Leadership is an abstract concept, just like friendship, love, and beauty. Like all of these ideas, we have made some absolute false standards for leadership as well. We believe that “leader” is a title given by either more powerful leaders or grateful followers. We engage in debates that all friendships are different, love can have so many dimensions, and beauty is based on how we perceive it. We accept these elements to be subjective, but leadership still appears to be a daunting task.
You can’t be a leader because the standards you have set for being a leader are unrealistic, impossibly enormous, and depend more on other people than yourself.
At this point, we would hear the argument that being a leader should be difficult. You have to inspire your followers to do amazing things in your name to make you immortalized in history.
But here’s the catch, a leader who creates followers is simply a fancy “boss” who is making other people dependent upon their word. It’s a self-centered approach based on coveting fame for yourself and not thinking of transferring this power to other people. A Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu, from 4th century BC addressed this very issue when he said,
“A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.”
– Lao Tzu
Consider the implications of this sentence written more than two thousand years ago. We are still intoxicated by the idea of immortalization, self-preservation by becoming a leader. Leadership should be a responsibility, a willingness to make a difference in the world.
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But here lies another argument. If leadership is a responsibility, it is a huge one because you have to change the world. Well, think about it; has there been any leader in history who has changed the whole world? If that had happened, the world would not need correction again and again. There would be no need for any new leaders.
Does that mean that all past leaders have failed? Has there never been a single successful leader?
No, there have been countless successful leaders in the past and the present. Not a single leader has ever made the whole world follow them; instead, they have inspired others to become leaders themselves. In doing that, they create a chain reaction that goes on beyond their capacity, their time, even beyond their vision of reality.
“I start with the premise that the function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”
– Ralph Nader
You can’t be a leader because you have misunderstood the whole idea of leadership. It is not a title, not a position, not a task that you have to do. It is a responsibility that you have to accept. There is no magic number of people you need to inspire to become a leader. It can a billion people, or it can be just one person.
Helen Keller was a leader, and millions know this, but so was her companion, Anne Sullivan, whose name people usually forget. People know Oprah Winfrey, but very few know Mrs. Duncan, a fourth-grade teacher who inspired her. People are very well aware of Bill Gates, but they don’t know about Blanche Caffiere, a librarian who inspired Gates.
These leaders are all around you. These leaders are the reason why you have reached this stage in your life. You love them, you value them, but you don’t consider them a leader, and more importantly, you don’t expect yourself to be a leader for someone else. But just like Anne Sullivan, Blanche Caffiere, and Mrs. Duncan, you can create so much difference in this world.
First, you need to accept the responsibility of creating a difference. Then look around you for small moments where you delight, inspire, and motivate other people. Drew Dudley lovingly calls them “lollypop moments” because you simply forget these seemingly unimpressive moments. Once you do that, you’ll find that not only can you be a leader, but you are already on the path to become one.
Remember another two thousand year old saying,
“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.”
– Lao Tzu
Find more about leadership and other life skills through The Lost Footsteps.