On the True Source of Leadership

In the late 2000s, personal-growth trainings took off in Russia — courses that promised to turn young people into leaders in a matter of weeks. A friend of mine went through one, and the group invited me to their “graduation” at a restaurant. After every motivational toast, glass of sparkling wine in hand, they chanted in unison: “We are leaders.” From the outside, most of them — by every nonverbal signal — didn’t look the least bit sure of themselves, and it seemed they didn’t quite believe their own slogans either. The evening left me with a heavy impression of the gap between the wish and the reality.

Plenty of books have been written on leadership: how to speak, how to look, how to carry yourself. But all of that is just the outer trappings.

What is the true, measurable marker of leadership? In my view, it’s the “capacity for responsibility” a person is able and willing to take on. Some people struggle to choose the colour of their shirt; others have the steel to give the order that starts an armed conflict and to answer for it before the whole world.

What sets the limit on that capacity from one person to the next? Genetics, for one. Limiting beliefs, for another — handed down by parents, teachers, society. And, of course, skills, which you can build.

Put a group of billionaires — the flagships of their industries — on a desert island, and within a few days a hierarchy will settle among them. There’s no shortage of social research backing this up. When everyone looks like a leader under normal conditions, in moments of crisis and danger people reach especially hard for order and structure. Roles redistribute themselves naturally, and someone inevitably begins to dominate. Social psychology explains the effect: the human brain instinctively looks for a leader in order to feel safe and to share out the work efficiently.

Hierarchy isn’t necessarily authoritarianism. Meritocracy and democracy are forms of hierarchy too. But there’s always a president, a prime minister, a chairman of the board who makes the final call when there’s no consensus. The one who, in the thick of uncertainty and boiling tempers, says firmly: “We do it this way. I’m taking the responsibility. Let’s go!” — and is heard.

Where does leadership begin? With radical responsibility for yourself — your thoughts, your actions, and, ultimately, your fate. People are looking for solid ground. Become that for yourself, and you become solid ground for others too. That’s the kind of person people are ready to follow, taking on his ideas, his goals, his values.

Here’s to true leadership! 😎