.
(Part 9yb of 11)
To paraphrase Neely Fuller, when you give something a name to distinguish it from something else, that means the thing you are naming must do some things differently and must also not do certain things, thus it must have some qualities other things don't have and does not have some qualities that other things do have. This combination of dos and don'ts is what provides the definition and justification for the new name.
We will apply that to the term leader.
1. What is a leader?
a) Answer: Someone who leads others.
2. What is leading?
a) Answer: Guiding, directing.
3. What is guiding, directing?
a) Answer: Teaching
When you absolutely know you are teaching or what you might call “providing information,” you are guiding, directing, teaching, thus you are leading, thus you are a leader.
You cannot not be a leader by saying “don't follow me, I'm not your leader, I'm not your parent, I'm not this or that, don't believe anything I say, check it out on your own, verify what I say, and so on.”
None of that cancels or removes the fact that you are still functioning as a leader.
Not convinced?
Then consider this.
By virtue of being alive and living life, no matter what kind of life it is and no matter how that life is perceived or received, you are still guiding, directing, teaching, thus leading. By virtue of leading our own lives, we are a leader to self, thus to others.
This is true whether you intend for it to be that way or not.
This is true whether you are aware of it or not.
This is further true because no matter what we do or don't don't, all of it provides and serves as an example to do the same thing, similar thing or opposite thing.
An “example” is a guide, thus is part of what leading and leadership is all about.
Thus everyone at all times is a leader.
And so also are all things in creation.
Yes, a tree is a leader.
It is a metaphor and an analogy whose life is an allegory for ours.
You don't have to lead millions to be a leader or hundreds.
It is guaranteed that you and all others lead at least one other person in some way. And this is the minimum; however the reality is we lead many many more known and unknown.
There is no opting out from being a leader.
What is a leader?
You tell me.
We can back into the definition of a leader by asking are you a follower?
Most people will say “sometimes.”
This would be partly accurate.
If we are not a follower always, then we must be a leader during those other times. There is no in between.
However, if we think about this a little longer, we are always simultaneously following and leading in some way in some aspect of ourselves and life.
Just think about what you do each day and categorize it as following or leading.
Even if we are certain something is in the “leading” category, such as leading our own lives, it will still also be in the following category. Why? Because all the logic we are using we did not create from scratch such that we did not get it from anywhere else except ourselves and we came up with it independently on our own.
What then, is a follower?
An immutable law of the two truths is that you cannot understand one thing without understanding its opposite, its apposite, it complement, its coordinate, its corresponding truth.
Thus as often stated, it is not possible to understand darkness without understanding lightness. It is not possible to understand love without understanding hate.
It is not possible to understand leader without understanding follower.
That way we come back around to understanding we have the capacity and potential for all things within us. As a result, we absolutely do display all these capacities in some way at some point in our life cycle. Most of these capacities are always being simultaneously displayed even if in a weaker or stronger way, they are still there and often layered beneath the other.
Thus a person who is outwardly leading, is also inwardly following and/or also outwardly following some logic in order to lead.
To say this another way, a person leads their life by following their spirit.
If you follow the logic I'm using, am I leading you?
What is a follower? You tell me.
