To Be Led (On)?

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I often wonder why and how people vote, not just here but all over the world, at least in the parts where we are allowed to vote freely, where our voices are heard. What a difference we can make when we vote, but so often we cast our ballot without thinking.

We vote for leaders by party affiliation, gender, race, and color, and even their religious beliefs and sexual orientation seem to play a role, which is so beautifully old-fashioned, so downright foolish, yet it seems we cannot be helped.

How lucky we are to live in countries where we can choose the ones we wish to lead us, but sadly that’s when we fail the most. Perhaps that’s why the ones who believe they are better than the average person, the ones who consider their bloodline to be royal, (the ones who are born with titles to their names and a silver spoon up their bum) maybe that’s why they already make up the line of succession for many years and centuries ahead. Imagine being born to be queen, being raised to lead a kingdom without any other qualification other than your family name. It’s almost unimaginable, yet it’s practiced and the people will cheer and cherish their kings and queens the same way they cheered for the ones before them. To be entitled, it’s mind-blowingly genius. Maybe party loyalty is a bit like it?

The wishes we hold, the needs we all have. How do we choose our leaders wisely?

I have thought about it long and hard many, many years ago, when, then in my early thirties, I was offered a leadership position, at a time when it wasn’t so common to put a woman in charge over a group of coworkers who all happened to be men.

Of course, I was flattered and my inner calculator showed flashing numbers in my head, because every promotion comes with more money, just as it comes with more responsibility.

I asked for a few days to think about it, and they gave me 24 hours.

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I didn’t like all my coworkers, that’s why I took the time to think and it was one of the wisest things I ever did because up to this point in my life, I didn’t know what I really expected from a leader – neither did I know if I could be one.

Of course, the most naïve answer came to my mind first. “A leader takes care of his people”, yes that’s what you write in children’s books and novels but when it comes to business and STUFF has to be done, then the weakest link of the group is rather a ballast that should be thrown off, and making such decisions is also part of a capable leader. But that’s only in business. When leading a country, a leader has to think about the weakest of the weak and care about them equally. Easier said than done?

For me, leadership means first and foremost responsibility for those led. Your people rely on you. What most people don’t understand and ignore about unsuitable leaders is that a good leader in his function serves his people – they don’t serve the leader.

A good leader should have enough empathy and be able to understand the points of view of others. Accept ideas and apply them if possible.

Politicians, especially potential chancellors and presidents, are constantly evaluated. In the political business, interests always play a role. One group wants person X as chancellor, and the other group wants person Y. Politicians often believe that to support their own candidate is not to speak positively about him – but negatively about the other candidate. And guess what? We fall for it, we are used to it now, we seem to enjoy it. It’s like gossip, it seems to make us happy. The worse the gossip, the better it is.

Of course, it would be better if we talked more about the strengths of each candidate and then weighed them against each other. But politicians don’t always do that. In addition, it is not easy to say what the optimal strengths of a leader would be, and what a leader actually must be able to do.

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What most people can probably agree on are the following qualities:

Assertiveness, the ability to listen, the ability to find political supporters for one’s own projects, credibility, to have a balancing effect. What there is no longer any agreement on, however, is the question of how prominent these qualities should be. For example, is it more important to be a strong leader than to listen well? And of course here in the US, the neverending question arises over and over, as to whether women interpret these characteristics differently than men in their work.

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In addition, the importance of the different characteristics shifts over time. In most countries, hardly any politically completely inexperienced person is likely to suddenly become a leader. Anyone who wants to become a country leader usually has worked in politics and public service for a long time. Typically, the candidates began their political careers in the city council or in the state parliament and then continued to rise. They had to work within their party for a long time and organize majorities for their own advancement until they stood on the market squares in the country and campaigned for themselves before a federal election. Just like in a good family business. You don’t just take over as a boss, you climb up the ladder and become one -or so the story goes.

In my now long life, I have seen very different leaders, chancellors, queens, kings, and presidents in various countries. They all had different strengths and different weaknesses.

One thing always stood out to me, every time a president or leader is quietly governing, the desire for a more passionate and louder leader is growing among many and that’s who they then will vote for. “Something different” just to do the same four years later, when they will hope for a quiet leader – again.

Tomorrow here in the US a new President will be sworn in. I didn’t vote for him, but he will be my President if he wants to be. I will listen to his first speech. If he aims for unity, he will be my leader, if I will feel hate and diversity, I will tune out for sanity reasons.

Now at my age, I demand kindness, I require equality, and I insist that the poorest be fed, and the rich to share. I need the freedom to grow and the liberty to do so. I want the gods to get along. I wish for peace within us. I want my unicorn to live happily ever after and beyond.

I have accepted that I am a dreamer, an idealist, an opinionated bitch*.

I vote for a leader not because of my political affiliation, but because of the life I have lived. I cast my vote for what I have seen and the future I wish us all to have.

Gosh, I am complicated in all simplicity.

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Daily writing prompt

What makes a good leader?

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* Yes, you read right, because sometimes the word BITCH is actually a compliment when it stands for DON’T MESS WITH ME (and of course, it’s only used by me – for myself. I would never call another woman the B-word or allow anybody else to call me that. Sometimes there is no logic~!)