Being a leader

Since humanity came to this planet, one of our strongest desires has always been to control and possess power. The word 'leader' became an equivalent of being in control and being on the 1^st  place, always a few steps ahead. It’s in our blood to see things in life from many different perspectives and to transform words through our own point of view. This is where the problem begins, when confronting the topic of leadership in society today.

A real leader is the one who actually works for the best of the community. One that motivates and lifts others up in order to bring out to sunlight the best in them. Most people think that a leader is one who rarely makes mistakes and has the answer of nearly every question. However, the truth is that a leader should be a person who is genuine and understanding, who will be able to work with his/hers team and solve the problems together as one. These people are human beings like all of us, so don't expect them to have all the answers. But it would be fair to expect: dedication, compassion, innate knowledge, etc. Especially considering that these individuals carry such a vast responsibility to the general public. These are all the components which actually make you an effective and good human being as well. 

The Arcade Dictionary of Word Origins explains two roots of the word lead.  One describes the metal, which “may have come ultimately from an Indo-European source meaning ‘flow’ (a reference to the metal’s low melting point)”. Why low melting point? Because a strong personality is the one which can resist the pressure and be the rock which everyone can rely upon. Unfortunately this message has since been twisted and the whole meaning of the word has been changed. Nowadays many people think that being strong and tough means to smash everything on your way. Well, definitely this is NOT the case. In order to gain respect you don't have to put others down, to gain power does not exclude empowering the others around you. It is actually the opposite. Those who empower others and relate to society as a whole are shown to be most effective during their time spent as leaders.  And this takes us to a moment of realization that many of us have a wrong picture about being a boss.

For many people, the words 'leader' and 'boss' are two words, one in the same. Actually they are quite contradictory of one another in the society today.  Think about the words ‘boss’ and ‘bossy’. Being bossy is someone who gives orders, shouts and you are actually scared of that person. And when you are scared - are you most productive? No - you do your job systematically and you don't really plant a positive emotion in whatever you are doing. You become less passionate about your efforts. You do it because you don't want to loose your job and stay without an income and  your husband or wife will choke you if that happens, right?

This is highly relatable to Steve Jobs and his life story. He is an example of a well respected boss, without the "bossy" part that everyone despises. He knew by name all of his employees and every morning he was greeting them with a smile, to show his respect for them and their work. This is yet another example of something very simple, yet so very powerful at the same time. It proves a direct symbiosis between being a good human and a successful boss. You should be one in order to achieve the other.

Recently I listened to a speech from one particular lecturer who is a pioneer of his trade, working with the Stanford medical centre and other big organizations. His name is Greg Hicks and he is also a CEO of FosterHicks, a company which helps people and organizations to maximize their success. Mr. Hicks was explaining the specifics of the leadership and how nowadays the society's understanding of this word went in a very wrong direction.  He was saying that there are some very small things that people can do to improve the productivity of their people. What a leader should do when someone did a good job? Very simple. A short E-mail saying: ''Hey, you did well!'' would take you one, maybe two minutes. But for that person it will be such a trigger and probably will keep him/her motivated for the next couple of months. The positive result in return will definitely worth the time you spent on that.

During the years, I have been working with many different managers throughout the media and fashion industry. And to be honest, out of all of these people I have met just one who really knows the real meaning of the expression ‘leading a team’. Many of my leaders were working trough fear and many times they were sucking out the energy of their employees. These experiences of mine led me to think that there is something truly wrong with the structure and the so-called success pyramids of the work world today.

As a conclusion I would like to point to one of the favourite speeches of mine which is coming to us from the Hollywood actor Matt Damon. ''I start from the supposition that the world is topsy - turvy. That things are all wrong'', with these words the actor starts his incredible speech. “The wrong people are in jail, and the wrong people are out of jail,” Damon goes on. “The wrong people are in power, and the wrong people are out of power. Wealth is distributed in such a way as to not just simply require a small reform, but a drastic re-allocation. All we have to do is to look at the state of the world today, and you can see it’s topsy-turvy. You might watch TV and think it’s OK, but you just have to detach and come back, and you’re horrified.”

“That is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience.” , says Damon.

“Our problem is the numbers of people all over the world who have obeyed the dictates of their governments and have gone to war. And millions have been killed because of this obedience. We recognize this from Nazi Germany,” Damon says, referring to blindly obedient citizens as “herd-like people”. “We know that the problem there was obedience. That the people obeyed Hitler. People obeyed. That was wrong. People should have challenged it, they should have resisted. And if we were only there, we would have showed them’’, continues the actor.

 “The rule of law maximizes injustice. The rule of law is the darling of the leaders and the plague of the people. We ought to begin to recognize this. What we are trying to do is to get back to the principles, the aims and the spirit of the Declaration of Independence. This spirit is resistance to illegitimate authority.” You can watch the speech here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh-HOyJpJsA .

This speech generalizes and summarizes the problem and  reaches even to the corrupted governments. Is the issue coming from the masses who accept to be ruled by the wrong people? Or it’s the guys who are wrongfully recruiting  these people and what on earth were the qualities they were looking for? At the end of the day our leaders, managers and people from the top aren’t who they are supposed to be. They are turning our workplaces, the cities and the countries into places where the employees and citizens feel suppressed, unhappy and stressed. 

Hopefully there will be a turning point soon and things will start going to the right direction. It is the people that must strive to make a change to this. More and more talented people refuse to bend down and start working for themselves and maybe this will change the game. And change is the only way to a progress! Maybe one day we will create a society where the right people will lead and will be able to create more leaders. Don’t forget to keep your heads up!

... and always stand for yourself,

XoXo