We are constantly inundated with the concept of alpha individual. Someone who is able to put themselves into a group and take charge. The person everyone looks up to. The go to person for approval of how a group functions. You can call it the CEO or CFO, a troop leader, the principal of a school, your manager at work. But these persons are not always leaders. They are simply people who have developed the skills to find their way to the top of the human pyramid in which they reside.
Leadership is a different quality. It’s not about knowing how to play the political game and figure out who to cajole in order to move to the next step in your career. Leadership is a quality of where others look up to you because of your strength, kindness and fortitude. You do not need to be the top of the pile to have leadership qualities. What you need is forthrightness and the ability to try to make things better around you.
Good leaders make you feel good about yourself. They help you think through your issues and help you to understand how to resolve them. They guide you through any number of quagmires helping you right an unruly canoe.
Leadership is also about not needing to receive accolades for all the work that you do. Now of course, financial compensation for the work you do is very needed (we all have bills to pay. We don’t live in the time of Star Trek). But there is something more to being a leader.
The compensation for guiding others is knowing that you helped improve someone else’s outlook. You may have helped them even figure out the smallest issue, such as which type of bread to buy. Assisting someone doesn’t have to be life altering. It can simply be having the ability to guide someone to help them resolve an issue that to you maybe inconsequential, but to them it makes a huge difference. Leadership is not belittling others problems, but listening, supporting and helping the person find a solution that works.
Many think that leadership is just another form of influence. In modern parlance, it is the influencer on social media to which young people aspire. To have thousands, and even millions of strangers follow your every word and deed seems to be the ultimate profession. At least that is what the majority of American teens want to become.
Honestly, it is simply another version of celebrity.
And as we all know “celebrity” is quite the sought after moniker that makes everyone starry eyed with dreams of mansions, fancy cars, designer clothes, private jets, and overpriced vacations. It is seen as the pinnacle of success. It’s an old marketing maxim, if you want to sell a product get a celebrity to wear it, eat it, or drive it.
But that doesn’t mean there is leadership in being a celebrity or influencer. Oh you can tell others what to think, without actually thinking yourself. Take the insanity behind the “All Eyes on Rafah” trend. Because some well known celebrities put it on the instagram, suddenly millions were spreading the word. Shared over 47 million times, by most people who don’t even know where Rafah is.
But because their favorite model, singer or actor said this is important, these sheeple followed the trend. And because those same influencers didn’t care that 6 hostages were slaughtered by their kidnappers in Rafah, these same addle brained trenders didn’t post a damn thing. They didn’t even know these murders happened because the influencers didn’t care that it happened. (By the way, we, the adults in the room, know who and what these influencers really are.)
Is this leadership? No. It is a cult like following where children who cannot sit still long enough to read a book, or write an essay, think that because someone appears in a movie, or on a magazine cover, their every thought and deed should be lionized and honored.
So you have influencers, but you do not have leadership. Their followers have short little slogans filled with feel good, “yeah me, I am so great because I posted something online” personas. What have these influencers actually accomplished? What have they given up? Who have they helped except themselves? And then you need to ask yourself, why is Rafah (for example) so much more important than every other cause celebre in the world? What makes it so different? Can these influencers answer this question? Can the sheeple? (I can, and I give you 3 guesses, but I am certain you will only need 1 guess in the end.)
Leadership is more than influence. It is about being a positive force for good. Making sure that your leadership results in a better world, not one that is bogged down in conspiracy theories and old hatreds.
Leadership is about making the hard decisions. Having the backbone to make a decision that may go against public opinion, or the opinion of your immediate circle. It is about standing up for what is right, when everyone else is either to scared, selfish, or too stupid to do what is just.
Leadership is taking responsibility for your mistakes, for your errors and promising to do better. Leadership is knowing that taking the right and honorable stand will get you shunned, or canceled. But you do the right thing anyway.
There really is no gray in leadership.
Leadership is taking the initiative to do what is right and just.
Leadership is telling people that we cannot bargain with evil.
Leadership is letting people know that there is black and white, right and wrong, good and bad in this world.
Leadership is letting people know that simply because someone has a “truth” or a “narrative” doesn’t mean it needs to be respected.
Leadership is living with veracity, instead of making up lies and stories to protect some power position.
Leadership is telling people something they don’t necessarily want to hear, but something they need to hear.
Leadership is telling those who are beyond the pale of human decency, that we are not interested in having you on our team.
Leadership is making the hard calls and taking the hits because of those calls, from the smallest decisions in life to major life altering realities.
Leadership is strength, fortitude, and forthrightness.
In truth, anyone can be a leader. It depends on if you want to do the hard work to be one.
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I liked this. It is really saying that people with inner strength who take responsibility for others is leadership. As a retired Commissioned Officer from the services, I would say this is very close.
The first Principle of Leadership officially is Consistency. It seems surprising but in action it is true. People need to know who they can rely on, they need to trust you and know that you are fair. Real leadership is quite a parental role, both unselfish and inspiring. But you have to do your homework, you have to be the one who knows what to do in an emergency, to take the long-sighted view and to stay steady. It often requires real courage to shoulder the burden, make the decision and carry others along with you.
Here in Britain we have had a long period of poor leadership from self-centred politicians who use the position as a mere stepping stone to being a world statesman. We could do with an inspiring leader to save us.
Great post. Timely. You wrote, "Leadership is strength, fortitude, and forthrightness."
When I watched Netanyahu's entire press conference, those three traits were definitely on display.
There's several on the rest of the list he needs to revisit sometime in the future. For now, I'm grateful he's the PM.