Mateus Grippi

Leading at Work Is One Thing. Leading in a Community Is Another.

When I reread my “Start” post from a reader’s point of view, I realized a few things could be improved — and one point needed to be clarified from the beginning.

VIBRA — the Vancouver Island Brazilian Association — was not founded only by my wife and me. We were part of it from the very first meeting, together with many others, all sharing the same intention: to support the Brazilian community living in, or arriving in, Vancouver Island, especially around the Victoria area.

Over time, people joined. Others stepped away. Volunteers helped with projects and events. The community slowly grew and became stronger.

The journey was not what I expected.

It wasn’t what I had planned.

It wasn’t better. It wasn’t worse.

It was different.

And that difference taught me something I had never really learned while leading teams at work.

Leading at Work

In a professional environment, the rules are usually clear — at least in theory.

Companies have goals defined by senior leadership. Managers and directors translate those goals into priorities, processes, and targets. People are hired for specific roles. There is hierarchy. There is structure.

Even when disagreements happen, they usually stay within clear boundaries. And the farther someone is from the top of the hierarchy, the harder it is to share a different opinion, especially when it challenges the established direction.

It’s not perfect.

But it’s predictable.

Leading in a Community

At VIBRA, none of that existed.

Everyone was a volunteer.

Everyone donated time, energy, and intention.

No one had to be there.

And that changes things.

Being part of the association was very different from leading at work. People came with different backgrounds, different expectations, and different kinds of pain — many of them invisible.

We were all living in another country, inside another culture, far from home. But “home” meant something different for each person. Everyone carried their own immigration story, their own level of adaptation, and their own weight.

For many people, being involved with the association was a way to reconnect.

A way to feel at home again, even if only for a few hours.

A chance to speak their native language and feel like themselves.

Sometimes, that showed up as difficult behavior.

When Leadership Isn’t About Choosing the Easiest Path

While leading some networking events, I noticed something early on. Most volunteers were supportive and focused on making things work. But a few had ideas and perspectives that were very different from what was being discussed — and this came up again and again, in almost every decision.

From a corporate point of view, the solution would have been simple — and my instinct at the time reflected how I had learned to solve problems back in Brazil.

When someone’s behavior affects the work, you address it directly. You align expectations. If things don’t improve, you move on and keep the project moving.

But I was no longer in a corporate environment. And I was no longer in Brazil.

I was in Canada, working with volunteers, inside a community built on belonging rather than hierarchy. And the approach I had learned before didn’t fit as well as I expected.

At that moment, I realized that I was trying to apply a professional solution to a human situation.

That didn’t feel right to me.

Looking back, I can see that I made mistakes. Sometimes I was too firm. Sometimes I lost patience. There were moments when I reacted instead of listening.

My issue was never personal. It was with behaviors that were affecting the project. My intention was always to move forward and later find better ways to support those who needed help.

But intention doesn’t remove impact.

And that was an important lesson.

What Stayed With Me

We delivered the events.

Some ideas worked better than expected.

Others didn’t reach the impact we had hoped for.

Some seeds only showed results much later.

I came out of that experience with people who became close friends — and with others who followed different paths.

And I learned something I still carry with me:

Leading at work is often about aligning people around an objective.

Leading in a community is first about understanding people — even when that makes things slower, messier, and more uncomfortable.

At work, processes absorb conflict.

In a community, you absorb it.

At work, decisions come with the role.

In a community, decisions carry personal stories.

Both require leadership.

But they are different kinds of leadership.

Understanding that difference changed how I lead today — in any context.