Leadership: use of power

Happy humpday my friends!

A quick thought on leadership- it’s a popular word these days, and perhaps in the cyber space of the 2020s…a misused quality. So this is a message- to leaders and those that aspire to be one. Wait, now that I think about it- this is a message to anyone who is seeking a leader to follow: chose carefully, and reevaluate that choice often.

Leadership IS power; the charisma to command attention, the attractiveness to coalesce individuals into a group, and finally the influence to move that group into action is the result of cultivating talent into a refined behavioral skill set. It’s no small task. But here’s the thing…just because someone can lead it doesn’t guarantee that person knows where to go.

Leadership has a time & circumstance quality to it. One person perfectly suited to move a group into a specific action at during a particular period of time & circumstance may be ill suited to move that group into the next challenge.

There is no shame in that. Using the standard of meritocracy, it’s simply the best person for the task at that time. (It always comes back to meritocracy whether by realization of success or suffering in failure.)

So there is a tenure, a stewardship to effective leadership. And further, benevolent leadership will foster empowerment of those who self select to be so, & care for those who do not.

Here is my point; many of you seeking a leader to follow would do better to accept the task of becoming one yourself. Nature abhors a vacuum, and the power of leadership can be wielded by both the just or the unjust.

Maybe your time is now. Consider staking a claim on that power, to keep it OUT of the hands of those who would abuse it. They are everywhere. Always.

In the movie Gladiator, Marcus Aurelius offers the position of Emperor to his General Maximus so that he may remove the corruption, end the empire and restore the republic…in essence, get hired to fire himself and remove the position.

Maximus refuses, to which Marcus Aurelius replies, “That is why it must be you.”