{"id":79896,"date":"2024-03-19T12:48:55","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T16:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/?p=79896"},"modified":"2024-03-19T12:48:55","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T16:48:55","slug":"a-valuable-lesson-in-leadership-that-you-probably-learned-in-kindergarten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/19\/a-valuable-lesson-in-leadership-that-you-probably-learned-in-kindergarten\/","title":{"rendered":"A Valuable Lesson in Leadership That You Probably Learned in Kindergarten"},"content":{"rendered":"
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My first experience with the concept of leadership was playing \u201cfollow the leader\u201d in kindergarten<\/strong>. Already well-acquainted with authority, I understood the requirement to obey my parents, other adult relatives, neighbors, teachers, and babysitters. I knew about authority figures like the police with their uniforms, badges, and guns, and I had some notion of the President of the United States, having seen my mother sobbing as she watched the funeral of JFK on television. But parading around behind the head of the line while mimicking her gestures had little to do with respecting authority. While it was something my teacher expected us to participate in, it was a game meant to be fun. I doubt the purpose was to teach anything about leadership, yet it did.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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If you look at the classic paintings of great military leaders, they are almost always courageously leading a charge into battle<\/strong>, dressed in garish military regalia; swords regally extended forward – as if they were daring the enemy to fell the obvious and unprotected target. Military leaders ideally position themselves behind their troops, not just for protection, but because that is where you can see the entirety of the battle unfold and provide the best guidance to your soldiers. Leaders tend to lead from behind, trusting and relying on those who follow to advance on their own<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The concept of leading from behind became clear to me when I was an avid hiker in my teens. When I was the more experienced hiker, I could better serve and protect the others from the rear, where I could see how they were fairing, and I was less likely to venture too far ahead where they might wander off the correct path. Leadership is not a function of your position, either in line – or at the top of your organization. However, most people considered to be leaders are only so by their position. Real leadership is a function of who you are, not where you stand in relation to others.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When working with leaders in their organizations, I encourage them to decenter themselves from the positional aspects of their role. Those who are genuinely conscientious and dedicated understand that there is a selfless quality to leadership<\/strong>. It is not about themselves but the mission and cause that define the organization\u2019<\/span>s purpose.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I find it helpful to personify this mission as an entity the leader serves, such as a goddess. When the goddess is happy, rains fall, crops grow, and everyone eats well. When the goddess is unhappy, the crops wither, and everyone suffers. Strong leaders are those who awake each day and fall asleep at night, thinking about the needs of the goddess and staying connected even when away. The metaphor is useful beyond simply understanding your role rather than your position. Great leaders don\u2019t demand people to follow them; they invite those they serve to join them in following their common cause, serving the needs of the goddess. As it turns out, great leaders are great followers.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My first experience with the concept of leadership was playing \u201cfollow the leader\u201d in kindergarten. Already well-acquainted with authority, I understood the requirement to obey my parents, other adult relatives, neighbors, teachers, and babysitters. I knew about authority figures like the police with their uniforms, badges, and guns, and I had some notion of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":79887,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-79896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cohort-reading-resources","category-leadership-matters"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79896"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79896\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79897,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79896\/revisions\/79897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79887"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alpsleadership.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}