Why can’t you ever become a True Leader

I’ve always emphasized the value of universal values, of how you can never truly achieve them but they’re are worth pursuing. Today, I’ll not certainly talk about a value in a true sense, though I think it is a value, but most people think of it as a skill and I’m going to emphasize the importance of its so called antonym and how it is not really so, and how they are inter related. We’re talking about Leadership and Followership.

It is a bit of cliché when you look at how often the word ‘leader’ is thrown around here and there. It’s same as motivator or influencer. Everyone wants to be associated with those terms but I think most of them never truly understand it, including me. Leader as a term in my understanding could be defined as an individual who could convert a group into a team which is responsible for achieving a particular goal, and most of the things you define as leader would be covered under this so don’t go yada yada. Now, how often do we see people call themselves as a leader, or describe their traits to demonstrate how they are good leaders and some would just brag about how to be a good leader. When you think of personalities like Steve Jobs or Abraham Lincoln you could easily say they were good leaders. But, I often wonder if they ever thought of themselves as so. They were too immersed in performing the responsibilities of their positions that being a good leader came naturally to them, it was just a side effect or by product of doing best of their capabilities. So, now when you think of it, Leader as a skill, can you really arrive at a point where you say now I am a Leader, or it is just a journey. I’d say if perfectionism can never be achieved, so does leadership or humility for that matter because the moment you think you are one of those things, you aren’t. It’s a paradox of universal values. So, it’s important to strive to become a person who can hold everyone together, but you really can’t do that with every group of individuals in the world and that is okay.

It is often always said that it’s your choice to either be a leader or follower as if being a follower is a bad thing. Same people would say be a life long student, be humble, so how’s that different from being a follower. Every brilliant individual I’ve come across personally or through books and internet is a product of experience and curiosity. The ability to learn and learn from everyone. Even if someone is perceived as a leader, that guy knows that he is what he is because he is a follower, of someone’s ideas or philosophy or mentor. The thing about being a follower is true learning happens there. It’s a never ending process, there is no such thing as you be a follower for certain amount of time and then you’ll be a leader. It’s always something which goes on simultaneously, you be a follower and if opportunity comes be a leader, not in the traditional sense, be a leader if your role asks you to be, be a leader to learn and be humble enough to know that the essence of being a true leader is in being a true follower.

So , next time whenever these ideas are put in front of you, ask yourself and ask the other person, is the situation really demanding me to be the leader or I would want to lead even if there’s no point in it. Be the best you could do with what you have and where you are, the rest will follow. It’s not a destination being a true leader or true follower for that matter, it’s a journey and it ends when you die.