The Realm of Stupid Leadership
Leadership knowledge does not make a person into a great leader. However, we live in an age where information is available in heaps and everyone has become an expert. There is a myth, a lie that everyone can be a leader. This is what I call, “The Realm of Stupid Leadership” and it is pervasive in our culture.
In fairness, everyone can exhibit some leadership traits or qualities, but that doesn’t make you a leader. You can occupy a leadership role or position and not be a leader. In my research, experience and observation true leaders are born–always have been always will be. The rest are just followers dressed up like leaders believing their own press, social media clippings, and heaping up mountains of knowledge–wanna-be’s!
There are Three Types of People in the Realm of Leadership:
#1 – Those who know they are followers. These are people who definitively know they are not leadership material. In fact, these people will cast off any mantle of leadership; unless, it is absolutely thrust upon them. Even, then, when a true leader appears, they will quickly and gladly pass the mantle. The leadership mantle makes these people very uncomfortable, it is a burden and weight they can’t wait to pass on or get rid of. These people want to be led. They want responsibility, but not the leadership responsibility. These people tend to be great in an organization. They are ready, willing and able to be led. They are the most valuable commodity any organization has! They make their leaders’ lives pleasant and productive. They are the silent master-cog in any organization.
#2 – Those who know they are leaders. These are people who definitively know that they are born-leaders. They always have been. Since, childhood or their earliest opportunity they have been expressing their style of leadership on their peers for as long as they can remember. These people naturally have others gravitate towards them, towards their opinions, and their counsel. Very simply, they influence others, normally from a very early age or an early opportunity. These people not only get results, but get others to get results. They wear the mantle of leadership with great comfort. These people didn’t wake up one day and say “oh, I’m a leader, people should follow me!” Rather, along their journey as they’ve encountered groups, teams, classrooms, really people in general, they grow more comfortable with leading other people.
Natural-born Leaders handle authority easily. They make it look easy. And to some extent it is easier for them. All leadership has a burden associated with it, because ultimately, a natural-born leader is willing to listen to counsel, but accept sole-responsibility for the decision. Natural-born leaders recognize this ability in other natural-born leaders and will easily subjugate themselves into a follower role, as long as the other leader demonstrates a high level of competency and consistency.
#3 – Those who think they are leaders but are really followers. This is the Realm of Stupid Leadership. This group is growing by leaps and bounds in our culture today. Because, somewhere some clever publishing groups, public speakers or authors looking to sell you their books have sown this myth among our corporate culture that “everyone can be a leader.” The absurdity in this is really laughable. What Fortune 500 company or even a mom-and-pop bakery hires each new employee and says “welcome, you are now a leader, but so am I and so will be each new person we hire?” No one says this, well, no one that still has an organization or business that is remotely successful. Ever been in a room, on a committee, a team, a class or a gathering where everyone tried to lead? It’s impossible! Nothing gets accomplished, the simplest tasks become ridiculously complex, and harmony denigrates into hostility.
I call these people “wanna-be” leaders. They don’t start out with bad intentions, normally. But often, because they have misperceived their ability or have been led to believe in a false-ability, something happens to them and the seeds of tyranny are sown. Consequently, these people normally look at the natural-born leaders with contempt, because the natural-born leaders make influencing others seem so easy and for the wanna-bee leaders it is nearly impossible. If you can’t get people to follow you, you probably aren’t a natural leader. The mantle of leadership is all about authority. Most people can’t handle it with prudence, judiciousness and wisdom. Authority to the wanna-be leader becomes an obsession. Accepting responsibility is nearly impossible for the wanna-be leader, because, they are actors and actresses, and failure is impossible to ingest because in their minds it might expose themselves to their perceived followers. This type of leadership will ultimately turn into tyranny and a dictatorship. This wanna-be will remove any and all challengers of his perceived-authority.
The Realm of Stupid Leadership will ultimately destroy a business, organization, team, family or church. Knowing your ultimate ability brings a level of liberty to your life. You don’t have to pursue the wrong opportunities or take on the wrong responsibilities.
If we all worked on becoming better followers, the natural-leaders will arise. Harmony, unity and peace will be the by-products. However, in the Realm of Stupid Leadership hostility, factions, and open-conflict become the norm.
Simply, in the realm of leadership, everyone must remember that everyone is a follower. We are all following someone, even for some if that is just themselves. So, the best leaders are the best followers, but the best followers are not the best leaders. If we focused more on serving than leading, the leaders would lead and we could all follow.