Changing… the word "Leader"
© 2024, James McLean
I was preparing for a professional development program for myself last week, and I was reading and watching a video by Jem Bendell, who employs a lot of critical theory in his work.
Critical theory is about being aware of the ways in which we can become captive to our assumptions and the cultural context around them. There are ideas, and even words that have become so ingrained in our culture and our minds, that they just ‘common sense’ over time. We never question them.
In this video, Jem asked the question:
“How does even having the word ‘leader’ impact us?”
This really struck me as an important question, especially in these times when we need so much change.
Within our organisations and within our society, how does simply having the concept of The Leader impact us? How does that perhaps detract from the way in which everyone else has a sense of agency to do things to improve our lot, to make a difference and make things better?
Many of us are sitting around waiting for The Leader to lead us, to inspire us, to generate the change, to show us the direction to keep us safe. These are all things that they can't provide in these rapidly changing times. And maybe we would be better off not even having the concept of The Leader.
What difference would that make if there wasn't a concept of The Leader? What if we had a concept of The Authority Figure and accepted them for what they are and who they are? They are important in our society because they do help to provide a certain order and direction. But if you think of our politicians (our Authority Figures), they're not even leading us, in most cases. Often, they’re sending out polls to find out what we think, and then they're following us.
So who's doing the leading, who is The Leader?
I wonder what you think about this. How much different would our society be if we didn't have this concept of The Leader?