On Our Leading & Being Led

Any discussion of work necessarily includes a discussion of our capacity to lead others, as well as to follow directions and take guidance. Even if we are Donald Trump we are still in a position of having to address the needs and interests of our clients. We have to be able to listen effectively and feel where a particular job needs to go in the interest of serving the client. And for those whose task it is to 'hold the vision' there is a need to effectively communicate that vision to our comrades for the sole purpose of bringing the vision into manifestation.

As you may know, there is trouble with implementing a vision when we are dealing with large groups of people. We have egos that clash and emotional needs, there are psychological issues pertaining to Mommy and Daddy that enter the workplace. This is all pretty much inevitable. For as much as we try we cannot keep Psyche out of the workplace.

For the effective leader it may mean that he or she has to become a virtual psychologist. That leader has to understand people's predominant psychological issues. Where some thrive on a challenge--under the intense pressures of a looming deadline--others may wither. Then there are those who thrive best when they are not 'over-managed,' if you will.

No matter how we work with people, though, there is always the possibility that some are not called to greatness at this moment in time and may need some additional ripening in a different atmosphere. One can see this on the TV show starring the aforementioned Donald Trump--The Apprentice. 'The Donald,' as he is affectinately called, places the wanna-be executives in positions where their mettle is going to be put to the test. Do they rise to the occasion? Do they wither under the pressure? Do latent psychological issues--unresolved emotional obstacles that impair relationships--enter the scene? What happens in terms of one's ability to work with others: to both lead with passion and to follow another with that same enthusiasm and passion? It all gets played out before millions of viewers on the TV screen, becoming as much a study in human beahviour and a latent psychoanalysis as much as anything else.

What we see on The Apprentice--and discover in our own working atmosphere--is that some people just fall flat on their faces. 'They bomb,' as they say in the entertainment industry. They so obviously 'don't have what it takes' to realize their own peculair genuis at that time. Perhaps they need some more maturing. Perhaps they need to work on some issues in a more intensive therapeutic setting (Omarosa anyone??). Or perhaps it is just that their destiny does not lie in being Donald Trump's 'apprentice.' No matter, what is discovered is exactly 'where people are at' in terms of their capacity for work; which necessarily means their capacity to lead effectively, and be part of a team, all at the same time. After all, no matter where we work we are doing so with others.

Even if we are just a solo artist working with the medium of our choice we are following the grain of the metaphorical wood in seeking to extract a material manifestation of a 'vision' being called into being. That is why a sculptor may rummage through a whole pile of wood looking for that perfect piece that will allow him- or herself to most exquisitely bring the 'vision' into being. And I suspect that much the same happens with people: that when we are working towards the collective manifestation of a vision we may have to rummage through a whole bunch of potential comrades, up until we stumble upon those whose destiny it is to see 'the Work' through with us unto the end.