or not.
I’ve been pondering leadership for the last several days. Those of you who know me may think it’s because of the various leadership roles I’ve been assigned. But, that’s not it. I’m not pondering the positions I’ve been assigned. What I’m pondering is real leadership.
In order to be a real leader, people have to willingly follow you. You can’t make people follow you, they have to want to do it.
This has implications for all of us. For example. We are getting ready to vote for leaders in our government this year. Most notably, the President. I’ve been through quite a few of these election thing-a-ma-jigs and the one thing I know for sure is that while the last several have had the highest leadership title in the country, more people were willing to follow the lead of people on TV than were willing to follow the President.
So, the question I ask is, “If no one is willing to follow, is the leader really a leader?”
Second question is this. “Who do people really follow?”
I think the answer to this is pretty easy. People follow the masses. They do what they see the majority of other people do. Or, at least, what they think other people are doing.
So, we are actually leading each other. And, largely led by no one. Or, are we?
Occasionally, someone shows up on the scene who some people are willing to follow. Most of the time we don’t even know we are following this person because the people most of us are following are the people who are following the people who is following the person.
So, what is it about this occasional person who people are wiling to follow regardless of the consequences?
As I ponder this, I realize that the key ingredient to a true leader, that person who has a following even if he doesn’t have the position, is that he is able to convince enough people that everyone else believes what he does so that eventually, enough people really do believe what he says. That in turn, makes everyone else believe the same things.
Do you want to be someone who people will follow? Do the following:
- State your belief with certainty.
Leaders routinely state their beliefs as fact, even when they aren’t, and a lot of times even when they aren’t sure themselves. They pick a position and stick with it. Remember John Kerry? - Make assumptive statements.
Leaders make statements that lead you to believe that everyone else (but you?) think the same way they do. For example, instead of just stating that the earth is flat, I would casually remark, “Of course, we all know the earth is flat.” and then I’d move on to some other topic fast enough that my remark could not be challenged. - Gather two or three other junior leaders around you who will follow you but also have a significant number of people already following them. This is critical. Without these other leaders, you will have limited success at achieving real effective leadership. Even if you are given the title.
- Be right most of the time.
You can only get away with the tricks above if you are right 99% of the time. Sometimes you can get lucky with this. But, you are much better off if you can support your positions if challenged. In fact, the quickest way to get unseated from leadership is if someone else can show that your beliefs and positions are not very well thought through, or even ridiculous. Unfortunately, most of us are willing enough to be led that few will challenge anyone who is leading. So, most leaders only need to be right as they are starting out. Of course, if you have a lot of people following you, there is more opportunity that one or more of them will see your stupidity. So, it is best if you can always support your positions.
Note: I’m just stating facts. This is how it happens. The process can be (and has been) used for evil or good.
I’ve tried to conclude this bit of pondering several times. I’m really not sure there is a good conclusion. But, I’ll leave you with this thought/question. Where are you on the continum of leading or following? Are you happy with how you are being led? If you aren’t happy with how you are being led, are you leading instead?
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Tagged with: leadership