I stand somewhere in the middle. I think of it as leading without leading. It’s sort of like organizing how things go without being noticed as the leader. I guess I don’t want to get the shit of being a leader, although I also don’t get the credit.
Part of it is setting an example. I’m not telling anyone what to do, but showing them how to do it and showing them that it works. People tend to copy it, maybe without even knowing they are copying.
When a change is needed, I’ll set down the change in a very unintrusive way. People won’t notice it at first, but then it’ll start to infiltrate into their consciousness and they will align themselves with it, and then the change happens.
I like to give other people the credit for things. I like to encourage people to take advantage of strengths they may not know they have. I like it when other people start to feel like they can be leaders.
Of course, people never mention my role, so perhaps it’s all in my imagination. Sometimes it drives me a bit crazy, because I’d like to be acknowledged. But when I actively seek that acknowledgement, things start going bad, so I guess I’m not really good in a leadership role that is obviously a leadership role.
Sometimes there are groups that don’t have leaders. You know, we just come together for one purpose or another. I kind of hate leadership. I don’t like to follow leaders and I don’t like to lead. So I try to push things more towards a shared leadership. We’re all equal. It often works.