Follow the Lead

Follow the lead

In my lifetime I have rarely been called upon to lead people. People have their own thoughts, ideas, free will. Who am I to lead them? To me it seems like herding recalcitrant sheep. Most know where they are supposed to be and what they are supposed to do. It’s when you take them out of routine that they act stubborn and sometimes they’ll go rogue just to stay in routine. In many ways the workplace and human life in general can be like this. In most businesses, I believe, being sheep is not an asset. It is a liability. As the “shepherd” it’s your job to derive the logical functions from the sheep. You know why they are there and what they are going to achieve together if you are successful in shepherding them. They don’t see it. They don’t see much past the next blade of grass they are going to eat. They don’t see the point in lining up to get sheered, moving to another field, or even why that dog is watching them.

A third-party observer in this story could see why the sheep need to be sheered, and why they need to be led to different pastures from time to time, and even that the dog is watching over them, and not necessarily watching them.

Myself, I feel I am not shepherd nor sheep material. I have been a non-conformist most of my life, a skeptic, a sarcastic jackass a lot of my career, and someone who doesn’t take to being managed very well. So you would think that would make me a bad employee and could never be anything with more responsibility than doing my job and trying to stop myself from forcing people to fire me.

You would be thinking in the wrong. All you need is a common goal. Money is a good motivator too, more than any manager could ever manage. If I get paid, I do my job. If I am allowed to do what I do, I do it very well. If I am in a position where I can make a contribution to society I will be fanatical about my job. So, it is true, very true, that individuals can work for someone and do a great job without being managed by anyone. I have proven it. I have seen it done, especially over the last two COVID years.

Here’s a big but. It’s one that comes up from time to time. What if the job is more than I can handle by myself? More people are going to be necessary with all their special skills, drive, egos, and experiences. They may even share my skills, drive, ego, and experiences. Why would you need two or more of me? Answer: big job. Believe it or not many people have been in this situation and maybe not realized it. An orchestra needs more than one oboe player to be world class. A football team needs more than one striker. And it would be nice if one of your fullbacks could double as a backup goaltender. While the coach is the manager and picks the team who plays, maybe early on teaches skills, eventually the players have to play. Coach can’t play for them unless you’re still playing 1960’s hockey. Maybe the coach can play with them, but not for them.

As a team each person has skills and drive they bring to the game. I don’t want the fullback nor the halfback following me down the left wing. I don’t want to follow the center. If I don’t have the ball I go to a spot where I am going to get the ball and an opportunity to put it in the net.

I have been a leader on rare occasions. I like this analogy much better than the shepherd. I don’t want to lead a bunch of bleating followers. I want people who will follow my lead.