By Jimoh Babatunde

On December 28, 2025, thinkers, leaders, and professionals from diverse backgrounds gathered virtually for “Come Out of the Herd”, which was indeed a reflective leadership conversation hosted by a great and notable leader, Damilare Davola, Head of the HyperLight Institute which is a research and thought leadership organisation examining business, leadership, and economic systems through cultural, ethical, and behavioural analysis. . The 90-minute Zoom meeting, held from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm, showed vividly the unseen forces that shape leadership, ambition, and decision-making in an age defined by speed, visibility, and constant feedback. Alongside Davola was a profound guest speaker Dami Abiodun, who is a Lead Pastor of The Pacesetters Church and a leadership consultant. He is well known for his work on inner formation and leadership clarity.

Davola was strategic enough not to adopt the format of a conventional leadership webinar. “Come Out of the Herd” unfolded strongly as a thoughtful inquiry into first principles. The title itself already framed the conversation’s central concern which is the subtle ways individuals surrender authorship over their lives by uncritically inheriting assumptions, great definitions of success, and cohabiting models of leadership from their environment. Throughout the session, both eloquent speakers challenged participants to reconsider not just how they lead, but how they see as well.

Opening up the conversation, Davola firmly established the idea of “the herd” as a psychological and cultural condition where people agree and conform without thinking deeply. According to Davola, many capable individuals continually go through the path of failure, not because they lack talent or ambition, but because they never take their time to interrogate the assumptions shaping their desires and decisions. In his view, he realized that modern society rewards motion, visibility, and people’s performance while quietly discouraging the ability of stillness and reflection which are the very conditions required for clarity.

Davola argued that contemporary life steadily erodes what he described as “interior authority.” The availability of constant feedback loops, so much pressure from their audience, and also technological advancements train individuals to look outward for validation and permission. Over time, this act of outward dependence makes authentic leadership increasingly difficult, even for those who seem to appear confident or successful on the surface. Leadership, Davola greatly suggested, becomes performative when it is driven also by momentum rather than just conviction.

A major theme of Davola’s contribution to the discussion was the distinction between improvement and newness. He emphasized why self-development conversations often emphasize optimization which is doing the same things better, he then proposed that genuine transformation actually begins elsewhere. Newness, as he said, does not emerge from refining inherited patterns but from seeing vividly and differently enough to stop imitating them. This kind of clarity requires the willingness to endure uncertainty and resist the comfort of consensus. In that sense, leadership now becomes less about strategic brilliance and more about the courage to act faithfully on what one has come to see as true.

The conversation really took a deeper turn when Davola noted that true leadership is most clearly revealed not in favorable conditions but in moments when approval is absent and the future is uncertain. Then eventually in such moments, confidence and ambition are insufficient substitutes for internal anchoring. What now sustains leaders then, he strongly argued, is coherence which is the alignment between insight, values, and action.

Building this foundationally, Abiodun now reinforced the emphasis on inner clarity as first the starting point of authentic leadership. He challenged the prevailing assumption that leadership was now primarily about visibility, influence, or performance. In a world like this saturated with noise and speed, he noted, leaders face constant pressure to react, conform, and remain relevant every time. And without deliberate discipline, this pressure then gradually erodes originality and conviction.

Abiodun then warned against what he called “audience capture,” that is a condition in which leaders unconsciously surrender authorship over their decisions to external expectations. According to him, many leaders tend to lose their distinctiveness not through dramatic failure but through the small, repeated compromises made in the name of acceptance or what is called expedience. True leadership, he maintained, requires the courage to remain authentic even when doing so is very costly, can be misunderstood, or unpopular.

Addressing the matter of leadership in an era of artificial intelligence and rapid technological advancement, Abiodun stated that while tools and systems continue to evolve, the core demands of leadership remain fundamentally human. The level of discernment, responsibility, and moral clarity cannot be outsourced to technology. He cautioned against the illusion of people that sophisticated tools can compensate for the absence of inner formation. He emphasized that leadership is ultimately tested in uncertainty, where the ability to see clearly and act faithfully outweighs confidence or ambition.

Throughout this very enlightening session, participants were invited to reflect on their own patterns of imitation, the very sources of their assumptions, and the subtle ways they might be living a life that seems to be unfavourable. The conversation resonated strongly with attendees seeking more depth beyond tactical leadership advice. And amazingly rather than offering formulas or prescriptions, Come Out of the Herd created space for examination and honest self-inquiry.

By the end of the event, a consistent message had emerged from both speakers that leadership is not primarily a matter of position, performance, or perception, but more of clarity and authorship. To come out of the herd is not to reject community or collaboration, but to strongly refuse unexamined assumptions and agreement. There is the need to reclaim the responsibility of seeing, choosing, and acting from conviction rather than just momentum.

Come Out of the Herd really stood out timely and necessary for contemporary leadership discourse. Looking at our environment dominated by speed and spectacle, the conversation offered a quieter but more demanding invitation for leaders to slow down, to see clearly, and to lead from within.