Pull, don’t push

Nothing great has ever happened without a leader. Ok, so well, maybe SOMETHING great has happened without a leader, but the occurrences of great things happening with a leader vs. without show great things usually involve a leader. Or, great things are brought about by a great leader.

What is a leader? It’s easy. Someone who pulls, and doesn’t push.

Little red wagons… Do they have push bars, or pull handles? Horse “drawn” wagons? Pulled again! Even our cars… (Most of them) are PULLED by the front wheels rather then pushed by the rear ones (this is a big deal if you live where it snows). Trains, while they can be pushed, they are usually pulled. Why were airplanes “pulled” by engines until the invention of the jet engine? They were far more stable. Most elevators, are PULLED by cables, not pushed by pistons. When something is pulled, it’s easier to steer and direct. You just go where you want what you are leading to go, and you will pull what you are pulling along behind you. A light rope can be used to pull yourself hundreds of feet in the air, whereas it would take a very heavy expensive ladder to push you up. Parachutes, they pull you gently upwards while gravity pulls down. The examples could go on and on.

I believe, that this is the biggest difference between effective leaders, and ineffective managers. Leaders, “lead”.

One of my very favorite speeches ever, was written by a man named “Hugh Nibley” (He was really really really smart, in fact, at the college where he devoted his life, there was another smart man, and rumor has it that they would play a game, one of them would write a sentence in a language, and pass the paper to the other, who would write it in another language, and they would go back and forth until one of them could not translate the sentence into a new language, and the other one won.) He talks about leaders and managers. He uses as his example the protagonist and antagonist of a book of LDS scripture. But, it should be entertaining to listen to if you are not framiliar with the book. If you want to listen to it, just use this handy dandy embeded mp3 player to listen to it. He starts out with an in-depth history of collegiate graduation ropes (“Black Ropes of a False Priesthood” he calls them). He progresses from the history of the robes to the comparison between the two figures previously mentioned. Anyways, here it is. (You may be bored at first, just listen for the first few minutes. It gets better, I promise, just hang in their for the first ten minutes..)

Here are some of my favorite quotes from the speech:

To Parkinson’s Law, which shows how management gobbles up everything else, he added what he calls the “Law of Injelitance”: Managers do not promote individuals whose competence might threaten their own position; and so as the power of management spreads ever wider, the quality deteriorates, if that is possible. In short, while management shuns equality, it feeds on mediocrity.

–Hugh Nibley

No one ever “managed” men into battle.

–Captain Grace Hopper

The Generalstab tried desperately for a hundred years to train up a generation of leaders for the German army, but it never worked, because the men who delighted their superiors, i.e., the managers, got the high commands, while the men who delighted the lower ranks, i.e., the leaders, got reprimands.

–Hugh Nibley

Leaders are movers and shakers, original, inventive, unpredictable, imaginative, full of surprises that discomfit the enemy in war and the main office in peace. For managers are safe, conservative, predictable, conforming organization men and team players, dedicated to the establishment.

–Hugh Nibley

“If you love me,” said the Greatest of all leaders, “you will keep my commandments.” “If you know what is good for me,” says the manager, “you will keep my commandments, and not make waves.” That is why the rise of management always marks the decline of culture. If the management does not go for Bach, very well, there will be no Bach in the meeting; if management favors vile, sentimental doggerel verse extolling the qualities that make for success, young people everywhere will be spouting long trade-journal jingles from the stand; if the management’s taste in art is what will sell–trite, insipid, folksy kitsch–that is what we will get; if management finds maudlin, saccharine commercials appealing, that is what the public will get; if management must reflect the corporate image in tasteless, trendy new buildings, down come the fine old pioneer monuments.

–Hugh Nibley

It is my opinion that one of the largest problems with our current government is that there are too many managers and no leaders. However, why is this? Could it be, that the peoples demand for a perfect faultless government has created an environment where the government MUST over manage to reduce liability? I believe it is. We elect our representatives. We should elect people who show leadership, not perfection. Leaders take calculated risks. Leaders make mistakes occasionally. Most importantly, Leaders know those they are leading. Lets show some mercy to those we have put in office. Let’s not hold them accountable for things like Huricane Katrina, 9/11, etc… They do a fine job. But WE, the people have put them into a position where there is no mercy, where we expect them to fix all our problems, where slowly self reliance is evaporating into dependance upon Uncle Sam. And thus no real leadership allowed. We need to elect the person that says “Hey, we have problems. We can fix some of them, but some of the require a change in the people, not the government to go away.”