so this is a topic that i’ve been wanting to write about for a really long time, and no doubt there’s much to be said about it. i’ll prob revisit this post again and again. some of you might disagree with my position on leadership, and some might find it spot on. nevertheless, it’s a highly debatable topic, and i base my opinions on leadership from my experiences in life, from things that i’ve seen, and jobs that i’ve held.
i happen to be a firm believer that there are in fact only two types of people in this world, those being leaders and followers. i don’t define followers with any sort of negative connotation, i only define “follower” as someone not suited for leadership.
try to put this in the perspective of your workplace. from my work history, there are generally three types of people in charge, but those three still fall into the categories of leader/follower. i’m sure you’ve had a superior (supervisor, manager, etc.) that was a complete asshole. you’ve also had someone who was prob too nice and let things slide and didn’t take anything too serious. and you’ve prob had someone who was somewhat of a stickler for most rules, was able to make exceptions, and still respected you. and even if you didn’t like said person, you still respected them for doing their job right. of these three, the last possesses leadership skills, the first two do not. if you’re lucky you may have even worked for number three, someone you liked working for, and you’ve worked harder for that person. unfortunately for us, companies do not have leadership tests and followers get promoted for being good employees and performing well, but that in itself says nothing about managing people and delegating authority.
leadership isn’t something that can be taught. you’re either born with it or born without it. i’ll use a rather extreme example in an attempt to showcase this, and you can choose to agree or disagree. but if you’ve been in this situation yourself, then you know which side of the coin you’re on.
whenever a fire breaks out and people are in immediate danger, pretty much everyone panics and nobody knows what to do, with the exception of a select few, or for that matter, a select one, depending on the scale of things. that’s your leader. he/she is the same person that stays calm at a bank when it’s being robbed, or when any other dire situation arises. this person has the automatic capability to think extremely clear and make snap decisions in stressful and overwhelmingly intense situations, and can find a course of action to take whatever that may be. it may be in fact to do nothing.
now that’s not to take away from someone who is a follower. just because you might be a follower doesn’t mean you’re not talented, or that you lack intelligence, or that you can’t act when the situation calls and be a hero or whatever. leaders can’t do everything on their own. they need a partner, they need a team, they need people. that dynamic itself is what makes good leaders good. the people they lead.
there’s a trend i see from time to time (i guess you can call it a trend, i don’t know) that never ceases to amaze me. i recently witnessed this bad habit from none other than my brother. i can never understand why someone who carries a roll, money clip, etc., would keep large bills on the outside. that’s just plain stupid if you ask me. not everyone is going to respect you for having a few hundreds on the outside of twenties and singles, and some people might be inclined to punch you in the face and snatch your money (myself included).
count your blessings. my roommate pablo was the recipient of a PAPER CUT on his EYEBALL.
