(You didn’t start here — and that’s the point.)
🐾 Cats Don’t Carpool: The Leadership Blog Series
Herding Cats, Managing Chaos, and Leading with Less Hiss
No one starts out as a Clowder Queen.
You don’t wake up one morning magically confident, calm, and capable of guiding a whole group without breaking a sweat. You start as a kitten — curious, unsure, bumping into furniture, and occasionally hissing when you feel cornered.
Leadership growth isn’t a glow-up.
It’s a grow-into.
And the sooner we stop pretending leaders are “born ready,” the more room we give ourselves (and others) to grow honestly.
🐱 1. Every Leader Starts as a Kitten
Early leadership often feels awkward.
You second-guess yourself.
You try on different styles.
You watch others closely and think, Surely they know something I don’t.
That phase isn’t weakness — it’s learning in real time.
Kittens don’t apologize for wobbling. They wobble, fall, get back up, and try again. Leaders do the same thing — hopefully without knocking everything off the desk in the process.
🐾 2. Growth Comes From Observation, Not Just Action
Cats learn by watching long before they leap.
So do strong leaders.
Before you were confident, you were observant.
You noticed who earned trust and who demanded compliance.
You paid attention to what made teams feel safe — and what shut them down.
That quiet noticing becomes instinct later.
But it only happens if you let yourself learn without rushing to perform.
👑 3. Confidence Looks Different Than You Thought It Would
Most of us imagine confident leaders as loud, decisive, and always in control.
Then we grow into leadership and realize real confidence looks more like:
- Calm under pressure
- Willingness to pause
- Comfort saying “I don’t know yet.”
- Trusting others to carry weight
Clowder Queens don’t rule through dominance.
They lead through presence.
🧭 4. You Don’t Outgrow Your Earlier Selves — You Integrate Them
Here’s the part no one tells you:
You don’t shed your kitten stages. You carry them with you.
The uncertainty makes you empathetic.
The mistakes make you thoughtful.
The moments you felt unseen make you better at seeing others.
Growth isn’t about becoming someone else.
It’s about becoming more yourself — with better boundaries and fewer panic reactions.
🐈 5. You’re Allowed to Acknowledge How Far You’ve Come
Leaders are great at spotting gaps and terrible at recognizing progress.
If you’re reading this and thinking, I still have so much to learn, that’s probably true.
But it’s also true that you already lead differently than you once did.
You listen more.
You react less.
You notice dynamics sooner.
You recover faster.
That’s growth. Even if it doesn’t feel flashy.
🐾 Final Meows
Becoming a Clowder Queen isn’t about perfection.
It’s about steadiness.
It’s about learning when to step forward — and when to sit quietly and let others stretch.
You didn’t skip stages.
You didn’t fail your way here.
You grew your way here.
And if you’re still growing?
Good. That means you’re leading with intention.
Insights inspired by the book
Cats Don’t Carpool: They Come in Their Own Accord