Is it hard or is it easy to be a Leader? I wonder if all leaders were willing to be leaders at first, or if it was an accident? Was it fortune, or was it unfortunate? Were Gandhi and Martin Luther King trying to be leaders? When I look at a picture of either of them, they appear to be very quiet people, even shy. What about Mother Theresa, or Diana Princess of Wales? Were they looking for all that “exposure” as a leader? At times, Lady Diana’s eyes looked like they did not want to see the cameras, or perhaps she didn’t want the cameras to see her? Whether it was intentional or not, wanted or unwanted, their leadership role was as a result for a good cause, or to serve others and to pursue a dream, and sometimes the other way around.
I have been researching the topic of leadership and trying to understand what it really means. I have read Tamara Lowe’s Summary of the book, Developing the Leader Within You, written by John C. Maxwell. While reading it I bumped into the phrase, “Managers do things right, leaders do the right thing”, which is actually a quote by Warren G. Bennis which, was written after deep research and comparison of management and leadership. All of the sudden, after about three years looking for a reason to believe and understand that the true leadership is a movement and not a trend, and a necessity of the modern world I finally got to the Ah Ha moment of my quest.
I believe that human beings are born with a load of mistakes that we have to make, some of us learn from our mistakes very quickly, as if there were no more mistakes allowed, others more slowly, others never learn from them at all. Hopefully, we will all eventually learn from our experiences and make a conscious decision not to make the same mistake twice, at least not voluntarily. Until that time I believe it is important to remember to think before we act, and ask ourselves, “are we doing things right or doing the right thing”, and ponder within ourselves, what is the difference between the two? Many times to do the right thing you have to put yourself on the spot and be the “odd” individual. Why shouldn’t you just go with the flow, and do what others are doing? I believe that is what has gotten us into so much trouble nowadays, not taking a stand and just going with flow.
But, in the end, what is it that you want to be remembered for? Will you be remembered by your dog, your family, your kids, or your audience, for doing what is right? … or for doing the right thing?
Are leaders born, or are they made?
What leaders do you remember and what do you remember them for?
…doing the right thing? or for doing things right?
For now on, that’s the quest……
