Moderate Living

😂

I wanted to answer this prompt sooner but scheduling and life just got in the way.

Leadership is one of those things that are overplayed in the public vocabulary so much that the mere mention of it brings up images of pyramid schemes and people mixing oversized suits with loud jewelry pieces.

But there is an inherent value to studying leadership. And in my definition, the concept of leadership extends into the leading of the self, and those whose lives or incomes you are responsible for.

I was thinking of making this a standalone topic but since it figures into my definition of leadership, I’ll include it here.

I believe in the value of being precise. Or, I should say, I now understand the value of being precise. Not only in words, but in thoughts. I suppose you could call it clarity but that would be imprecise – a one size fits all word. The lawyer I’m working with for my family’s estate politely – and professionally – brought up the need for me to be more precise. She told me that, not only is it needed in my contractual dealings, it’s also needed where there will be negotiations. I admit, it was humbling to hear. But upon reflection, I know I am……a sledgehammer in a crystal shop, a shotgun where simple tweezers are needed, a live grenade where a broom and dustpan would do 😂. I will, when I feel pressed for time or my patience has run out, employ arguably correct sweeping and general directions, but in doing so will create tiny unforeseen constraints that wouldn’t happen if I took the time to define my actions and goals.

Why do I start from precision? Because I think it’s a cornerstone for the entire structure of self-leadership which eventually ripples its way out to the formal concept of leadership.

Being precise helps to bring out competence. Competence is one of those things that’s arrived at after concentrated study, knowing what to study and how to approach learning it, and how to approach implementing it to one’s various projects. Once developed repeatedly and across different knowledge points, competence helps people trust your knowledge and your sense of direction. It’s almost a no-brainer but the truth is there’s a lot of “competent” people out there however, goals and standards necessitate the ability to define directions well. And again regarding words, precision in language and the crafting of an argument is a derivative benefit of prioritizing precision.

It’s obvious to me that I still have a lot to learn in this realm of “being precise”.

Another component of leadership I believe is important is the value of self patience. Of course, time-tables and schedules exist but to achieve those metrics, it’s necessary to have competence. And I’ve concluded that competence is more a function of time and aggregated experience rather than flat out IQ. I know I’m jumping perspectives here, I apologize. The very best leaders (and coincidentally, the times I’ve felt most leader-like) are selected via a silent consensus of people judging observable positive results over a period of time and over different levels of challenges. Thus, a person that can play the long game and accrue experience and come out of those experiences will develop an almost exponential reputation of trustworthiness amongst their peers.

The last component that makes a good leader is self-sacrifice. I’m often reminded of a story about Alexander the Great, and how, after some battle or something his troops were exhausted and resources were scarce. When his lieutenants were down to existentially low levels of water, they offered it to him. Alexander, knowing the state of his army was said to have refused stating “if I am to take this water, of what will become of my men?” Who wouldn’t push themselves to be excellent when you have a leader that thinks of your welfare before their own? Whether it’s a made up tale or not, we have seen the positive power of people who sacrifice themselves for those they lead – namely, parents for the sake of their children.

That’s all I really wanted to say on this topic. I know there were some junctures where I jumped from different meanings and perspectives but what I wanted to convey was that leadership is not just some attitude that springs from self-affirmation or management theory (both of which have their place), it’s largely a tangible and conceptual project whose finished product gets more attention than the actual process of its creation.

To the degree which the former is prized relative to the latter is where we observe, not only, how much success a group or team can attain but also how long they can maintain that standard. But that is for another post.