Stand Up So Others Can Rise
Created at: October 11, 2025
Stand up not to be heard, but to make space for others to rise. — Malala Yousafzai
Reframing Leadership as Space-Making
Malala Yousafzai’s line shifts the center of gravity in leadership: the aim is not self-amplification but creating room for others to step into their own power. In this view, standing up is an act of architecture rather than applause; it builds platforms, lowers barriers, and redistributes attention. The practice echoes a common activist refrain—"pass the mic"—which turns visibility into a shared resource rather than a personal brand. By treating voice as a commons, we move from scarcity to abundance in public life. This sets the stage for a deeper question: how do leaders concretely turn their visibility into opportunities others can inhabit?
Malala’s Example in Practice
Malala has modeled this inversion repeatedly. In her UN address (2013), she declared, "I speak not for myself, but for those without voice," deliberately using a global podium to surface local realities. Through Malala Fund’s Education Champions, she directs resources and attention to community advocates in countries from Pakistan to Nigeria, ensuring stories and strategies originate with those closest to the problem (I Am Malala, 2013; Malala Fund reports). Thus, the spotlight becomes a searchlight, scanning for overlooked leaders. Building on this, it helps to situate her approach within older traditions that treat leadership as service rather than status.
Traditions of Servant and Movement Leadership
Robert K. Greenleaf’s "The Servant as Leader" (1970) proposed that the test of leadership is whether those served grow as persons and become more autonomous. Mid-century organizer Ella Baker’s SNCC work (c. 1960) carried the same thesis, insisting that "strong people don’t need strong leaders"; she organized structures where many could rise. More recently, Alicia Garza has described Black Lives Matter as "leaderful" rather than leaderless (2015), distributing initiative instead of centralizing it. These strands converge on a single principle: leadership is successful when it multiplies leaders. Yet multiplying leaders requires grappling honestly with how power and privilege shape who is heard.
Power, Privilege, and the Ethics of Amplification
Creating space is ethical work because visibility is unevenly allocated. Amy Edmondson’s research on psychological safety (1999) shows people speak up when they believe candor won’t be punished; without that climate, silence prevails. Likewise, Rosabeth Moss Kanter (1977) documented how token status distorts participation, often muting marginalized voices. Therefore, those with platform or positional authority must negotiate, not deny, their advantage—ceding airtime, credit, and decision rights so others can author outcomes. With these obligations recognized, the question becomes practical: which structures reliably turn intention into everyday behavior?
Tools That Turn Intention Into Structure
Mechanisms beat goodwill. Round-robin updates ensure everyone speaks before anyone speaks twice; rotating facilitation spreads authority; and agenda co-creation invites issues from the edges to the center (community organizing practices; Ganz, 2008). Publicly attributing ideas to originators counters "idea laundering" and teaches teams to tie credit to contribution. For selection and exposure, transparent criteria and candidate slates—akin to the Rooney Rule (2003)—expand who gets opportunities. In media moments, leaders can redirect interviews to colleagues, cite local partners by name, and share data and contacts so others can carry the story forward. As these habits take root, they begin to change outcomes, not just optics.
The Long Arc: From Spotlight to Sunrise
Sustained space-making measures success by the number of new leaders who emerge and remain. Mary Parker Follett’s "power-with" (1918) captures this horizon: authority grows when it is shared. Teams can track speaking time, credit distribution, and advancement rates to see whether opportunity is genuinely widening. When it is, the original voice becomes less central by design—an intentional fading that signals a broader dawn. In that sense, Malala’s counsel is not modesty but strategy: stand up not to be heard, but to usher others onto the stage, until many voices blend into a chorus strong enough to lift the whole.