"When you are in the light, everything follows you. But when you enter in to the dark, even your shadow doesn't follow you" - Unknown. There are many such sayings on how a shadow leaves you when it is dark. And these statements have been made in different contexts. However, most of the times they have been made in the context of a Leader having to be in the limelight to have followers.
As in a shadow, a Leader is only as good if s/he has followers or that is what we think. Do we really need followership to show that we are Leaders? If we wanted others to follow us, who are we following? As Joseph Campbell said, "If the path before you is clear, you're probably on someone else's." And, as this saying goes, we are both followers and leaders at the same time.
A leader needs some followership as that is what helps her/him to tread a new path. However, a person becomes a leader only when s/he creates more leaders, not just followers.
In my personal experience, I have tried hard to create leaders. Today, as I look back on my career, I see so many who worked with me occupying various positions across different companies. They are the Leaders of today and will create the leaders of the future. It is heartening to see so many of my colleagues take on the challenges that the corporate world faces today and trying their best to change paradigms.
They say that Leaders must hire their future bosses. But, let us look back on our career to see how many leaders would work for someone who they hired. I have seen few who have done that and have been amazing at that. When I asked them how they did it, I got various responses but the common threads were that they all understood their limitations well. They were all driven by the role they wanted to play and not by the position or who they reported to. They understood clearly what stage they were in life and, therefore, what motivated them. If I ask myself would I do that, the honest answer will be that I will struggle. I can say that of all those who worked with me, there are few individuals I would not mind working for. But for most others, I would struggle.
Many of us struggle to give up a powerful position or role. Nothing wrong in that because that is what we have strived for all these years - not to give it up. However, personal priorities keep changing and we must recognize that and find that balance between personal priorities and work. Some struggle to get back to a job after having quit it. Personally, I have gone through this dilemma. We struggle with ourselves more than anything else. Did we fail and is that why we want to move back to a job? So, long as we have learnt from the experience, I do not see anything as a failure. Life teaches us all that we need. Only, we need to be patient and reflect to be able to pick up those lessons. I never found it a problem to move back to a job when personal circumstances changed and I thought that it was best for me at that point in time to get back to the corporate world. All it needs is the flexibility to understand the situation and move on in life.
As I walked along the street I crossed a street light and as the light came from behind me, my shadow suddenly came in front of me and was taller than me. I was following the shadow!!!
