Trigger Question #177:
Our dear leaders have gathered in Davos, no doubt entertaining themselves with tall tales and fishy stories about perks and power. (If you are reading this at any other time of year, please note that this behavior happens whenever two or more leaders are gathered in our name.)
How exciting for them, but not for us. Here’s why this does not entertain us, their so-called followers. It concerns the setting of examples. (Yes, I know. Boring stuff. But examples are how we humans ape the bigger apes.)
So, why are we not excited?
Because leaders too often forget that a leader can never not lead. Leaders lead through everything they do and they lead through everything they don’t do. They might think that their followers obey their instructions. But followers follow a leader’s example, whether it be a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ example.
Actually, I can say all of that in one sentence. A leader leads by commission and by omission.
What if you are not a leader but a manager? Obviously, you can’t manage by example. You can only lead by example. And what do managers do? They tell people what to do; they instruct and direct. Remember, people copy your behavior. If they copied your telling and instructing and directing, then they would be managers.
Okay, okay, I’m only joking. If you are a manager, then you are also a leader, because you are also setting an example. Even when you don’t mean to.
But jokes aside, here’s an interesting thought. If you are a manager, you cannot manage by not managing. But if you are a leader, you can lead by not leading. You see what I mean?
Can poor leaders be good leaders? Yes, they can. But not in the moment, only in the future. Because they teach you how not to be a leader. This is a lesson you’ll only learn if you are already wise enough to appreciate the art of leadership.
All this talk of leading and following by example must surely make you wonder why we do, why we follow examples. I’ll tell you why. We ape the big ape for two reasons. One, we want the perks and power that go with us one day being the big ape. Two, we want to minimize the risk of being punched by the big ape for not aping appropriately. Until we can one day hopefully do the punching.
That’s why we don’t ape the example set by gravediggers. Or sewage workers, or cashiers, or taxi drivers, or you name it. Unless we want to be the next top gravedigger, sewage worker, cashier, taxi driver, you name it.
We ape examples that can drive us upward. Downward we can easily do on our own. But now and then, we ape the wrong ape, we follow the example of a leader we mistakenly believe is taking us higher.
Welcome to my side of the nonsense divide.
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Quote of the Moment:
“The first influencer to say ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ was the snake in the garden of Eden.” The Chief Nonsense Officer.
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