In all the thoughts on leadership there is on commonality in many beliefs. The apex leader is the one with all of the power.
I want to challenge this thought with the use of numbers. In many communities the leadership structure is very pyramidal this means there are many more subordinates than the single or few apex leaders. Many is greater than a few.
In my experience I work with a community of 1700 fraternity men with an apex board of 4 leaders. 1700>>>4. The assumption for the community is that the 4 leaders have all the power to control the 1700 men. What they miss is that power is not taken, it is given. The community has about 45 groups who have 45 elected representatives that meet weekly. These 45 representatives in turn elected the board of the 4 apex leaders. Since the community gave their power to the elected representatives, and the representatives gave the power to the leaders that they elected the community should have a say in how it should be used within the proper regulations.
The other piece that is lost in these assumptions is that the apex leaders believe they know what the community wants. However, the only way these 4 people could possible know what all of the 1700 people want is to ask them what they want.
So in a political mindset, think about which part of the pyramid you belong to and figure out how to use your power. If you are at the base make sure your voice is heard because you should not just give away your power and hope that people will use it how you would like. If you are somewhere in the middle I believe you have the hardest role because you have to listen to those who give you power and make sure those thoughts along with your own are passed along to the people who you have given power. And if you are at the top you have an almost equally difficult position, you have to listen to all those who empower you and make the choices that will shape the community.
Think about everything that can be done if everyone in the community was working together because they felt that they had a part in shaping the community.
