A memorable piece of my life is still tucked away in Fort Benning, GA. There was a statue in front of Infantry Hall carrying the label “Follow Me†which we lovingly called “Iron Mike†for some reason I never knew. It shows a World War II infantry soldier with an upraised arm motioning for those around him to follow him into battle. His courage and unquestioned leadership is forever frozen in bronze not just as a memorial to those who have gone before, but also as an inspiration to all who stop long enough to study and understand this icon. Even those who abhor war must pause to reflect on the fact that their objection is probably around the politics which makes war happen and not any personal animosity toward the warriors who defend them.
Years have passed since I hung up the uniform. Tennyson was right when he wrote, “I am a part of all that I have met.†That statue still haunts my thoughts as I wonder if my courage measures up to the call. The Army tried to teach me leadership, but what they really accomplished was to give me tools that I could choose to build upon. It is really about learning to be decisive, confident and truthful. Somehow in recruiting and human resources we often hesitate to make the tough choices that need to be made. Hesitation can lose battles. In our need to compromise for the good of those around us, to be politically correct, to be careful not to offend, to choose the least controversial paths, we lose confidence in our decisions and ability to lead. The road leading through a forest of lies and deceit is much more attractive than the thorny path of being tactfully honest in our thoughts, speech and actions. Your personal images of leadership may not be a few miles from the Chattahoochee River in Georgia like mine, but you do have them. What do they inspire you to be?
- Leaders – Nature provides human beings with the same instincts that create a pecking order among barnyard fowl, pack leaders among wolves, and the head of the V-formation of geese flying south. Because we are human, we bury instinctive behavior in our subconscious and react by thinking rather than prehistoric programming. When called upon in a time of crisis or problem solving, we often respond without really understanding where all that sudden surge of energy came from. Training leaders is not about teaching leadership. It is about raising it to a conscious level by shaping the thought processes that keep it hidden. I remember a tour guide in Florence speaking to us about all of the creations of Michelangelo saying that where some people see a block of stone, he saw a statue inside and only had to chip away the part that was not the statue. Through mentors, teachers and other artists of the brain we all have a leader inside of us crying to get out.
- Followers – What are leaders without someone to follow them? Logically, there cannot exist a society of humans where everyone is a leader. Being a loyal follower is not a lesser person. Everyone has been given gifts to be something special. For some, leading the pack is a natural inclination, but for others it is more desirable to contribute with art, science, music or teaching. It could be considered somewhat ironic that followers are instrumental in creating leaders, not in some sort of democratic selection process, but by naturally occurring decisions. Encouraging some people to raise their level of conscious behavior to take charge creates an environment which allows order to be created out of chaos. Recruiters use their talents to hire executive talent above their pay grade because it is their calling to do so. Executive coaches can use their knowledge to take corporate leaders to new heights. There are no small jobs or small people. There is only the intellectual security that respect is a two-way street between leaders and those who follow coupled with an understanding that current situations are subject to reversal and the order may change.
- Obstructionists – Static in the communication network between leaders and followers is caused by the group of people who operate mostly with hormones rather than their intellect. One friend of mine makes the analogy that it is like using the air in your tires as a source of compressed air for blowing up balloons. For some reason only known to them and their therapists, they choose neither to lead nor to follow. While they may be seen as an irritant at times, this group of people serves a useful purpose in challenging authority, questioning motives and focusing attention on reality. It is beneficial for leaders to occasionally give them an ear to find alternatives that may be better than the status quo. Followers live in the same society as leaders and obstructionists and must use their intelligence to combat the cancer of negativism. Just as leaders and followers may switch roles, both can lapse into destructive behavior unless they exercise conscious defensive mechanisms to fight it.
Our culture at any moment in time is composed of all three of these persons. In fact, as mentioned in defining them, these categories are not etched in stone, but are flexible and the lines of distinction can become blurred. I am a leader, a follower and an obstructionist. You are a leader, a follower and an obstructionist. Today, tomorrow and every other day of our lives we must decide to lead, follow or get out of the way.