Lead to Liberate - Part I
Liberation, leadership, and the journey to self-discovery
I have being busy lately, writing a book, coaching and mentoring people. Today’s professional market is quite a confusing one, and most do feel anxious on what 2026 will bring. This hysteria on AI, feels to let the human on the sideline, like we are just a consumer, a passive one. And I feel that most leaders, especially in tech, are devoid of many characteristics that make a human being. This text will probably be a long one, I will during the next days update it and add more things I want to share. But until then, I hope you get something from this post.
Thank you.
It’s common today to see leadership treated as a “feel-good thing”, much like the feel-good productivity schemes, I believe there’s a book about “feel good productivity”.
Only accessible to a few.
These have their pros and cons, but in my opinion, they simplify and diminish the true intention behind our thoughts, and what we want from us.
When I say leadership isn’t about titles, big tech CEOs, certain politicians, or famous individuals, I’m speaking about you how you lead your daily life, your ambitions, and how you integrate with others.
Leadership doesn’t require a symbol, it could or perhaps it requires motivation, a dream, or a way of living, whatever keeps you anchored.
We might say a singer leads to liberate themselves from their inner demons, to make others happy, or to give them a reason to embrace life. Or perhaps they bring to life a bright dream that opens doors to parts of our brains we’d long forgotten, and in that moment, our lives change. There are a lot of info about people that change their life entirely, after watching a movie, listen to a song, reading a book, or simply because something happen to them.
Personally, I enjoy exercising, listening to music, and reading. These practices liberate me. They push me to determine what else I can achieve while clearing my mind of the toxic environment our society glorifies like working extra hours, neglecting family for work, or chasing the carrot-on-a-stick version of success. I feel that we really need to be discipline to protect what is really important for us. Although it can be difficult, because we all have bills to pay, and for some reason we feel bothered when we refuse to work extra time, to spend time with the ones we love. This happens to me and in a few people I mentor. They really struggle initially to cross that line of “shame “ when they decide to make a difference.
I know sometimes we need to pause certain things to achieve what we want, but only for a short period not like today, where most tend to live their end lives with just memories of work.
Liberation is a revitalising feeling also an action, when you get that job, finish that exam, win that game, cook for your in-laws for the first time, or ask someone to marry you and they say yes.
I sense, especially in certain workplaces, that we don’t experience liberation, sometimes. Instead, we feel relief, when we finish a difficult project, complete one of a hundred tasks still left, or reach the weekend only to dread the bucketload of work waiting on Monday. That relief is temporary, short-lived, and rarely enough to truly liberate us.
Some leaders draw us in with their charisma, only for us to realise we’ve fallen into a trap. Especially when that “future” feels almost impossible, but is so bright we all fall for it. Until we realise it was just to keep us working for more time.
We have bills to pay, and the fear of not maintaining a certain lifestyle, providing for the family can be paralysing.
But imagine having someone who helps you achieve your goals, giving you time and space to pause. Imagine what the next step could be. We’re social animals, and having others to support us is natural. Yet, you still need to build habits and mindsets to guide you when things go wrong.
I won’t deny that understanding the world today can feel like falling into a maelstrom one that’s hard to escape.
Think about how we’re trapped by social media. We’ve surrendered our privacy, our ideas, our data a piece of ourselves for the convenience of online tools that demand our attention. If you pause, you’re punished with thousands of “adventures” you’ve missed, what others have liked, shared, or focused on. The fear of missing out is real.
When you spend so much time on these platforms, you’re missing your potential., sometimes I have that feeling. Many of us rely on them for business or income, so we devise strategies to keep the algorithm happy and stay in the public eye. Some even buy followers or subscribers, trying to game the system. For example, I have over 5,000 followers on LinkedIn. Should I celebrate this milestone? Why, when only 0.2% of them interact with me? It makes you wonder why we invest so much effort for so little attention. Yet, I’m still there, doing my thing. I’ve met amazing people, but I know the game is rigged. Does it liberate me? No. It’s a trap, a waste of time that I’ve learned to manage. And if it disappeared tomorrow, I wouldn’t miss it. Products come and go.
All in tech is ephemeral.
Knowledge, for me, is liberating. Understanding how AI works, or recognising when certain big tech individuals spout nonsense, is invigorating. Even more so when I teach others to understand what’s happening.
I’ve learned about leadership by living life, educating myself, listening to others, and understanding its many facets.
Being humble.
I don’t believe one leadership style is better than another, though I know some lead to disastrous outcomes. My advice is for you to think even about these words I’m writing. Question them, not in terms of black and white or true and false, but in terms of what they mean to you. What have you learned from them, if anything?
