I’m currently reading SGM Kyle Lamb’s book, Leadership in the Shadows. It’s proving to be really good so far, covering a lot of the foundational concepts of what it means to be a good leader. Even if you don’t think of yourself as a leader in your workplace, you have more opportunities to lead than you realize. Any time you’re providing guidance or making decisions that affect others, you’re leading. Just think about that.
Anyway, the comment that I wanted to make was just this: In chapter nine, Lamb details out a list of things that warrior-like leaders don’t do. I want to hit those bullet points for you here:
Things Warrior-Like Leaders Guard Against
- Political Correctness
- Racism
- Turning off leadership when you leave your job at the end of the day
- Distancing yourself from those you lead
- A caste system
- Thinking formal education is the most important item on a resume
- Believing everyone is different
Now think about some of those things in the context of our elected “leadership” for a moment:
Political correctness? They don’t avoid it; they embrace it.
Racism? While claiming to be against racism, they enact and support policies that ensure people stay divided.
Turning off leadership when off the clock? Many rounds of golf and fundraising parties with celebrities come to mind…
A caste system and distancing oneself from those they lead? Well… us peasants shouldn’t have guns and need to be subject to the provisions of the (un)Affordable Care Act, but those same rules don’t apply to members of the .gov.
Formal education as the most important resume item? Checking the right boxes certainly seems to be more important for getting elected than making the right decisions.
Believing everyone is different? We definitely hear a lot more about how we need to “celebrate diversity” than how our strength comes from our unity.
So there you have it, just a few thoughts on leadership from a special operations veteran Sergeant Major and a few thoughts from me on how they apply to our current crop of elected officials nationwide. I like what SGM Lamb described as warrior-like leaders. Maybe it’s time to ditch the politicians and listen to warriors. As the saying goes, “An army of deer led by a lion is more to be feared than an army of lions led by a deer.”
-Josh
Kindle Edition:
Paperback:
