Liminal Leadership ~Leading Between Fire and Stillness

Joanne Walters
Sep 3
2 min read

Leadership is not theory scribbled on a whiteboard. It is alive and shaped by the stories we carry, the identities we inhabit, and the colors of our lived experience. Some days leadership feels like red—fire, vision, and the courage to take risks. Other days it feels like blue—calm, listening, and the steadiness that lets others rise. To lead well is to hold both, to move fluidly between blaze and quiet, knowing that transformation happens in the space between.

The Threshold of Leadership

This in-between space is what anthropologist Victor Turner called liminality: a threshold where the old has fallen away, but the new hasn’t fully emerged yet (Turner, 1969). In today’s workplaces, liminality shows up everywhere like during mergers, role changes, technology shifts, or when cultures are being rebuilt. These are uncertain moments, but they are also fertile ground for transformation when guided with intention.

The VISIONary Leadership Framework™

My VISIONary Leadership Framework™ is a four-pillar model designed to help leaders navigate these thresholds with both humanity and skill.

Validate: Ground yourself in values and authenticity.
Inspire: Craft a vision that resonates and moves others to action.
Strengthen: Build resilience and capacity for yourself and your team.
Nurture: Create the conditions for trust, belonging, and growth.

Each pillar reflects a living practice, not just a concept. They are disciplines, but also invitations to imagine what’s possible.

The Science of Transformation

Research on transformational leadership echoes these pillars. Studies show that leaders who model strong values (Validate), articulate clear and compelling visions (Inspire), encourage innovation (Strengthen), and provide individualized support (Nurture) foster higher trust, performance, and engagement across teams and organizations (Judge & Piccolo, 2004; Wang et al., 2011). Decades of analyses confirm that these practices are directly linked to better outcomes, even in times of upheaval (Bass, 1990).

A Practice for This Moment

Pause and ask yourself. "Which pillar needs my attention right now?"

Do I need to Validate—to realign with what matters most?
Do I need to Inspire—to re-energize others with vision?
Do I need to Strengthen—to grow resilience and skill?
Do I need to Nurture—to create space for trust and belonging?

Choose one. Live into it.

In doing so, you lead your team through uncertainty while you lighting the path forward for the next version of your organization to emerge. Because leadership isn’t just about navigating change. It’s about becoming the bridge between what was and what’s still possible.

References

Turner, V. (1969). The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Aldine Publishing.

Judge, T. A., & Piccolo, R. F. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), 755–768.

Wang, G., Oh, I. S., Courtright, S. H., & Colbert, A. E. (2011). Transformational leadership and performance across criteria and levels: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(5), 890–902.Bass, B. M. (1990). From transactional to transformational leadership: Learning to share the vision. Organizational Dynamics, 18(3), 19-31.