Sometimes, I feel we all have an invisible mental block that keeps us ashamed of ourselves, preventing us from saying what we truly want to say. I see passive-aggressive people, micromanagers, charismatic bullies individuals who manipulate others and diminish their potential. I’ve witnessed this countless times, day after day. We all have friends and family members who drain our emotional energy, even when they’re not present.
Liberation requires effort not physical, but mental.
It means abandoning certain people, certain ideologies, or environments. Moving away takes courage, and most of us lack the energy or means to do so. But occasionally, our brains flickers, and in that moment, we make the decision to let go and move on.
Those moments when we say, “To hell with it.”
Years later, we might confide in someone: “If I hadn’t done it, I’d still be in the same place, the same situation. I wouldn’t have felt liberated.”
Leaders influence us, and how we listen and believe can either liberate us or keep us trapped. Sometimes, the belief in something is enough to confirm we don’t want liberation until we fulfill what we feel or accomplish a shared goal. These are the moments we sacrifice our precious time a personal choice, one we might regret or not, but it’s ours choice. Even if, upon accomplishing it, we only feel relief, not liberation.
The above is meant to make you think, and even myself.
Leading to liberate is intentional, to my understanding. It requires considering the repercussions and opportunities, what it means to others, and whether they’re prepared to embrace it even yourself.
It can keep us in a loop of worry beyond comprehension.
It’s hard to fight for others’ freedoms when the world seems built to repress us, to keep us in a box. At work, we live within rules, processes, and procedures necessary, perhaps, but controlling nonetheless. At home, external pressures can create a similar mindset, almost mimicking corporate life. Liberation isn’t easy it goes against modern commerce and our way of life.
Every contract, every EULA, every subscription locks our minds. Suddenly, we have obligations, and failure can bring consequences. In a culture that punishes “bad” behaviour, some see this as right, while others see it as preventing us from reaching our potential.
How do you lead to liberate?
It’s a tough question. Everyone is different, and a one-size-fits-all solution isn’t feasible. You could research or ask a chatbot for tips and tricks, but humans are complex. Not all “best practices” or frameworks will work and sometimes, they make things even harder.
I don’t have a solution. I suggest you find yours, read, experience as much as you need, but ultimately, it has to be personal. This I’m certain.
For me, it’s about having solid, respectful values. When I know something isn’t right, I speak up, even if it means facing punishment. I remember working with a team when our manager started to become a micromanager and a bully. One day, he lost control, calling everyone stupid because we chose a particular programming language. We gave our reasons, but he wouldn’t listen. I intervened, saying I wouldn’t tolerate that behaviour towards my team or anyone else. Weeks later, I became a target, and it was a tough time. But I did the right thing.
Leading to liberate means spending time and effort seeing things from multiple perspectives, including questioning your own ideas. It requires openness to others and the realisation that, ultimately, we’re all the same.
It means being aware of when you’re being selfish. Putting yourself first is fine, but sometimes it comes at the expense of others. The question is whether it’s the right thing to do. This is a thought exercise, as life is complex, and no one has all the context to understand the whole picture. Maybe we don’t need to see the whole just a part of it to reduce our cognitive load.
We live and learn.
I sense we have so many mental locks, some designed to keep us docile, to follow the rules. Rules bring security and understanding, but they can also hinder us.
Introspection is a requirement for all leaders, including the everyday citizen that we all are. This means setting aside time, putting aside distractions, and understanding that life isn’t about acquiring things especially in our current lifestyle.
By the way, Christmas is coming, and for some, relief comes from consuming.
In reality, we should be sharing.
We’re pushed to do things because they’ve become the norm, and again, that sense of relief when we’ve bought all the presents, put up the tree, decided who to invite for dinner, and created that magical feeling of nostalgia. We believe that this one day(s) is enough to clear all our debts. This is where we get all together, forgetting the other ~363 plus days in the year.
As I write these lines, I realise that I can’t finish this post yet. I’m not even sure that I express what I really wanted to say. But this idea to lead to liberate, seems a profound one.
To depths to our mind. Beyond physicality.
Because liberation has many meanings, the sense of accepting what has happened in the past either good or bad to us, and the idea of resetting, starting over, leaving things behind or some. Is probably one of the best feeling one can get. Because it requires so much of us, tremendous actions, verbs to each of our choices.
It seems to me quite interesting. So I will write more about this, and maybe you or even my kids will find interesting or useful in a near future.
To be Continue...
About the Author
Diamantino Almeida is a tech leader, coach, and writer reshaping how we think about leadership in a burnout-driven world. With over 20 years at the intersection of engineering, DevOps, and team culture, he helps humans lead consciously from the inside out. When he’s not challenging outdated norms, he’s plotting how to make work more human one verb at a time.
Great topic - 'liberation'. Learning from the journey thus far and adjusting to take the different path guided by: what worked - what can I do better? Being open to continuous learning.