Can A Leader Break?

English as a language is both simple & complex; the same word could assume different meanings under different circumstances. Unfortunately, there are certain words in this language; which in general are associated with negativity or failure like Fear, Breakdown, Pain etc. when such a word meets a contrasting Strong word called Leader; it’s interesting to see the effect. Will the negative spirit of the word gloom over the strength of the leader or vice versa; one such combination that becomes pivotal for the rest of the discussion is Leader + Breakdown; I reframe the same as Can a Leader Breakdown to fit to this context.

Be it Captain America or the Iron man, Hulk or Batman; we have always been bombarded that the great heroes / leaders can never afford to breakdown. They have always been portrayed as strong, powerful men who can turn things around & exercise control over anything & everything; be it the situation or their emotions. This drives the point very strongly that a leader can never breakdown.

Though the release timeframes of these movies could easily mislead us in believing that this is a recent philosophy; but a quick peek into the past reveals that the ideology is centuries old. Be it Achilles or Ulysses as per Greek mythology or Rama or Bhīma as per the Indian mythology; the point that leaders can never breakdown comes out strong.

We grew up watching the comics of He-man, Spiderman, Shakti man & Superman; where the heroes never broke down & also now witness a generation being raised up where their Chota Bhim never breaks down but breaks everything & everyone around. This being further reinforced by the elders’ or societal counselling that men in general & great men in specific never breakdown but are always strong.

All this cumulatively brings the point very clear that Leaders can never break & this brain wash since childhood unnecessarily mounts pressure on the Leaders who would have given in to this philosophy; imposing themselves a false notion that leaders can never afford to breakdown. The traditional thinking that a Leader is someone to whom people look up to; a potential person that can influence people around and hence can never afford to reveal his/ her weakness; which in general is not true; could be the strong notion behind this philosophy.

We must always realise that Leaders don’t descend from a different world but emerge out of people, out of situations & out of opportunities. Leadership is much more than a mere exercising of authority over people to get work done. A good leadership inspires, drives positive energy, ignites passion, cultivates ownership & develops leaders. Once this expectation of the leadership / the leader gets right, everything falls in place.

A leader is a simple human being like any other with families, friends, emotions of joy, sorrow, anxiety etc. If it is ok for a mere human being to exhibit & experience all these emotions; then it is absolutely fine for a leader to exhibit these emotions of which Breaking down is one, there is nothing wrong / anything uncommon in a leader breaking down. It is a pseudo fear that grips the leaders that he may lose control over his subordinates / followers. As we already agreed that leadership is not always about exercising authority. In fact, at instances of vulnerability / crisis; when a leader breaks downs; it demonstrates his followers that the leader is no different from them in terms of emotions/ feelings thus help themselves identify with him.

Such instances register with the followers the fact that the leader also has feelings similar to what they have & doesn’t shy off from exhibiting them. The followers could identify themselves with the leader. This further strengthens the bonding of the followers & leader. Because in any such dire situations, the comfort zone is to lament, crib & bury oneself in sorrow; but it takes much more for a leader to come out of that soothing zone of self-pity but emerge strong, show direction and lead the whole team out of the dungeon towards success. This is where the leader demonstrates his strength & it is this situation/gesture of the leader that commends respect from his followers.

The strength of a leader doesn’t necessarily lie in concealing his emotions but in not letting them take over. It is ok for a leader to breakdown; but absolutely not acceptable to let that situation take control over him & influence his decisions. This strength commends respect from the team towards the leader & he no longer needs to try any tricks to exercise authority or control; as every human by design follows a strong leader & research says that relatively weak team with strong leader performs much better than strong team with a weak leader.

Unveiling certain emotions at times; will also bring down the unnecessary burden the leader has to carry in his vain pursuit of appearing strong. Such acts of letting out the emotions / agony empties the leader’s mind, helping him think fresh, focused towards a solution in that crisis. This will ease the relation between the leader & his team further more. This is being truthful to himself & to his team.

He need not necessarily carry a masked image of no tears, tight lips & a posture of chest up, chin up to demonstrate his strength. I don’t necessarily refer those individuals who possess & demonstrate these traits naturally; but that majority who aspire to be Leaders & that majority who succumbed to the notion that Leaders can never breakdown. They run a risk of living a dual hypocritical life of a strong leader in public & a broken soul in private. 

The concluding note again is the strength of a leader doesn’t necessarily lie in concealing his emotions but in not letting them take over. It is ok for a leader to breakdown; but absolutely not acceptable to let that situation take control over him & influence his decisions. 

Hope this article was interesting. Encourage you to leave your views in the comments below which may enhance and add value to these thoughts.

P.S: Hi! Thanks for reading through this article. I feel good to capture my thoughts, channelize them & bring them onto paper. Writing is a habit i developed recently and am encouraged by the positive feedback of readers & hence pursuing this further.

You can find other articles of mine in the links below.

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