LEAD AND LET LEAD | Part 1

There are two major ideologies in leadership that every leader adopts to be able to transform the people and move them from where they are to where they ought to be in record time. 1. The modern leadership ideology (built around Newtonian physical laws) and 2. The postmodern leadership ideology (built around quantum mechanics).

The former sees the leader as a separate individual with designated power while the latter sees the leader as one with the people with shared power. Following the Newtonian physics, we understand the universe as a material world, but quantum mechanics help us understand that the universe is also immaterial nature interconnected at the subatomic level even when it appears from the physical point of view that things are apart, yet connected. So, what is seen is not all there is to what is.

Warren Blank explains that the traditional assumption about leadership is that it can be explained by describing the parts: the habits, characteristics, and behaviors of single individuals. The view of This part stems from the impact of Newton's paradigm on our leadership mind-set. Newton described reality as made up of separate, solid bits of matter, which means that to understand reality, you must examine its distinct, visible building blocks. Through this lens, it makes sense to examine individual attributes or qualities of certain leaders and then develop lists of specific ''leadership" traits or habits. Since the parts define Newtonian reality, leadership has become a composite of the qualities of leaders only, and "leadership" has become the singular centerpiece represented by a single individual. Yet this approach does not fit the fundamental reality that leaders do not exist without followers and that their individual characteristics or habits are relevant only as part of the leader-follower field of interaction.

He continued that leadership is better understood as a field of interaction. It is not so much personal as it is interpersonal. Quantum physics asserts that to know nature, you must view it as a set of interconnected fields. At the deeper layers of natural law, no separate parts exist, and nothing that resembles visible, the solid matter can be seen. The field is the fundamental reality, an undivided wholeness of information-energy. Through the quantum lens, it appears that you are looking through a porthole that frames only the ocean, and you cannot distinguish any waves or droplets of water as separate and distinct from the ocean.

Quantum Leadership focuses attention on the interaction, not the separate parts, as the key to understanding leadership. A central interaction is a leader-follower relationship

Over the years, even in our cultures and tribes, we have celebrated leaders and given them so much power that we now attribute leadership to positions, class, inheritance, achievement, etc. While those are still valid in themselves being a part of leadership, however, they are truly not what leadership is all about. For instance, in the 19th Century, Scientists believed that an atom is an indivisible particle of an element. While we could not see beyond the divisibility of an atom, we believed that to be true. However, quantum mechanics introduced us to a divisible atomic level, which is applied today in nuclear physics and experienced via atomic splicing.

You may be asking, so what have the above descriptions got to do with leadership? What is the relationship between leadership and physical laws? First, you must understand that we are bounded by the universe with shared values, cultures and traditions. Above that, we all emanated from one stock as existing cells come from the reproduction of the preexisting cells – the law of divine oneness. Even we had thought otherwise, however, it is in the spirit of this essay to draw your attention to the true nature of things in leadership in relation to the laws of physics.

If we are one, then the leadership must be seen as a field, not just a position or any of such things that allow us to create a divide between the leaders and the led. Hence, lead and let lead.

“Lead and let lead” is a leadership concept I have been working on for the past few months, which is intended to help leaders understand that they are the ones leading does not mean that they will be the ones always leading. That is to say that everything changes such that leadership is an all-inclusive thing that if the goal is get something done, the leader must always be on the lookout for a solution provider to be made leaders like him too.

According to the Bible stories, Pharaoh recognized that Joseph needed to be the one in charge of things to get better. Also, Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel and friends leaders in his kingdom. They did not sideline these people, rather they included as an integral part of their leadership. They understood clearly that the best way to lead is to lead and let lead. They were never intimidated by how good people are, rather they figured and valued the input of others for the betterment of their leadership and hence celebrated them for their inputs.

As a leader, you need to always bear in mind that even though a leader is seen as one who knows what to do, when to do it, why and how to do it in transforming the people into their ideal selves and moving them from where they are to where they ought to be, it is the responsibility of the leader to find people in there to get things done in record time. And in doing that, he has become a leader who leads and let lead.

In the next essays, I will begin a journey with you that will have you understand the dynamics of “Lead and Let Lead” and how to apply the concept in your leadership. The goal is to help you become a better leader.