Taking the Lead

Epiphany; a petty realisation; a simple truth; a little known fact; discovery. Call it what you will. I realised something interesting today about leadership.

Ever had that moment where you are walking one direction down the pavement, and headlong going in the opposite direction is someone else, a stranger, on a bicycle maybe, or walking swiftly.

A little dance ensues. You step to the left. Unknown that he's mirroring your move, the stranger (nearly 99% of the time) steps to the right. You are once more facing each other. You take a step in the opposite direction. He once again mirrors your move. This dance will go on until either both of you reach the point where you meet, face to face, close up, or one of you takes a step, deliberately, in the counter-intuitive direction. Which of you does that? You, or him?

At that moment, there is no deliberation, no intention, no malicious thought. You are not out to block his way and neither is he. In fact, probably there is some measure of altruism involved - you want to step aside so that he may pass, or he may think the same way. But if both parties follow without leading, a collision will ensue, for the benefit of neither party.

I think it is psychological to follow. It's also psychological not to want to move, walk or step against the grain, counter-intuitively. In the ten minutes walking home each day, I invariably encounter this situation often enough. Sometimes they are with bicycles, who move faster than I do. Sometimes with men at the door. Sometimes with a passer-by with nice heels. And always it is the same story, the same situation.

I had to discipline my mind to recognize a situation like this one and force myself to step in the opposite direction. Perhaps because I am naturally left-handed, this made it harder to do, I always stepped to the left (strangely enough, the other person always stepped to the right, I don't ask if he is left or right-handed). Instead of doing what I've always done, I deliberately, sometimes slowly (a split second can last a very long time) step to the right. The other person sees my move, noticed I had chosen, swooshes past me and thanks me with a smile or a nod.

This is leadership. It is avoiding the impasses caused by the reaction of the human herd. It is psychological and personal discipline, it is the control of instinct. And ultimately, it is choice. If you can choose and will yourself to act as you choose, and see past what society is telling you, what apparent human logic determines, beyond what your body drives you to choose - you will have led, and not followed.