The Prize and Price For Being A Leader

There are certainly plenty of perks to being a leader.  Leaders have respect and their thoughts and opinions are not only widely appreciated but also taken seriously.  During any events, the official start doesn’t occur until the leader arrives.  Around the dining table, leaders will get to sit at the head of the table and all will wait for the leader to start dining before everyone else can start.  Leaders will have the best choice of location, whether it be an office, a room or any other form of work space.  They will have the best seating at events with the best view available.  Leaders have more flexibility and autonomy to make decisions for themselves and everyone else.  The best perks and top compensations are reserved for leaders.

Rewards doesn’t come without costs as with anything in life, nothing is ever free.  When enjoying all those perks, leaders have to endure great sacrifices.  Good leaders must be there to lead in time of needs.  When things goes bad, leaders must rise up and take ownership of the failures and lead their members to overcome the issues.  Leaders must take responsibility for failures and shelter their teams from the negativity and outcome of failures.  In reverse to the failures, whenever things goes really well and there are great achievements and success, good leaders must be able to deflect all the praises and accolades to the members.  Regardless of the contribution made, the leader should never accept responsibility for success and neglect to share with team members.

Those are the unspoken and unwritten rules and understanding between leaders and followers.  Members who follow leaders are willing to give respect and prioritize the best for their leaders, with the understanding that their leaders will be there for them.  During the bad times, their leaders will step up and protect them and guide them to the good times.  When things are well, the followers will take care of the leaders, giving the leaders the best of the best.  However, when leaders break these unspoken and unwritten rules, they not only don’t deserve to be leaders, they don’t deserve to be respected and to have any of the perks.  This is when things will goes horribly wrong as there will be disparity, distrust and dysfunction within the group.

Good leaders fully understands these rules and takes them to heart in everything they do and every decision they make.  While the prizes for being a leader sounds great, great leaders do what they do without thoughts or consideration for the perks.  Great leaders lead to serve and focus on taking care of the team.  They focus on paying the price to be a leader without the demand or need for the prize.  Focus on paying the price and the prize will naturally come to as a great leader.

Photo by: Nhia Moua