I’ve spoken about leadership before, and my ideas have always been pretty simple: “Leaders Go First and Leaders Eat Last!“
Feel free to read the original post for more detail, but the basic idea is that the dynamic tension between those two seemingly opposing forces is what makes a leader worth following.
Leaders go first. It’s pretty straightforward. The leader is the person who goes in front of others to show them how and where to go. Leaders eat last is based on the tradition of military leaders, particularly in the Marines, eating after their subordinates. It’s a simple but powerful expression of servant leadership. If you don’t serve the people under your care, don’t be surprised if they don’t particularly care whether you eat.
I’ve held to this philosophy for a long time. But today, I realized it might be incomplete.
We’ve all seen the charismatic figure who draws people in like a moth to a flame. Charisma can be a powerful tool, but it doesn’t necessarily make someone a good leader. Their motives may be questionable. Their judgment may be unsound. Their empathy for the people following them may be nonexistent.
The tension between leading from the front and serving those behind you might exist perfectly well inside the head of a leader. They can show people where to go, demonstrate how to get there, and even make sacrifices on their behalf. But if their compass is off, the destination may be disastrous for everyone involved.
You can lead people well and still lead them in the wrong direction.
A compass is a directional tool. It uses the Earth’s magnetic field to help us navigate from one place to another. But the metaphor goes a little deeper than that.
Following a compass toward true north might eventually land you in a frozen wasteland. (Or at the workshop of a mythical philanthropist, but I’m not betting on it.)
Even a compass needs to be understood and interpreted. It points in a direction; it doesn’t tell you whether that direction is wise, safe, or even where you actually want to go. Navigation requires judgment, context, and a willingness to question the route.
Leadership is no different.
Blind faith in a leader without a moral compass can take you to some very dark places. Jonestown is an extreme example, but the underlying problem isn’t confined to cults or history books. It happens whenever people surrender their judgment to someone else, convincing themselves that following is easier than thinking.
The Kool-Aid might not be for you.
And that brings us to the other half of the equation: followership.
Knowing how to lead is important. Knowing whom to follow, and for how long, is just as important. Nobody gets everything right indefinitely. We all make mistakes, misread situations, and occasionally head down the wrong road. The question is whether we’re paying attention to the signals telling us something isn’t right.
Some people aren’t even looking.
So what do we do?
Leadership is a necessary part of life. Absolutely! And as I’ve said before, we should all lead at least one person: ourselves.
That starts with dusting off our own compasses.
It seems that too many of us have traded judgment for autopilot, allowing the promise of short-term rewards and the temptation of me first thinking to determine our direction. We follow the crowd, adopt somebody else’s priorities, and assume that if enough people are heading the same way, it must be the right way.
It isn’t necessarily so.
You, I, and everyone else will get things wrong from time to time. That’s inevitable. But we can keep our compasses at the ready, whether they’re grounded in morality, intellect, spirituality, or some other set of principles that gives our lives direction.
We need something to guide us beyond the shifting winds of popular opinion. Something that helps us decide not just where we want to go, but who we want to be when we get there.
Your life is far too important to spend it continually saying, “I’ll have what they’re having.”
You have a choice. Use it!
Life’s an adventure. Bring your compass!
Pete
