The Decision to Become a Leader

By Matthew Needham

The word leadership evokes emotion; it is intimidating to some and invigorating to others. Without leaders, by definition of the term, we would all be exactly in the same race—the track eight billion lanes wide. However, and thankfully, some choose to set themselves apart to become such personnel; by verbal choice, or by unspoken, maybe even an unconscious sequence of actions that others see that cause them to voluntarily submit their wills to that of the leader. The elected or volunteered positions are always the controversial ones, by nature. A singular aspect of these will be discussed: the choice to become a leader.

There are innumerable venues that require leadership; being the president of a university, owning a business, being the secretary for a small organization, or even things as small as leading a study group. Volunteering to be a leader should not be a hasty decision, despite the quality being an inherently good one. Some positions need certain people; the one who leads must be the right one for the task, not just someone who is entertained by the idea of having charge over other people. Every single person has strengths as well as weaknesses; most often the latter outweighs the former, and knowing every item in both columns is important in deciding if oneself is indeed fit for any individual leadership role they seek. Once this data is considered, certain seats are taped off, and only now should one attempt his hand at the remaining options.

From that point, one could pick up almost any leadership training literature and develop a reasonable understanding of how to be a good leader. Something that may be lacking from those writings, though, is the above discussed initial aspiration to lead. A challenge to all is to always be conscious of both their strengths and weaknesses at all times, so their options are always in check, to prevent them from entering a position they are not fit for.