Be a Leader: How to Start a Movement

The third practice of the five SemperVerus components is BE, which emphasizes the importance of intentionally reinforcing rectitude in yourself. It’s stated thusly:

III. Be: developing rich personal leadership character of exemplary moral and ethical quality.

In the following 3-minute video TED Talk, entrepreneur Derek Sivers presents lessons about leaders and followers he observed one day on a hillside of people:

Or watch it here.

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of LEADERSHIP ]

Observations:

  • A leader needs guts to stand out and possibly be ridiculed.
  • The first follower of a leader shows everyone else how to follow.
  • The leader embraces the follower as an equal and now “it” is not singular, “it” is plural.
  • The first follower is what transforms a “lone nut” into a leader.
  • The first follower is an underestimated leader, who encourages others to join in.
  • The second follower joins and now it’s not a lone nut, or two nuts; three is a crowd and a crowd is news.
  • A movement must be public; new followers emulate existing followers, not just the leader.
  • As more join in, momentum is created which is the tipping point for a movement.
  • More followers makes it less risky for people on the fence to decide to join; they have no reason not to: they won’t stand out, they won’t be ridiculed, but they will be part of the in-crowd if they hurry.
  • When enough join in, people who decide not to join in are the ones who are now ridiculed.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Life Lessons to Learn From a Space Capsule Failure ]

Lessons:

•   The first leader must nurture the follower; it’s not about the leader, but the movement.
•   Leadership is over-glorified. A leader’s first follower is the one with the fortitude to follow and bring others along, thus becoming a leader. Following can be a part of leading.

Something to think about as you live a SemperVerus life (Stay True to what is right; Stay True to your aim)!

[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of BE ]

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