In any organisation, 1-man or or 1-million-men — there must be a leader, and leaders
Because in any organisation, in any activity — decisions must be made — and actions must be taken
Leadership is a burden
Why?
Because ideally — no one would have to LEAD
Ideally every decision would be obvious,
and every operation would be carried out efficiently and perfectly
And every party involved would do their best
Miraculously everyone would know what to do, everyone would be upright
Everything would work like clockwork
That would be ideal
But it’s not how things are
Therefore there must be a leader
To solve those problems
Leader is the one burdened with solving those problems
Leader is the one burdened with taking responsibility for those problems
He’s not the one to “make things”
He is, first and foremost, the problem solver
Now, of course, a leader leading a creative project is, indirectly, creating things
He’s the painter deciding where to put which line and shape and colour
Leadership can be creative, the director, the visionary, the artist
One can be both
But what leader is, first and foremost, is problem-solver, decision-maker, and responsibility-taker
That’s what leader is
Now, again, in some sick organisations — “leaders” are divorced from responsibility
Think politicians, bureaucrats, most academics, corporate pawns, etc.
Some structures become overgrown, overcomplicated, stiff yet confused
It becomes unclear what goals even are — therefore it becomes unclear what leaders are even for,
There emerges a perverse entity with it’s own strange and disjointed agendas, which are unclear to even those comprising this very entity
And then, there are some forms of “leadership” which don’t involve any action, any production, and outcome
Think influencers, celebrities, “faces”
This, again, is no true “leadership”.
The purpose of leadership is decision-making — and the purpose of decision-making is deciding on the course of action
And the purpose of action is — obviously — outcome
Those “leaders” don’t produce outcomes
Their leadership is only over the ATTENTION of their followers
What it is, in essence, is a bug of the system
What came first?
Ability to make prudent decisions and taking responsibility for them, and for the collective? Or the attention?
Now, some “thought leaders” are indirectly contributing to advancements of their followers
There is no discipline involved — there is only willingness to learn and improve
I believe this breed of leader is impossible to be held accountable for their advice (for the good or for the bad)
“The art of life-living is beyond proofs”
What can be improved, however, is separating someone’s weltanschauung, attitude, integrity — from the attention, “clout” they enjoy
Separate the quality of the advice, quality of the man — from the appearances
Basically: account for social proof — for the innate bias we have for those already in the position of leadership — whether it is deserved or not.
…But TRUE LEADERSHIP is a BURDEN
True leadership: which is making decisions, solving problems and taking responsibility
It is such a burden that we can’t even do it with ourselves!!
How decisive are you?
Do you lead you?
Do you keep your word?
If you can’t even keep your word — then you have failed to inspire commitment, failed to inspire enthusiasm, and failed to inspire compliance — in your own self
This obviously leads to the common split between what you want and what you get and what you do,
Because you say one thing — do another
The follower in you says one thing — the leaders says other thing, or doesn’t say anything,
There’s no leader, no decisions made, no accountability for no actions
Now, those same people, who can’t even lead themselves, presume the role of a leader
This shows how misunderstood leadership is
We view it as a privilege
It’s not a privilege — it’s a burden
It means you have MORE problems — not less
You had your problems — now you also have problems of your organisation
It’s a burden
And guess what
It’s UTTERLY NECESSARY
You wanted this privilege of decision making — well you DO have it
Most of us fail to lead
Most of us fail to take responsibility
We fail to lead ourselves, I already said that
We also fail to lead those around ourselves
We fail to lead in all the small groups and organisations and relationships in which we are involved, every day
And make no mistakes: those groups, those organisations, those relationship — they are in desperate need of a leader
But no leader is found
No one wants to make decisions
Because decision-making is a burden
Responsibility is a burden
Leadership is exhausting
And at the end no one is grateful either
Those that think that LEADING is such privilege and benefit — they will even hold it against you, that you presumed to lead…
Except the organisation now functions better
Your relationships function better
Your life functions better
Your team functions better
Your family functions better
If you have a business — your business functions better
And finally: you function better
Conclusion:
Leadership is no privilege — it’s a burden.
It’s a necessary burden someone must take
Yes, there is great opportunity in taking that burden
But most of us would really rather have a great leader lead us — and have this burden out of our chest
Except there are not enough leaders — so you must be the leader
In every interaction of your life — including with yourself
Respect your leaders
If you don’t respect them — find yourself a new leader — or be the leader yourself
Be the leader anyway — because there is not enough leaders