There’s a lot written about leadership. It can be a little confusing. Perhaps a source of this difficulty is that we lump two other concepts–winning and administrating–in with leading. Winners and administrators are well positioned to lead, but frequently they don’t. In fact, many winners and administrators are active misleaders.
It may be that leadership is simple. Perhaps it’s just showing the way either by guiding or by setting an example.
Winning is coming in first. But a horse “in the lead” isn’t showing the way around the track. All the horses know the way. On the other hand, the winning horse (including its jockey, trainer, etc.) may be leading in the sense of developing some new technique, or setting an example of doing an excellent job. So winners can be leaders. But sometimes winners cheat. Cheaters are misleaders. So whenever we automatically assume a winner is a leader, we’re asking to be mislead.
Administrators hold positions of power. They direct activity and allocate funds. They may show the way, but not necessarily. Directing and allocating funds can devolve into mere commanding. Sometimes administrators mislead. It’s not uncommon for managers, CEOs or elected officials to be abusive, neglectful, self-aggrandizing, gluttonous, or even criminal. What kind of examples are these? Whenever we automatically assume an administrator is a leader, we’re asking to be mislead.
We’ve all heard stories of winners and administrators who were lead by the humble example of a low-ranking adult or even a child. Anyone can show the way.
We all need leadership. Even winners and administrators. We all need guidance, inspiration, examples to follow. Where is this leadership to come from?
Well, leadership can come from anywhere. But it’d be best if it came from everywhere. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we’re all constantly showing ways and setting examples. We’re all constantly leading or misleading. By taking responsibility for guiding and setting an example we move from misleading toward leading.
Having left leadership to winners and administrators has been a huge source of our troubles. We all need to lead.
Last night I watched the movie “Temple Grandin” about a young autistic woman who could be an ideal leadership model. Her particular “secret” as I saw it was to be true to herself when everyone else around her saw her as weird and incapacitated. Underneath autism is a very unique way of experiencing the world. In the ‘normal’ world of leadership, we would call it vision that is born of a different way of seeing the world as it could be, not only as it is. If it is a powerful vision that drives the leader, it will arise from his/her unique characteristics. If this cuts across the cultural grain, there will be all sorts of push-back and obstacles to overcome and personal demons to be slain, the same as for Temple Grandin.
In the end she triumphed magnificently and has become a boon to all the rest of us, the Hero Myth personified. In my mind, the leadership role is so compelling because it is embedded in the human psyche as the Hero Archetype. Much to be learned from Joseph Campbell here, because he is able to describe simply who we are deep down. Scratch the surface of a ‘Serf’ and you’ll find a leader.