Humans the world over seek out leaders, they cry, "where are our leaders?" and "I wish we had the type of leaders we had back then". They rejoice every time some new game generates "winners" who, gasp, might just possibly be the promised savior(s) foretold by pessimistic romantics and former slave owners which requires a miracle of benevolence of some other "good master", in order to be free, instead of personal conviction by which human says "I shall be free."
Not me.
I'm sick of leaders. I think mankind is going to die off unless individuals learn to lead themselves. A lead human follower is a waste, our physical gift, so to speak, is not wings or a projectile tongue (exceptions, you know who you are), it is our brains, and every human will learn to use this brain eventually, and use it specifically to lead themselves.
Of course when one criticizes leaders or leadership in general, one is taken to be against those leaders, but no, the blogosphere gives us a different mode... our leaders don't want to lead... kos is adamant pronouncing he's not a leader. People don't need the responsibility implied, responsibility for other people's actions, namely, their actions as "followers".
No thank you.
The fact is, as BarbinMD mentions below, the automatic respect given "leaders" is matched with a somewhat grotesque automatic disrespect. It's ok to insult them, they are strong, and so forth. The problem is not just the distorting privileged and support "leaders" get, but really the whole sick dysfunctional thing between leaders and followers, each dumping on each other and shifting blame, inventing systems of perquisites built purely of resentments.
Of course (2+ / 0-)
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Jerome a Paris, CSI Bentonville
suddenly it matters who insults you... right, because if it's a FPer, oh, thats "important" and they feel more important and they are either extra arrogant or extra careful because of their status and responsibility
There's another side to that coin...where it's suddenly okay to insult and attack without cause to prove some notion of, "You're not the boss of me." I've found that to be quite bizarre. On the bright side (for me), it doesn't bother me personally, although it did surprise me.
Arrogant lips are unsuited to a fool-- how much worse lying lips to a ruler - Proverbs 17:7
by BarbinMD on Mon Jan 01, 2007 at 05:15:51 AM UTC
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yes (2+ / 0-)
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Jerome a Paris, BarbinMD
it does go both ways.
strong infrastructure, fair play and sober leadership
by pyrrho on Mon Jan 01, 2007 at 09:37:46 AM UTC
[ Parent | Reply to This ]
I try to openly criticize leaders on the principle of question authority slightly more than fellows, but not disproportionate to audience and the manner of the "leader" in question. The idea is to do so without either fear or undue vehemence, but if I had to err, it would certainly be toward the latter because I think we need leaders that serve people by binding them together and helping them express their group opinion. I'm willing to remind leaders of this, and often, leaders claim exactly that and can fairly be held to their word and not just within their power.
Good managers are facilitators, they help the team have good tools, strong infrastructure. They are not there to be superior nor, especially, because they already are superior. That is a myth and an illusion. They either can organize, or not, they can facilitate or not, they can have good ideas, or not, good plans, or not, communicate with their team, or not, and in no case is it better to lead than cooperate. Nothing they do cannot be understood in terms of networks of humans each with a specialized role.
People need to learn to lead themselves and be useful as self-lead and creative people.
Is that so impossible? I don't think so. I think it'll happen.