One Apple A Day #67
“Exception/effective/proven leadership skills” is a quite common line in a lot of Cvs I saw. In our society success and achievements are highly praised. We all look to the great leaders in business and politics as example and inspirations. And this is great. As long as you remember that they are humans, it’s good to seek for inspiration in people who make a dent in our world.
But there’s more to it than just inspiration. It looks like everybody wants to be a leader. As illustrated in this article, schools and universities focus on creating a new generation of leaders. You can find more than 35,000 books in the category “leadership” on Amazon. I have no doubts that we need more and better leaders, but I also have two concerns.
The first one is the distorted idea of leadership that we are sold. According to the dictionary, a leader is “the person who leads or commands a group, organisation, or country.” The focus is all on “leading or commanding others". There’s no mention of excellence, dedication or service. Leadership is a status to reach, not as a service to give.
Our world needs leaders who are called to service rather than to status.
My second concern is the deceitful idea that you need to be a leader to make the difference in the world. Either you are a successful and praised leader, or you are only a loser who can only follow. I find this idea disturbing. As Robert Kelley explained in his article published in 1988 on HBR:
Without his armies, after all, Napoleon was just a man with grandiose ambitions.
The not-so-subtle message is that “to be a follower” is a sign of mediocrity. But is it true? In his article, Kelley challenges us to look at followers from a new perspective. What if followers are people “committed to the organisation and to a purpose, principle, or person outside themselves”? People who “are courageous, honest, and credible”?
We need new and better leaders as we need new and better followers. We need leaders who act from a place of service and not from a position of command. We need followers who are willing to commit to a cause bigger than themselves.
If you pursue excellence and service, you’re going to make a dent in this world. Sometimes as a leader, others as a follower, depending on the circumstances.
What if we said to college applicants that the qualities we’re looking for are not leadership skills, but excellence, passion and a desire to contribute beyond the self?
You don’t need a title to be a leader. Leadership is not about position or rank. It is about passion, deep commitments, influence and impact.