Some leadership lessons aren't taught — they’re absorbed.
In the Black Church, they seep into your spirit between Sunday School and fish fries. They hitch a ride in the choir stand, on the platform behind the pulpit, on the marble floors of fellowship halls.
Over the past year, while writing Call & Response: 10 Leadership Lessons from the Black Church (Amistad-HarperCollins/JVL Media llc), I had the honor of sitting with 13 of the most brilliant Black executives, entrepreneurs, and experts you could imagine. C-Suite trailblazers. Innovators. Movement makers. Every single one of them rooted in something deeper than degrees, titles, or LinkedIn profiles.
What I found along the way wasn’t just confirmation of what I already knew in my bones — that the Black Church has been the original leadership academy for generations — it was a rich, layered tapestry of shared experiences, small but seismic truths.
And it’s those smaller truths I want to explore with you today.
Because leadership, real leadership, doesn’t start after the GMAT or in the corner office. It starts somewhere much closer to home for many Black executives — and it was a lot less glamorous.
Remember how I built a few chatbots to assist me in research, organizing that research and bibliography, and supporting efforts to pull insights and quotes from piles of data I amassed while writing my fourth book, Call & Response? Now that I’ve completed the final manuscript and the book is now in production, I thought it’d be fun to circle back to those bots and have a little chat about some of the top line data points from the interviews and research and even some of the more trivial but interesting data points to share here with you on Her Next Power Move.
What are my biggest takeaways from what the bots shared with me?
What 13 Leaders Had In Common
1. They Were “Voluntold” Early
Not a single leader I interviewed said, "I chose to lead." They were told to lead. Pulled onto programs. Asked to teach. “Voluntold” to sing a solo. It wasn’t presented as optional — leadership was baked into the culture, the expectation. Leadership wasn’t a reward. It was a responsibility.
2. High-Pressure Moments Became Normal, Early
They didn’t cut their teeth on low-stakes projects. They stood up in front of hundreds of expectant faces — lawyers, doctors, politicians, educators, plumbers, housekeepers and superstars in some cases… even grandmamas with sharp tongues and sharper Sunday hats — knowing feedback was coming. Some cried. Some stumbled. But all got back up, got better—got good at it. That "holy pressure cooker" bred the kind of resilience corporate leadership and coaching programs today wish they could replicate.
3. Leadership Modeling, Mirroring and Friendship Was Multi-Generational. It wasn’t just about watching the pastor. It was the church mother who ran the kitchen ministry. The deacon who knew everyone's name — and their business. The choir director who demanded excellence with a side-eye alone. The village trained them. Not through lectures. Through living.
4. Music Was the First Leadership Language. Out of 13 leaders, 11 had deep ties to music ministry.
Choirs.
Choir leadership.
Ensembles
Praise teams.
Praise dance.
And science backs it up: music and rhythm build pattern recognition and communication skills, two competencies that CEOs spend decades trying to refine. Music wasn’t just worship. It was early executive training.
Some of the Little Things — The Factoids You'd Miss If You Weren't Looking
Leadership isn’t just shaped by the big moments. It’s forged in the unnoticed, the ordinary, the seemingly trivial. Across all 13 conversations, a handful of shared threads emerged — subtle, but powerful:
Many leaders rotated through multiple churches as children and teens, not just one — broadening their exposure to different leadership styles and community dynamics.
Almost all vividly remembered their first critique — that moment when an elder pulled them aside after a speech or solo and said, lovingly but firmly, “Do it again, but better.”
Most had identity-shaping leadership moments before age 18, reinforcing what psychologists tell us: leadership wiring starts young, long before résumés and promotions.
Choir directors were some of their first “bosses” — the ones who demanded excellence, attention to detail, teamwork, and perseverance, long before any corporate internship.
Why This Matters
It’s easy to look at a polished executive and think they were simply "born to lead."
It’s easy to forget the tiny folding chairs, the nervy Easter morning speeches, the sharpened side-eyes from pews filled with love and expectation.
Leadership isn't conjured up in boardrooms. It's sung into existence. Preached into courage. Demanded through service. It’s caught — not taught — in the rich soil of Black church culture.
And if we lose sight of that? We risk losing a leadership lineage that has shaped some of the greatest innovators, activists, and executives of our time.
This isn’t nostalgia. It’s truth-telling. It’s pattern-recognition. It’s honoring the village that raised us to be bigger than the barriers we face.
The book delves deeper into the science of it all, more than you’ll probably expect; and my story threads this leadership guide throughout the 10 leadership lessons which were identified by high-performing executives that I surveyed ahead of writing the book.
If you grew up in one of those hidden leadership academies which is The Black Church — whether from a pew, a pulpit, or a program list — I’d love to hear your story. Drop it in the comments or hit reply.
We’re building something here. And your voice matters.
L. Michelle Smith is the premier voice in leadership at the apex of science and culture. She is a neuroscience- and positive psychology-informed bestselling leadership author, certified executive and personal coach, C-Suite advisor and professional speaker and facilitator. She had no clue that leading solos with the adult mass choir at the age of 12 would lead to her writing an evidence-based leadership book that centered the Black Church. Call & Response: 10 Leadership Lessons from the Black Church (Amistad-HarperCollins/JVL Media, 2026) is expected to go on presale later this year.
Share this post