Hey, everybody. Welcome back. This is Food for
Thought, Thoughts If It Were You by Neogentrics.
Now, I did do a podcast a little while ago. The
current time is 5 o 'clock p .m. Now, I've had
a lot of questions. I've had a lot of people
tell me a lot of different things. And they say
that with the way I talk, the way I carry myself,
I'd make an excellent leader. Now, honestly,
I've been in a leadership position before and
it's not a lot of fun. But then it brings up
the question, how do you know I'm going to make
a good leader? Are you sure about that? Are you
sure you want me? You know, these questions,
they come down through my head. I'm pretty sure
it comes to your head, too, if you've ever heard,
you know, that phrase. So then let me ask you
this. What is a leader? Now, we're still going
to focus on communication, but I just want to
take a chance to elaborate on that question.
What is a leader? You know, ever since we spent,
we learned to speak and work. together certain
members of the rate of you know different races
have sought to become leaders you know and so
that's why you know it is that it's that here
in the 21st century there are so many questions
and still so much debate about what a leader
is and what they actually do you know i'm gonna
do my best here to try to demonstrate how we
are all capable of being a leader today or tomorrow
even if only for today or tomorrow Where, not
just specific people, but just about anybody
could be a leader, and in their own way. First
things first, the Oxford Dictionary defines a
leader, you know, in human terms. I'm going to
try to translate it as best as I can. The person
who leads or commands a group, organization,
or country. The leader of a protest group is
a natural leader. Okay? Also, a leader of the
house is British. uh a british member of government
officially responsible for initiating business
in parliament that's a good example of that but
i mean in either case um there is a degree of
formality about it basically a whole organization
accepts one person at its as its leader by virtue
of that badge of rank the leader has formal authority
and power this is understood though okay um with
that There are three likely dangers of this view.
I'm going to take a short break real quick. And
then I'm going to cover those three dangers.
And we're back. Let's see here. There are three
dangers. But looking at a leader as a very powerful,
godlike position. First things first, organizations
come in many shapes. Okay? And sizes. Political
parties, governments, charities, businesses,
families, etc. By inference, if an organization
has one leader, that person alone is the source
of all the ideas. That person alone is the maker
of all the decisions. The rest of the organization
must therefore be followers, or there's a better
word for that, sheep, who take absolutely no
initiative and make no decisions. These people
are also free of responsibility for outcomes
of their actions. When you say it like that,
Yeah, I know it sounds bad, but that's basically
the gist of it. This presents a big problem for
the organization as a whole and followers as
individuals. One. Well, this is one, but I mean,
first things first, within this one, there's
no synergy. There's little initiative. There's
little incentive for anyone to do anything good,
save following orders, of course. There's little
reason for people to do... How do I put this?
Not do bad things, let's say it like that, so
long as they are within the letter of the law.
The second thing I want you to note is that since
the concept of a leader is a job title, the leader
must be the one leading every minute of every
day, which means he doesn't get a break. He or
she may not be less than perfect at any time.
This presents a big problem for the leader. okay
because he must be right all the time he or she
must also be seen to be right every time in the
sense that he has to be morally and technically
infallible it's not possible um basically everyone's
putting him on a or her on a pedestal. Each and
every act or word, business and professional
is subject to scrutiny and being judged by everyone.
I mean, sadly, this kind of infallibility is
not a constant for any human being. And how do
I put this in nice terms? We're all idiots of
some kind at some time. It's called the error
of being a human. You know. The third thing about
this is that the longer a formal leader is in
its post, the greater the gap between the leader
and the lead or the sheep become. The leader
becomes less tolerant of independent thought
and the lead become less capable of it. At this
point, if it is to survive after the leader,
an organization has to look seriously at a succession
planning. And sadly, that succession planning
is still the responsibility of the leader. Otherwise,
it's likely to be interrupted as... Well, how
would it be interpreted? Oh, I got the word.
A mutiny. The past has showed time and time again
that families with a commanding father or mother
can tend to be somewhat dysfunctional. Nations
with a cult of personality around a single great
helmsman tend to suffer in the long term. Companies
which are ruled by the iron hand of their founder
are lost when the founder dies or is shown to
have had feet of clay, if you know what I mean
by that. So, how do we look at this? Most modern
definitions of a leader in current day's terms.
