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What Is
Leadership?
Leadership is a process of getting things done through people.
The captain moves the team toward a touchdown. The senior patrol
leader guides the troop to a high rating at the camp. The mayor
gets the people to support new policies to make the city better.
These leaders are getting things done by working through people
football players, Scouts, and ordinary citizens. They have used
the process of leadership to reach certain goals. Leadership is
not a science. So being a leader is an adventure because you can
never be sure whether you will reach your goal at least this
time. The touchdown drive may end in a fumble. The troop may
have a bad weekend during the camp. Or the city's citizens may
not be convinced that the mayor's policies are right. So these
leaders have to try again, using other methods. But they still
use the same process the process of good leadership.
Leadership means responsibility.
It's adventure and often fun, but it always means
responsibility. The leader is the guy the others look to, to get
the job done. So don't think your job as a troop leader or a
staff member will be just an honor. It's more than that. It
means that the other Scouts expect you to take the
responsibility of getting the job done. If you lead, they will
do the job. If you don't, they may expect you to do the job all
by yourself. That's why it's important that you begin right now
to learn what leadership is all about. Wear your badge of office
proudly. It does not automatically make you a good leader. But
it identifies you as a Scout who others want to follow if you'll
let them by showing leadership.
You are not a finished leader. No one ever is, not even a
president or prime minister. But you are an explorer of the
human mind because now you are going to try to learn how to get
things done through people. This is one of the keys to
leadership.
You are searching for the secrets of leadership. Many of them
lie locked inside you. As you discover them and practice them,
you will join a special group of people skilled leaders.
Good exploring both in this handbook and with the groups you
will have a chance to lead.
The Tasks of Leadership
In
this ‑section, we will consider several common statements about
the people who serve in leadership positions throughout our
world. After you have read the statement, decide for yourself
whether you feel it is true or false and why you think it is.
Here is the first one.
True
or false?
The only
people
who lead have some kind of leadership job, such as chairman,
coach, or king.
Do
you think that's true? Don't you believe it. It's true that
chairmen, coaches, and kings lead, but people who hold no
leadership position also lead. And you can find some people who
have a leader's title and ought to lead. But they don't.
In
other words, you are not a leader because you wear the leader's
hat. Or because you wear the patrol leader's insignia on your
uniform. You are a leader only when you are getting things done
through other people.
Leadership, then, is something people do. Some people inherit
leadership positions, such as kings, or nobles, or heads of
family businesses. Some are elected: chairman, governor, patrol
leader. Some are appointed, such as a coach, a city manager, or
a den chief. Or they may just happen to be there when a
situation arises that demands leadership. A disaster occurs, or
a teacher doesn't show up when class begins, or a patrol leader
becomes sick on a campout.
Try
this statement. Is it true or false?
Leadership is
a gift. If you are born with it, you can lead. If you are not,
you can't.
Some
people will tell you that. Some really believe it. But it's not
so. Leader‑ship does take skill. Not everyone can learn all the
skills of leadership as well as anyone else. But most people can
learn some of them ‑‑ and thus develop their own potential.
You
don't have to be born with leadership. Chances are, you weren't.
But you were born with a brain. If you can learn to swim or play
checkers or do math, you can learn leader‑ship skills.
How about this statement. True
or false?
"Leader" is
another word for "boss.”
Well, what do you mean by "boss”? A guy who pushes and orders
other people around? No, a leader is not one of those. (But some
people try to lead this way.) Or do you mean a boss is somebody
who has a job to do and works with other people to get it done?
This is true. A leader is a boss in that sense.
True
or false?
Being a
Leader in a Scout troop is like being a leader anywhere else.
This one is true. When you lead
in a Scout troop, you will do many of the same things as any
leader anywhere. The important thing now is Scouting gives you a
chance to lead. You can learn how to lead. in Scouting. You can
practice leadership in Scouting. Then you can lead other groups,
too. The skills you will need are very much the same.
What
Does a Leader Deal with?
Every leader deals with just two things. Here they are: the job
and the group.
The job
is
what's to be done. The "job" doesn't necessarily mean work. It
could be playing a game. It could be building a skyscraper. It
could be getting across an idea.
A
leader is needed to get the job done. If there were no job,
there would be no need for a leader.
The group,
such
as a patrol, is the people who do the job. And in many cases,
the group continues after the job is done. This is where leading
gets tough, as you'll see later. Think about this situation.
Mark has a lot of firewood to split. There he is, all alone with
his ax. He's got a job to do. Is he a leader? We have to say in
this situation that Mark won't be leading. Why? No group.
There's nobody on the job but Mark. Here's another example.
Danny and three of his friends are on their bikes. They have no
place to go. They're just riding slowly, seeing how close they
can get to each other. Is Danny ‑‑ or any one of the others ‑‑ a
leader? From what we know, we have to say no. Why? No job.
There's a group of friends, but nothing special to be done. You
don't need a leader for that. (You don't need a group, either.)
The
Job of a Leader
A
leader works with two things: a job and a group. You can always
tell when a leader succeeds, because:
1.
The job gets done.
2.
The group holds together.
Let's see why it takes both. Frank was elected patrol leader.
That same week, the patrol had a job cleaning up an old
cemetery. It was Frank's first leadership position, and he
wanted it to go right. In his daydream he could see the
Scoutmaster praising him for the great cleanup job. So when
Saturday morning came, Frank and the patrol went over to the
cemetery, and Frank started to get the job done.
He
hollered. He yelled. He threatened. He called them names. He
worked like a tiger himself. It was a rough day, but the
cemetery got cleaned up. Frank went home sort of proud, sort of
mad, and very tired.
"How'd things go, Frank?" the Scoutmaster asked a few days
later.
"Good."
"No
problems?"
"No." Frank wondered what he meant by that.
"Oh!
Well, a couple of the boys in your patrol asked me if they could
change to another patrol. I thought maybe something had gone
wrong...”
And
that was how Frank learned that getting the job done isn't all
there is to leadership. He had really given the group a hard
time, and now they wanted to break up. Almost anybody with a
whip and a mean temper can get a job done. But in doing it, they
usually destroy the group. And that's not leadership. The group
must go on. Another new patrol leader called a meeting at his
house. Everybody seemed to be hungry when they came. So they got
some snacks from the kitchen. Then they tossed a football
around. It began to get dark, and one by one they went home.
Everybody had fun. But the patrol meeting ‑‑ the job ‑‑ never
started. One of the following statements is the message of this
section. Which one?
a.
Nice guys finish last.
b.
Mean guys finish last.
c.
Leaders get the job done and keep the group going.
d.
Leaders have a special title or badge that makes others like to
follow.
We'll take the third one. Will you?
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