Queen Bey.

There is a book by Kouzes and Posner that lists 5 elements of being an exemplary leader:

1. Model the way

2. Inspire a shared vision

3. Challenge the process

4. Enabling others to act

5. Encourage the heart

In my opinion, this is what Beyoncé does and so that’s why she is my leading lady.

Being a white, working class male from a not-so-very wide cultural background, my exposure to anything outside my ‘set’ lane was hard to come by and so please don’t be offended or annoyed at me selecting Beyoncé as my inspiration. I appreciate that she isn’t the first inspiration black woman in music that you think of in music history but here are some reasons why she is my inspiration and why I started to open my mind to educating myself on black history and how to be a better person in general. I owe a lot to the teachings of Queen Bey.

Modelling the way

You’ve heard of single ladies, right? What about Run the world? Global hits because they hit where it needed to and that was in the society-built minority that is ‘Woman in Power’. My mother was and still is a great inspiration to me. The expectations, preconceived perceptions and ‘traditional’ practices that a woman is asked of is, in my opinion, madness and it’s not something I really thought about until I was at an impressionable age which is when I started listening to Beyoncé. These songs were great bops but subliminally was telling me that women are important and powerful and allies. I didn’t understand the relevance of these songs and words and videos and what it meant to black women. I think it’s said that a black woman is the least respectable person in America, I don’t know if that’s right but I’m sure I read that somewhere and Beyoncé modelled the way for these women to be feel important and powerful. In 2010 she founded Parkwood Entertainment to show women everywhere that they too, can be powerhouses in music and be able to support themselves and they didn’t need anyone else to do it for them and share their profits. With this label she also enlisted and helped support other black women in music and what a platform to be lifted up on. She also employs mostly woman in her performances, modelling the way for woman and black woman to be in the forefront of media, to be seen and heard and be respected.

Inspired a shared vision.

To be honest I think I covered this already – she created a label to support herself and others. What inspires me about Beyoncé is how kind she is. She welcomed Kelly Rowland into her own home when she was younger and her nurtured Kelly as their own for a while. Being humble isn’t something that is easy to learn but when you have it naturally, you can’t help but share that humility and I learnt that from Bey. She also helped support a loved one when they needed it and that is something I try and do myself, to recognise that need and but ‘love on top’. A trait that I inspire to have is resilience. It’s hard to manage and often fluctuates but Beyoncé never gave up and I think about that when I’m in a situation that I can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel. She had also wanted to be a singer and started young but was struck with white privilege all along the way but she kept on fighting and growing and going for it, striving and achieving.

Challenge the process

I could be wrong and I don’t want to feeding into the stereotype but like many industries, the music is lead by white males and Beyoncé is a black woman who is authentically herself. How much more inspiring can you get? Her album Lemonade was Beyoncé. In my opinion (as I obviously don’t know her) that was authentically herself. She wasn’t making the music for profit, she was making the music to inspire others to be themselves, at least that’s what I took from it. She also made a video for every single song and released them along side the songs. She was the first person to do that, a black woman under her own label. She challenges process everywhere she goes. She wanted independence from her father / manager and she wanted to be modelling her own way. She wanted to bring a feast for the eyes as well as ears for us and she did. She didn’t want her privacy invaded and so she kept many parts of her life out of sight from the public eye. She wanted to bring you an album of black inspiration and she wanted to be as authentic as she could in her role of Nala in Lion King. She does what she wants but within that want she supports, guides, and inspires others to do the same. She also collab’d with a band of women for ‘Daddy Lessons’, Lady Gaga for ‘Telephone’ and ‘Video Phone’ (do you remember that song? Great) and Shakira for ‘Beautiful Liar’. She helps uplift women and I applaud that, something to aspire to.

Enabling others to act

She told me in ‘me, myself and I’ that I needed to realised and recognise early that I’ve got myself and I need to rely on myself to get through all my trails and tribulations and no one else. ‘I was served lemons, but I made lemonade’ is a line from her one of her songs ‘Freedom’ with Kendrick Lamar, that was said by I think, her grandma? I could be wrong there and we have heard this saying before but until you live your life and you are served lemons, it doesn’t make it real for you and it’s hard to make lemonade when you don’t know how to do it and what to do but with her encourage sounds you can get it a good go. From the same song she said ‘I’m gonna keep running because a winner never quits on themselves’. Ooft. The volumes that speaks to, how important it is to remember that and do that – inspiring. If the song ‘I was here’ doesn’t make you want to cry as well as do something about the global issues then you’re not human. She really speaks from the heart in that song and the video is magic. She is again, allowing that platform to help support not only the issues at hand but also others to offer that help.

Encourage the heart

If she hadn’t done enough for you as individual as it is, she also became a philanthropist and created ‘BeyGood’ which is a charity that was founded to help support to those in need, from aiding small business succeed to assisting organisations combating the COVID-19 pandemic. This was created just after she started up her own label that is partnered with Ivy Park which is huge fashion statement. I remember she also started ‘Dereon Jeans’ that I think her mother manages now? She is constantly creating those spaces for everyone, using her platform to help other succeed. She also allowed me realise it’s okay to be vulnerable in ‘Halo’ as vulnerability is important to be a well-rounded person. She also told me to be sex positive in songs like ‘Partition’ and ‘Drunk in love’ and love yourself and be yourself, it’s okay to seek and obtain and love the pleasure of yourself. Who knew?

I want to be independent. I want to be successful. I want to be inspiration. I want to be supportive. I want to be private. I want to be encouraging. I want to be vulnerable. I want to be myself. I want to be authentic. I want to be true to myself. I want to be sexy and love that. I want to love myself. I want to be that bitch. These are things that I hope I have in life now and that is because of Beyoncé. She has inspired me and my life through all she has done. She has also had a huge influence on the music industry, inspiring so many others to follow their dreams and that is what you want from someone in that position, for me anyway, that’s what I want.

My inspiration, Beyoncé.