You can’t lead by yourself. Leadership indicates that you have others that believe in and follow you.

To be a leader requires an evolving combination of many different skills and an adaptive application of those skills to win as you genuinely relate with others.

No leader has every possible skill they might possibly need, but they definitively know the skills they themselves possess. They also anticipate the precise moment to demonstrate each particular skill with each particular follower.

You can’t be a leader and a follower at the same time. There is a separation of sorts that is required to be a leader. Not that the leader is “above” everyone, but they often need to be thinking out ahead of everyone to know where to lead the group in the present.

A leader needs to clearly accept the accountabilities of the whole as they relate with followers in mastery of their individual accountabilities. The comprehensive whole is always the concern of the leader.

A leader needs to relate with each individual to pull the efforts of all together. Leaders essentially set the stage for each to excel while remaining in unison toward the shared goal. In a leaders relationships, there must be an accepted balance for all with who is in charge and how the leader will relate best with each individual to follow.

It’s complex and trying to lead with followers. That is why most ignore the necessity to do so. Some so-called leaders rely only on being put in charge and most people just put in their time, rather than follow. Other so-called leaders are really nice people with a title and each on the team largely does their own thing.

Without great leadership, a group will never reach their full potential. Leading and being led is a deepening experience that is more than worthy of your efforts.

“The leader can never close the gap between himself and the group. If he does, he is no longer what he must be. He must walk a tightrope between the consent he must win and the control he must exert.” — Vince Lombardi —

MITM