I recently read an article on business leadership by Susan Ward and part of what she said was “What is leadership? A simple definition is that leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. In a business setting, this can mean directing workers and colleagues with a strategy to meet the company’s needs”.
“This leadership definition captures the essentials of being able to inspire others and being prepared to do so. Effective leadership is based upon ideas (whether original or borrowed), but won’t happen unless those ideas can be communicated to others in a way that engages them enough to act as the leader wants them to act”.
“Put even more simply, the leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and leadership skills that makes others want to follow his or her direction”
I’ve seen definitions of leadership like this not just in business but in all fields of human behavior. I agree 100% with this perspective under traditional guidelines but find myself wondering what mindfulness has to say about all this.
Upon inner reflection I have come to recognize that being a mindful person has everything to do with becoming one’s “authentic” self. The authentic self has found it’s natural flow in life and interacts with a sense of ease. People may or may not consciously recognize this in someone but on some level it is recognized and admired by everyone and called leadership. Someone who is not in their authentic self can recognize these positive qualities in someone else and in some way seeks to emulate and embrace these same qualities so becomes a “follower” of the leader.
The irony is that someone who is truly expressing their authentic self shies away from creating followers and instead encourages others to become their own authentic leader. A truly mindful person recognizes that it is counter productive to have people following them and discourages it in. Therefore since a leader must have followers by definition, and since a mindful person will discourage followers, leadership to a mindful person needs re defining. In mindfulness there are no leaders and followers, just people expressing themselves from their authentic selves. Connect with your inner voice and actions and there will be no need for leaders and followers.