Leaders are nurtured and not merely “made”, and it’s because they require a disposition that can make consistent and wise decisions, a bit like a “born parent”. Avoid leadership education that doesn’t emphasize this reality.
Generally, people trust leaders who are older than them, up to about age 60. At that age, old age makes someone appear to operate more on habit than decisions, so people start trusting themselves or younger leaders instead.
Good leaders live virtuously, since it’s the only way to be fair in making decisions.
Once trust in the leaders is gone, the group disbands or rebuilds itself because someone else will lead in an entirely different way.
Since leaders tend to be more high-conscientiousness, they are over-represented in all leadership roles, and therefore represented in all walks of society. The only exception to this is when an institution defines its hierarchy by something other than competence.
The leader of a group gets all the credit, but the group’s creativity and results were from the followers’ contributions, who do most of the work and often have the most passion.
Groups typically split over standard social conflicts, but with far more power involved. Larger groups mean more power at stake, and therefore larger consequences.
Groups never admit they’re wrong, so if you disagree with them, you only have a few options:
- Only talk about what they’re doing right and ignore what they do wrong.
- Find another group that doesn’t do that wrong thing.
Good leaders have the wisdom to stall decision-making until they can look beyond their impulses. However, it’s possible for someone to appear level-headed when they aren’t, and is the foundation for many bad systems.
People tend to get along better in groups (with a shared purpose) than in a closer dynamic (such as living together or family).