My first tryst with the term was when I was a squad leader in class 3. I didn't know what it meant, It was my class teacher who gave me the role. She saw my eyes wide open, more because I was jinxed with the idea; was it because I had done well in test, because all the rest of the leaders she had named got good marks, or was it because I was exceptionally quiet in class and she wanted the rest of the class to behave in a similar fashion. Of all the reasons I could find out exceptionally cute did not fit the bill. Why do I say that, lets put it this way I was not the cutest in the Squad. It did dawn on me several years down the line, that teachers might have just randomly picked someone, because choosing a leader must be the last but not the least on their lists. Some of us wrote down names of people who talked between classes, well do not remember why, but I never did unless I was asked to.
Then later when I was older say a class 11 or class 12 student, leadership meant a different thing altogether. I thought complaining about something thats wrong with the system was also a part of leadership. To me fearless expression of what one thought came as a freebee with the package. Lets just say I learnt later in life that the concept is diplomatic fearless expression, and it is an integral duty of leadership; not a freebee. The person who was key in correcting my notion is etched in indelible ink on the "honorary- in - my - life" page in my memory of people.
In college it meant popularity, and in college it was further polished, and college was the formative part in describing leadership to me. I learnt it from the leaders, so to say. Each time they did something out of the ordinary my heart said "bravo!!". But since I had not mastered the art of diplomatic fearless expression yet, I stuck to the rut road which was always tread by a lot of people before me. "The road less travelled" was for people who had already started practicing the art of diplomatic fearless expression, I could not make out head or tail of the subject, to me fearless was the word in bold.
I often heard people say they wanted to be seen leading the Mob, not one with it. I wondered if someone could lead a Mob without being a part of it. Also the statement "If you are not part of the solution, you are a part of the problem" stuck to me for some time. Do people who want to stand apart and out of the Mob have the solution without being a part of the problem and learning it? At work leadership meant this to me, the one with a better solution had a better chance of being the leader, given an ideal situation. (I am taking out ass kissing, politics in its worldly connotation, favoritism and prejudices out of the picture)
I often think of a leader in terms of fauna. Say Lions, I see the leader as Mufasa of the "Lion King" Or Bambi's dad the "Prince".
Or a lot of other Fairy tale Kings and leaders.
No surprise that my happy place is Disneyland.
What is leadership? I guess I learn as I see more.
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