On Leadership

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Books on leadership crowd the shelves of bookstores’ Business and Management sections these days. Nearly all of them are weighty tomes. They are full of tips on how to act as a strong leader and how to deal with the people around you. They emphasize that if you follow all the tips, you will achieve the important goal of becoming a leader yourself.

Generally, I find these books depressing because they assume leadership is an ideal and there’s something wrong with people who are not leaders. These non-leaders are apparently lacking something, and to make up for it they must study lessons like the “habits of highly effective people”. The reader can then master these habits and join the select group of chosen ones. There is something secretive and mystical about the topic of leadership—as if leaders are privy to a higher knowledge that enables them to separate themselves from the fuss and bother faced by mere mortals.

You never see any books or articles about how to be a good follower. Apparently it’s in your nature, a primitive stage of development you must somehow escape as soon as possible. What we see today everywhere is a glamorization of leaders and sorry denigration of anyone who is not. And those who are not account for, say, 90 percent of the population—all those women and men who care for the needy, drive trucks, check train tickets, work as cashiers or clerks, keep households running and happy and on and on. All these are activities that matter and that directly benefit other people.

From way back in my childhood I was taught that “the here and now is no good and there’s only one place to be, and that’s at the top”. The top was a kind of Mount Olympus, a high mountain where a select group of gods reveled in one another’s company, enjoyed delicious food and drink and occasionally cast a pitying look down below on those less fortunate beings saddled with grief, need, illness, hunger and death. But the ascent became increasingly difficult and tiring, as I climbed farther and farther from the green valley where I began. A deep feeling crept over me: “What am I doing here on this cold, steep mountainside in this thin air? Down below, smoke is spiraling out of friendly chimneys and I see tiny little people on the market square laughing and eating and drinking. That’s where life is, where it’s cozy, where all the fuss is. Fuss is wonderful!”

A lot of so-called leadership stems from ambition. And that’s why things so often go wrong. Ambition is a hole in your ego, an empty space that needs filling and you think you can fill it by making other people look up to you. But you won’t be able to lead that way. Leadership is about finding meaning in life. But those who believe that their role as leader means they must create meaning for all the people around them are vastly overestimating themselves. A leader shouldn’t provide meaning; meaning comes from the goal that inspires him or her. And those who are inspired pass that inspiration on to others. Not because they are bold and charismatic leaders, but simply because it’s infectious.

The true leader doesn’t set out to lead at all. Whether other people follow is, to him or her personally, of secondary importance. These kind of leaders don’t lead, they follow—a dream, an ideal, freedom for their country, a good life for their family. And they’re very clear about it, which touches the people around them who then want to share in the dream. True, authentic leaders know they are connected to something bigger. Their wish is to serve that. Leadership is an outcome, not someone’s goal or personal quality.

-- Johan Schaberg, Ode Magazine (Issue 21)

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