Do you seek leadership roles or do they find you?

Leadership will out. I almost always end up in a leadership position even if I don’t want to.

It depends on the situation. When I am hanging out with my brothers, my older brother is our default leader. In class, it depends on the topic. Sometimes I lead discussions and am nominated as speaker, but it’s someone else just as often. In my English honors society, I’m never leader nor do I wish to lead our group.

When it comes to organizing events, I step back and wait for someone else to do it. If I’m delegated a task, I can do a good job without hesitation or complaint. But I’m not keen on managing mass-groups. It’s far too draining.

In primary school, I hated group projects. I asked express permission to work by myself. Eventually my teachers let me. I put forward a good argument on my behalf.

I am very much a take charge kind of person. I have little patience for other people’s inefficiency.

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.

Here is my haphazard theory, and maybe it just just be chalked up to semantics, but here goes:

Great Leaders These are people who are visionary. They foresee the best end result. They are incredibly strategic and can map out the steps involved to accomplish the goal.

Great Managers These are the people who can take the strategy plan and put it into action by selling it to the people who will be responsible for carrying it out. They find out who wants to take on certain tasks instead of assigning them based upon perception of skill set. They listen to feedback and act upon it. They sincerely reward and recognize.

I have worked for great leaders, and I’ve worked for great managers. I have only reported to one person who exhibited both. I haven’t worked for him in almost 20 years, but he is still my mentor.

And to answer your question, they have found me. It’s taken years to learn that I prefer to take a back seat and do a job well. Offering advice to those that ask for it is preferable to having to give it because someone reports to me. Call on me to help strategize a new project, and I’m there. I just don’t want to make either (or both) a full time career.

I don’t seek them out, I do more from the sidelines or as @Pied_Pfeffer writes, I put people and tasks together.

I don’t. I can’t lead anyone. I suck at that.

I could say something all Emo and hardcore like, I don’t wanna follow either, but I often do, if I feel it’s safe to do so. I’m someone who needs guidance and reassurance a lot, despite what I portray to people, so I ain’t no leader.

Leadership roles find me where ever I am.

Neither. I don’t think i’d make a good leader at all.