Leaders Cannot Be a Community

The concept of a leader has multiple roles. Some of these roles are truly necessities that come along with being a leader and others are polluted roles that seem to simply please the public.

The key principles that every leader needs to follow is that of serving. A leadership role is not something a person should do if they have this romanticized idea that being a leader will allow him or herself to get gain in the sight of people. If a person sees himself or herself as a servant than this preconceived notion that a leader is greater, superior, or more important than others is put away. In thinking that one is a servant to the public, it allows a leader to know that it is hard work for others. It is not to say that the leader does not gain from it. Block puts light into this subject when he explains that people in leadership roles are still part of the community. In serving the community, he or she is also serving him or herself.

A slightly polluted concept of leadership is the concept that a leader has more responsibility than others. It is true that a leader has more responsibility, but this distorts the image of what the public’s roles are. The pollution lies in that a leader takes all the blame for failure in the community. The idea that the leader takes part of the blame is acceptable, but if it was someone else that did not uphold on his part, than there should be a shared sense of blame. Just as we were discussing along the lines of gifts last week, every person no matter their status, has a responsibility to the community in some capacity. There is a need to realize that a great leader cannot make everyone accomplish his or her roles. The romanticized idea is that a leader solely has the power to change a community for the better. A great leader can encourage and motivate others to do their part, but the lesson to learn is that a leader cannot take away a person’s will to accomplish his or her part.

This leads me to think on the concept of symptoms as well. If a community fails, then it is the leader that is criticized. But what is the real problem? “It [blaming only the leaders] undermines a culture where each is accountable for their community” (Block 41). A bad leader is merely an outside symptom of what is not going on in the community. The real problem lies when the members of the community do not have a sense of ownership of their own community. The people want the benefit of a great community, but the truth is that anything worth obtaining in a community comes from the whole community’s diligence and contribution.