Manifest Destiny, http://thousands2thousands.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/manifest-destiny-3.jpg

At a workshop I attended recently, the facilitator asked participants to respond to these 2 questions:

1. When did you first know you wanted to be a leader?
2. When did you realize you are a leader?

Since this was a low-tech workshop, I wrote out my responses longhand, enjoying the “old-fashioned” approach to writing, rather than the instant revisions possible with a laptop (which I also happened to have). As a result, I think the writing feels different, less glib, more grandiose. When I shared my ideas with those in my team of two administrators, I decided to read my responses verbatim rather than speak from them like notes, as others did. Of course, I received a completely different response…and that was fun.

As I hate to lose any piece of writing I craft, even imperfect as the writing below, here are my responses to the two questions. What would your responses have been?

When did you first know you wanted to be a leader?

There is an assumption in the question that one knows what a leader is and then decides to pursue that. Often, “leadership” is defined as a position of temporal power, a way of assuming a mantle of management, a way of exerting control over an unruly often chaotic environment rife with emotion and disjointed, unsolved problems.

My goal has ever been to solve problems, to learn how to do so in collaboration with others. In this, I have often been a failure. It is far easier to change oneself–and we know how difficult that can be–than to bring about change that is led. Bolman and Deal refer to the leader as someone who undertakes a hero’s journey–a journey of self-knowledge and discovery then returns home, transformed to share a new way of being with others if they so thirst after wisdom.

Your quest as a leader is a “journey to find the treasure of your true self and then [to return] home and give your gift to help transform the kingdom–and in the process your own life.

The quest itself, is replete with dangers and pitfalls, but if offers great rewards: the capacity to be successful in the world, knowledge of the mysteries of the human soul, the opportunity to find your unique gifts in the world, and to live in loving community with other people.

Leaders with soul bring spirit to organizations. Leaders of spirit find their soul’s treasure store and offer its gifts to others.
Source: Excerpts from Bolman and Deal’s Leading with Soul (1995)
(and no, I didn’t include this in my written response…but it’s one of my favorite quotes)

Kahlil Gibran describes a teacher as someone who bids you, not to enter the house of your own wisdom, but helps you pass the threshold of your own mind.

My desire to be a leader is not to exert control or power over others, but to have the freedom–and empower others–to explore learning, to pursue the white stag to journey’s end, wherever that may be.

When did you realize you are a leader?

In Forrest Gump the movie, Tom Hank’s character feels like running (YouTube Link). He is sent by circumstances, dressed in the clothing he has on, the shoes he’s wearing, like a prophet of the past sent into the Wilderness to discover God’s word like mountain dew, to gather sustenance from the Almighty made manifest, to become filled with the power to journey on. Gump’s run draws attention and he soon has a crowd of followers. But Gump has no desire to lead…only a desire to run. No desire to control or change others, only a compulsion to run back-n-forth across America. He is not beholden to any power but instead is realizing his power from the act of being who he is in alignment with the world.

My identity as a leader is that of someone on a journey, and I’m focused on learning, and as best as I can, applying that. It is not my success that involves leadership, but rather, my willingness to share, that results in the perception of leadership.

I am a follower of ideas made manifest.

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Everything posted on Miguel Guhlin’s blogs/wikis are his personal opinion and do not necessarily represent the views of his employer(s) or its clients. Read Full Disclosure