My thought for the day; ‘Today I Follow; For Tomorrow I May Have to Lead’ As I contemplate the plight of man it seems that we can most often be broken down into two groups; followers and leaders. Some seem to prefer following; it is easier and bears less responsibility and requires little initiative. Some of us maybe never quite grow up. We all were followers when we were little; it was by watching others that we learned most of what we know. Some seem born to lead; it is in their nature to seek solutions and spot the obstacles that present themselves. Some are born negotiators while others are only content when they are in control. I can’t help but wonder as I contemplate the differences; are we born to it, raised to it, or do the circumstances of our lives determine which we become? In many instances it seems a bit like the ‘Alpha dog’ syndrome. Some people seem to gravitate toward being the top dog in whatever setting they are placed in. It is sometimes a matter of appearance and carriage; a confidence that is obvious in their bearing that makes them stand out from the rest. There are those who seem to radiate a spark from within that draws others to them like a moth to a flame. In other instances people are promoted to positions of leadership because their excellence is apparent to everyone around them; they are head and shoulders above the rest when it concerns their abilities. Although, as we have been witnessing of late; it is not always some sterling aspect of a person’s character that lands someone in a position of leadership; there are times when the greatest attribute a person brings to the job is a deficiency of character. Some leaders reach the pinnacle, not because they are the best candidate for such positions; but because they lack integrity and have developed skills that enable them to become masters at manipulation. Or they lack character to such an extreme that they are able to be puppets to those with even more devious purposes than they themselves possess. On the world scene today it seems we are immersed in a sea of ’leaders’ of nations and of industry who have attained their positions for motives other than being helpful to those they profess to lead. On the political front, in the financial district, or our new ‘for-hire’ military contractors; many have found that control and greed are compelling forces to seek positions that grant them their desires. There is little to command respect in their deportment; be they businessmen, politicians or people in positions of authority. There is not room on the top for all to become leaders; therefore the majority of mankind find themselves in positions where they have no alternative but to be followers. The extent that they might take this however is a matter of personal character. I am convinced there are many good leaders among us who have never been offered the opportunity to rise to the surface. There are also those who choose to follow rather than seeking leadership positions for a variety of reasons; it could be their level of experience, their personal ambition, a lack of self-confidence; their level of education…or they simply seek to travel the easy path; content to follow the herd. Some take this to the extreme; they will even act against their own best interests as they follow their ‘chosen’ leader; even be led to the slaughter without thought of protest simply because they have learned to follow at any cost. As an avid student of history however I recognize that circumstances can make determinations about our capabilities that might never have become visible to others or ourselves unless we were compelled from within to positions of leadership we never thought ourselves capable of fulfilling. We’ve all heard tales of heroic actions taken by soldiers on the battlefield who saved the lives of others; oftentimes at great personal cost. They were not necessarily the officers who led the troops; but often just ordinary men who behaved with extreme initiative under the worst of circumstance. I think about Irena Sendler, a Polish social worker who helped to save some 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto and giving them false identities. Working with a team of some 20 people and hoping to someday reunite the children with their families (most of whom perished in the death camps.) She wrote their real names on slips of paper that she kept at home; later burying the slips in a jar under an apple tree in an associate’s yard. Mrs. Sendler saved not only those children, but also the generations yet to come; a true exhibition of leadership initiative that she might have spent a lifetime unaware that she possessed had she not found herself in such unfavorable circumstances. Whether we are followers or leaders, the simple act of living our lives; the knowledge we absorb along the way, the character we develop and the skills that we accumulate over the course of time, are often found to be a form of training that come to the surface under circumstances that somehow propel us outside of our normal comfort zones. My conclusion after contemplating leadership is that we are sometimes born into it, sometimes we are trained to it; sometimes we are simply compelled to act…For sometimes it seems that true leaders come to the front because they find that they were born for such a time as this.
Posted on: Fri, 26 Jul 2013 17:09:05 +0000