Happy Labor Day Weekend!
The Labor of Leadership: why presence outlasts performance.
Most people don’t know the name Matthew Maguire.
He was the machinist from New Jersey who quietly organized the first Labor Day parade back in 1882. His push for a holiday honoring workers was bold, but after it passed, the nation celebrated while Maguire himself faded into the background.
In fact, for decades another man with a similar name was the one cited as the founding father of Labor Day: Peter McGuire. He was one of the founders of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), and convinced skeptics that national efforts to move toward labor protections, such as an eight-hour workday, were not only possible but necessary. His bold outgoing personality was a key element in his success.
Yet in the last few decades, the other Maguire is now getting his due respects. He worked more closely with grassroot efforts. And although he rode in one of the lead carriages in that first Labor Day parade, he shied away from the spotlight. He was more concerned about social justice than social standing.
It’s tempting to chalk this up to introverts vs extroverts. But that’s too simple. The truth? Loudness isn’t the same as leadership. And quiet doesn’t equal small.
What we’re really talking about is the difference between performance and presence. Performance chases attention. Presence earns trust.
And that’s the gap I see in so many workplaces.
The people doing the real work aren’t always the ones shaping the decisions. Smart ideas leak influence to the person who plays louder, even if their ideas aren’t stronger.
That’s the Presence Gap: when your contribution is real, but your impact doesn’t land. When your skills and smarts got you to the table, but your presence doesn’t match your potential.
The Labor of Leadership is learning how to close that gap. And here’s the encouraging part: presence isn’t about polish or play-acting. It’s about connection. It’s about earning trust. It’s about showing up in a way that makes your contributions land.
Closing the Presence Gap isn’t just about you.
When you model presence-first leadership, you give permission for others to lead differently too.
Every time you choose connection over performance, you’re shaping the culture around you. You’re showing younger leaders that trust is earned in the quiet moments, not the staged performances. You’re proving that influence doesn’t have to come from ego, polish, or power — it can come from listening, clarity, and presence.
In that way, your presence becomes a ripple effect. It builds trust in your team. It rewrites what leadership looks like in your organization. And it sets the tone for future leaders who are watching more closely than you realize.
The Labor of Leadership isn’t just personal. It’s generational.
Quiet Signals
What’s one quiet labor of leadership you’ve been doing this year that deserves to be recognized — even if nobody else has named it yet?
What's one small way you can connect to a peer, a direct report and your boss this week?
(Use these as a journaling prompts)
Signal Boosts
I’ve been working behind the scenes on a new workshop: Conversations That Build Buy-In. It’s designed to help leaders move beyond polished performance and into genuine presence — the kind that earns trust and makes ideas stick.
I’ll be piloting it this fall with a few organizations. If you’re curious about hosting one for your team, hit reply. Let's make it happen!
How to quiet your inner critic whether you're on the courts or in the conference room. Check out
my take on the classic
The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey.
Matt Breitfelder, Partner and Head of Human Capital at Apollo, on
the power of empathy in leadership as interviewed by Dr. Michael Gervais in his
Finding Mastery podcast.
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Hi there! I'm Jackie.
I help thoughtful people turn clarity + connection into the kind of leadership others want to follow.
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