On leading

Bruno MEDICINA once had a training in which he asked the participants to split into groups of three. Then he asked: “In the groups of three, who considers itself to have a thick skin (bad character & all), raise the hand”. Hands raised. Then he said: “You should be the leaders of the group”. So, his assumption was – if you have bad character and don’t care too much about others, you have the potential to become a leader. Was he right?
Leadership is stated as the “process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task.” (Wikipedia)

What’s the meaning of word “popular”? Borrowed from the Latin popularis in 1490, originally meant common or “belonging to the people”. The use of the word popular to mean the “fact or condition of being beloved by the people” is seen originally 1601. (Wikipedia)

So you have two options:

• Acting strictly with rules (politeness code/ethics/morale);
• Being lax (to very lax) with rules (less politeness/ethics/morale);

My insight is that the first version leads to a bit of unpopularity / lack of leadership.

Leadership is also associated with taking initiative (a.) and with imposing – with just a tiny bit of aggression – one’s values. I personally have some problems with both of these.

These were my insights on leading on the recent training course.