You have to admit, Han Solo could definitely pull off that leather vest. On top of that, he can teach all of us a thing or three about informal leadership.

We’ve all been in a role at one time or another where we weren’t the “formal” leader of the team. We were just another team member trying to contribute to the greater good. Unfortunately, just when the project was going fine, a bunch of Imperial Stormtroopers and bounty hunters came along and changed the project charter.

The crisis clearly demands leadership. The formal leader likely has her hands full trying to get things back on track. If the team sits back and lets the leader lead alone, there’s a chance everything will fall apart (there are a lot of Stormtroopers involved here).

It’s time for you to step up and lend a hand. Even though you’re not the formal leader in this situation, you can have a disproportionately positive effect on the outcome as an informal leader. To do so, you can tear a few pages out of Han Solo’s leadership playbook.

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