listening to a worried team member in the hallway.
It is the CEO who speaks with bold clarity to the Board but brings reflective vulnerability to their team.
It is the leader who knows that being human means showing up in different colours depending on what the moment needs.
What leaders can take away from the rainbow?
So, what do we do with this rainbow metaphor, beyond enjoying the poetry of it?
A few thoughts:
Notice your dominant colour. Which trait do you default to most easily, and which ones do you rarely show? Awareness is the first step.
Give yourself permission to use the whole spectrum. Do NOT dim the parts of your leadership that feel less “acceptable” to others. They are part of what makes you complete.
Adapt to context. Ask yourself: what colour does this moment call for? Am I leading with the right hue?
Blend, don’t compartmentalise. Allow your qualities to work together rather than separating them into neat boxes. It is the blending that creates authenticity.
The rainbow you cannot touch
One last thought. You cannot touch a rainbow (ask any child who has tried!). You cannot bottle it up or keep it forever. But when you see one, you remember it. It lingers in your mind long after the sky clears.
Leadership can be like that, too. The impression we leave on others often comes not from the grand gestures, but from the way we show up in our full spectrum, the boldness, the warmth, the listening, the vision.
To use Maya Angelou as my inspiration: People may not remember every meeting or decision, but they will remember the rainbow of qualities that made them feel seen, inspired, and led.
As I walked away from that rainbow yesterday, it reminded me that leadership (and we humans) is not about being the brightest red, the calmest blue, or the most visionary violet. It is about showing up as the whole arc. Distinct, vivid, and together.
Because one colour alone is just that – a stripe of light – but together, they create something unforgettable.
And as always, if you invest in yourself, the rewards will be unfathomable.
Until next time.
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