How a Boy on a Bike Reminded me of an Important Leadership Lesson

Today, I saw a dad biking with his little boy perched up front. The dad couldn’t see his son’s expression, but I could.

That little boy was in absolute bliss.

Eyes lit up. Wide smile. Pure joy.

No posing, no performing, just experiencing the moment.

And I felt it too, simply watching him go by.

I wish I could have captured those five seconds—to hold onto that feeling, to show the dad what he was creating for his son, and to remind all of us that these moments are gifts. 

It got me thinking about joy.

How can we have joy when there is so much suffering in the world?

How can we attend to real challenges and preserve our capacity for joy?

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks once described the difference between joy and happiness:

“Happiness is something you pursue. But joy is not. It discovers you. It has to do with a sense of connection to other people or to God. It comes from a different realm than happiness. It is a social emotion. It is the exhilaration we feel when we merge with others. It is the redemption of solitude.” 

It is okay to feel joy. In fact, it’s essential. We need it.

Joy helps connect us to what matters most—which, in turn, helps us make a positive difference in the world.

A colleague who worked for a nonprofit immigrant advocacy organization once shared a story. After weeks of late nights at the office, their boss gathered the team and said, “The people we serve don’t want us giving up our families to be here—they want us to go home and feel the joy of being with them.” 

That reminder wasn’t about minimizing the work. It was about sustaining it. Joy fuels us for the long haul. 

A few weeks ago, I heard Brené Brown speak. She mentioned that it is hard for autocratic leaders to stay in power where there is joy. That really hit home for me.

It’s not easy to hold both the weight of the world and the lightness of joy. But we can practice it. We’re allowed to. It helps us as individuals, and it helps us to help each other.  

I’d love to hear your own reflections.

Where have you noticed pure joy, in yourself or those around you?

What can you do to make more space to notice and experience joy in your life, and in your work?

You might also consider how your relationship to joy affects your leadership. When we let joy show up and share it with others, it changes how we see the world and how we treat people. It softens us, helps us connect, and builds influence that doesn’t depend on our title or position. Joy creates a subtle ripple: it sparks hope, invites curiosity instead of anger, and gives us a different way to honor hard things without getting stuck in them. 

A Simple Exercise  

Find a photo of yourself—or someone you love—where a second of pure joy is captured.

Look at it closely. Notice how you feel when you see it.

Notice the child on the bike. The kid with the ice cream cone. The sunset.

A friend snapped a picture of me filled with joy on one of our trips together. I keep it above my desk to remind me that this way of being is always in me. 

I'd love to hear your thoughts! 

Lori    

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