Lead Us Not

Everything is supposed to depend on how you look at things. Reality is simply what you tell yourself. But you have to be convincing. (The trouble begins when you stop believing your own lies.)

A good leader (in my view) ought to do that job for you, e.g., by providing you with inspirational pep-talks – but they must be credible. (It’s no good telling you you’re the best, when you know you’re not, and never will be.) Those expensive “Personal coaches” people are hiring may well be worth what they cost.

I’ve always been impressed by the fact that, in this country, the highest-paid member of many a sports team is a man, or woman, who takes no direct part in the game – but whose influence is apparently thought to be crucial to the chances of winning or losing – yes, the coach. If they don’t win enough games, they are dumped as soon as their contract expires (if they’re lucky enough to have a contract.)

Similarly, both here and abroad, the member of a symphony orchestra whose role is considered most critical is the one who plays no instrument, but simply waves a baton. And we might carry this over into the military arena, where, in combat, the leader, who was once the first in the field – now is rarely to be seen anywhere near the front lines (if there are indeed front lines anymore).

What I think we are talking about is the person referred to in crime-speak as “The Brains of the Outfit.” What I wonder, though, is whether such people aren’t often mere figureheads. Shouldn’t a really good group of musicians – even as large a group as an orchestra – be able to function satisfactorily or even magnificently – without a conductor? Might not a metronome serve just as well?

(Here in Santa Barbara, I have often watched a group of 10 or 20 musicians, who gather regularly in a local park, doing what they call “jamming,” – playing “Old Time Music” on a variety of instruments – with no conductor, and apparently without even a planned program. Yet they move on from piece to piece with impressively smooth coordination.)

Might it not be likewise with a sports team, or even an army?

Obviously, you will say, I don’t know what I’m talking about. Skilled leadership, you will tell me, is essential. But what about ants and bees, and any number of other organized insects? Don’t their colonies manage to function effectively without any single leader or group of commanders? Since they’ve been on this planet so much longer than we have, does this mean they have they evolved to a point at which they somehow communicate so well with one another that no “central command post” is necessary? Or, on the contrary, are we not, with our gigantic brains, far ahead of them in having already recognized the power and value of a structure based on leadership?

How could a modern movie ever get made without a highly organized production framework, and particularly a director? How could a skyscraper get built, or a great ship constructed, with no firm leadership at the top? Isn’t our whole society essentially a pyramid?

Well, that’s certainly one way of looking at it. Yet, when it comes to creativity, the greatest works of art, literature, and music are, with rare exceptions, the products of a single mind. It seems ludicrous even trying to imagine someone leading or conducting a bunch of Shakespeares or Picassos.

In the fields of science and invention, however, it’s a very different story. Although many breakthroughs can be attributed to individuals, such as Marconi or the Wright brothers, accomplishments such as splitting the atom or landing on the Moon necessarily depended on the work of large highly structured teams of experts – and the entire process might extend over several generations.

I myself have, for better or worse, rarely found myself in a position of leadership. Ironically, the people I’ve most wanted to influence have been those least willing to be led by me – particularly members of my own family. I think, for example, of my mother, who would never let me install in her apartment the air-conditioner she so badly needed. Or my sister, who, to this day, has lived without a computer, despite my offers of help in taking that step. (Obviously, you are no doubt thinking, this must indicate something wrong with me.) 

Well, I never wanted to be a leader anyway.