Well, Frederick Arnander said that we're all
leaders. Leadership is not a position, it's a
mindset. Okay? Why is he proposing this difference
of opinion? Well, to build organizations with
the agility and focus to succeed in the modern
world. Clearly, it is vital for any organization
that initiative, ideas, authority, decision -making,
liability, and respect, and kudos, be shared
out to his or her needs from each according to
their abilities as well, in the sense that it
took multiple people to get to where we're at,
not just one. Each one in charge of their own
area, of course. I mean, it's not the aim of
this piece to address leadership as a series
of traits or behaviors. However, it's not possible
to divide leaders from leadership. How do I put
this? A leader goes in the front, leads the way
by his actions, and people then follow. Okay?
He's not given the mortars. He does by example.
Okay? This is in contrast to a ruler. Rulers
rule by the use of their power and authority,
backing this up, if necessary, with heavy -handedness.
This whole thing, how do I put this? It refers
to leaders and rulers in a national sense. However,
the same can be said for people at the top of
any organization, be it political, commercial,
or even religious. Therefore, for anyone to claim
to actually be a leader, as opposed to being
the leader, if you know what I mean, he or she
must have real followers. These are people who
follow out of choice, not because they're forced
to. A leader may rise to a state where people
follow them for many years and through various
incarnations. A fine example is like... Let me
see here. Oh, I got one. Nelson Mandela. There's
an example for you. Who moved from personal commitment
to small -scale political activism to national
presidency to world statesmanship. Mandela embodied
a vision and commitment for many, many years.
In contrast to the previous quote that I just
gave, Mandela preferred to think of a leader
leading from behind. Actually, let me just use
his quote directly. It is better to lead from
behind and to put others in front, especially
when you celebrate victory, when nice things
occur. You take the front line when there is
danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership
more. Okay? This makes it way more valuable.
With that being said, there's something called
an emergent leader. Emergent leaders... It's
a leader that may also emerge from the crowd
for just a few moments. They're not 100 % a leader,
but they have that moment where they're able
to help out. This can be a serious matter or
an entirely frivolous one. It depends. For instance,
a young woman named Claire Pepper was knocked
down while cycling in London. She was injured
and trapped beneath the car. Unable to breathe
due to the weight pressing down on her chest.
Okay, a single passerby took a leader role straight
away He gathered nine others who became his followers
and together they lifted the car from on top
of Claire saving her life until the medics arrived
After the panic was over the individual ceased
to be a leader and melted back into the crowd
and basically disappeared And if you want to
know more about What a frivolous leadership looks
like. There's this guy, his name is Derek Sivers,
okay? That's something I had found the other
day. He uploaded a video on YouTube entitled
Leadership Lessons from a Dancing Guy, which
is a little ironic, but it's there, which clearly
shows how a person can, with no particular vision
and certainly no rhetoric or verbal communication,
can be a leader in style or fashion. That means
that it doesn't matter where you're from or who
you're from or what it is you're doing. You can
become a leader depending on whatever the situation
is regardless. Leaders come in all shapes and
sizes and they can lead in all different aspects
of life and human life and endeavor. We are all
capable of being leaders somewhere at some time.
We simply have to motivate ourselves to be motivated
to lead. That's the only difference. That's what
makes a person a leader. Not because they can
stand in front of people and talk to them. Not
because they can convince other people to do
stuff. Though that is a great skill to have.
It's because you know what to do, you're willing
to do it, and you're willing to have everyone
else do it while letting them retain their individuality.
You're not taking it from them. So, every time
I hear someone say that, yes, you could be a
great leader, you were a natural born leader,
that may be true. But, if my personality or the
way I carry myself doesn't match, then it's all
for naught. So, with that, getting that completely
out of my system, though it sounds like I basically
just raged through this entire podcast, I'm sorry.
I just wanted to make a point that, you know,
a leader is not someone that's just randomly
picked. It's something that happens as natural
as it could be. Just because someone is assigned
a leader or is born from someone who's a king
and is expected to be a leader doesn't mean that
he's... that kind of leader. Every person is
different. So with that, I thank you guys for
listening. I thank y 'all for tuning in. I know
two podcasts in the short period is probably
a lot, but I mean, I've done worse. So thank
you guys for listening. This is food for thought
thoughts. If it were you by neogentrics, enjoy
the rest of your day.