I’ve come to see leaders as a breed apart from the people who actually lead. The role of leader is one held by someone who is built to take the flak of social blame. Leadership itself happens in the trenches, sometimes directed by those with charisma or outstanding skill and at other times existing out of necessity when no one else steps up to do the job. The position and the philosophical lead are very different entities. This is true throughout the any levels of employment and social and family structurings. I’ve seen this from both sides of leadership and from the follower’s perspective, and I can say the view from below is often rosier than that from upon high. Each side comes with a set of responsibilities that are sometimes in conflict, but without both, no real work ever gets done.
I remember the first time I ever played roleplaying games. I was 12 at the time and I played with a friend and his older brother. I remember slipping into the guise of a medieval character and trying to earn a living as a swordsman. Even then there was the question of leadership. There were three of us in the party. Us two players and an non-player-character the dungeonmaster, my friends big bro, threw in as a way to keep us from getting killed in-game. If there had only been the pair of us it would have made no difference. When there is more than one then there is going to be a leader. I didn’t want the job–not directly. I wanted my friend to speak and deal with other NPC’s. Still I wanted the ability to direct from behind the scenes, offering helpful suggestions and ensuring our NPC was in the right position to see us all succeed. I was the ‘shadow leader’ or backseat driver. I could suggest and quietly tug at the strings of the lead, but it lacked the gravitas of being out front and taking flak for bad choices. I liked that. I continued to like and live as such through high school whereupon I discovered that sports team structures worked in the same fashion–if only in a more layered way. There was the Coach in charge, the team captain,and me, the guy who kept everyone following the team captain. Only, the role was largely diminished by the fact that the captain did his own thing, taking my suggestions the way a person takes a fly buzzing at his ear. I didn’t like that. I vowed to be an out front leader. Eventually I was.
I’ve talked a lot about how it felt to be the guy out in front of the team, especially in the educational setting. Leadership there is about social engineering. Your job is to build and maintain bridges and make your faculty and your administration look good while offering suggestions they can live with, or re-offering suggestions they already like and then pushing to move those things forward. It is no different in Education than it is in politics, where the leader is often a charismatic figurehead that serves as the front or faceman for the mess that generally lies just below the surface. The leader can make independent moves, but when you do so without 100% consent, it builds animosity and distrust. It is an untenable position that is worth every cent you get for it. Maybe I’ll try my hand at it again, but for now I am content being behind the scenes, trying to help everyone’s agendas align. That’s the kind of leadership I have the mind and patience for these days.