Follow The Leader

By Christopher Michel from San Francisco, USA (follow the leader)
[CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)],
via Wikimedia Commons

I posted the following thought a few weeks ago on LinkedIn:

It would be pretty difficult to teach kids to play Follow The Leader if the leader is at the back of the line. Leaders lead from the front. Easier said than done, sometimes, but worth a try and you can set an example.

Got a couple of comments back - one being that those being led need to consent. One other comment pointed out that leadership is not something you can self measure, but rather something that is judged by those that follow.

Both great points - but one other thing I think I missed in that comment. Leaders have to know where they are going. Doesn't matter if you are leading from the front or pushing from behind. If you don't know where you are going, you might steer (or push) the rest of the team off of a cliff. Still better, in my opinion, to be the first one off the cliff. At least you can let the rest of the team know what perils lie ahead.