A leader, properly understood, is a leadership agent.Â
That is, that the leader is not the end, but the conduit to the desirable future that followers seek. Â The leader is only an agent of the purpose, vision, or mission. If you doubt what I am suggesting here, try this:
The Leadership Test
Step 1: Advocate a strongly held political position (e.g. national defense, environmentalism, free-market libertarianism, or the need for socialized medicine). For our purposes here, it does not matter what position you choose.
Step 2. Advocate that position until you have amassed a list of 1,000 hard-core followers. You know the kind. They contribute to the cause or attend protest marches. They wear the t-shirts. They talk incessantly about the issue at social gatherings. Â And you, by virtue of your advocacy have become a leader of the movement.
Step 3. Now prove how much of a leader you are. Show us that your people will follow you anywhere.
Reverse course and see what happens.
If you were telling your followers that we were all going to die because global warming was going melt the poles, tell your followers that you now believe that man-made carbon emissions had nothing to do with the oh-so-slight changes in temperature. See how they react.
Or, if you were a free-marketeer, embrace socialized medicine and tell your libertarian friends that we pay far too little in taxes. Back it up with charts like this one from the Atlantic Magazine.
In either scenario, your reception will likely be rather icy (no pun intended).
Step 4: Count the followers that remain. This will be the easiest step because it will show if your followers were following you or the mission (and you may not have to count more than single digits). A few will remain out of loyalty or friendship, but the rest will turn on you like white blood cells attacking an infection.
Why Do People Follow Leaders?
Bob Dylan was right–“You’ve go to serve somebody.” Leaders serve a cause.
As a leader, you are an agent of the vision. Steward that vision. Magnify it. Champion it. Embody it. Do this and people will follow you.
Some might object to my example because as extreme because of the political context. But is it really any different in an organizational  context?
- The goal of the Christian individually or church corporately  is to follow G0d.
- The corporation is organized to generate profits and they do this with a common focus by following the mission statement.
- In the military, soldiers swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution.
Why Leaders Go Wrong
When leaders get in trouble it is because they forget this crucial understanding of their role and when they do, they become self-serving leaders. They begin to think that they are the end, and not the means. Â When they do this, they delegitimize their leadership authority.
Oh, they may still hold the office, but they have forfeited the moral authority of leadership. Remember you are a steward of agent of the mission.
Do you agree or disagree? Are leaders really only agents of the mission? I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
Darin Gerdes, Ph.D.
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Dr. Gerdes is the Director of Graduate Programs in the School of Business at Charleston Southern University. All ideas expressed on www.daringerdes.com are his own.