When You Don't Want to be a Leader...

I don't want to be a leader and I'm okay with that. There I said it. 

Image courtesy of sumetho at freedigitalphotos.net

In a society where we encourage young children and high school/college students to develop leadership qualities, I feel as if I'm in the minority when I say, "no thanks."

I won't say that I don't want to be a follower either because I believe that we will all be a follower of something or someone. So what's my preference? To do my own thing. Follow God. Anyone that wants to accompany me, can march by my side.

I came to this decision when I was at an event a couple years ago where a group of seniors at my school were sharing about their experiences regarding the process for applying to PT/OT schools. The one thing that was stressed over and over again was leadership. Be a leader in school clubs, be a leader in your classes. Show that you're ready and willing to take on a leadership role in your career. If you don't show that you possess leadership skills, schools don't bother considering you.

Given how far I was in the program, I hadn't done any of that. I made good grades but more often than not, I relished in being invisible in my program classes. I had zero desire to take on an officer role in any club. I watched and listened to what club officers were expected to do, the amount of work that went into organizing club meetings/events and the stress that was behind it all.

One of the main reasons I have no desire to be in a leadership position is because its physically, emotionally and mentally taxing for me. From my experience (of having a leadership position and failing miserably at it) and observations, being a leader entails WAY more than calling the shots and telling people what to do. It includes: making hard decisions and calls, dealing with conflicts between two people, dealing with conflicts that a person has with you, dealing with constructive and harsh criticism, knowing how to do the jobs of others below you on top of your own duties, making mistakes in front of everyone, being the first to start and the last to finish, knowing what to do when a crisis arrives and etc.

It's been stated numerous times that introverts possess the qualities of what it takes to be good leaders. For some people, that empowers and encourages them to achieve their goals. To them I say, "Go for it and more power to you." However, I believe that a person has to want and be willing to accept a leadership role and not just take it because it's expected of them.

Of course whenever I try to explain this to others, I'm reminded about how God worked with Moses when God called him to lead the Hebrews out of slavery. God equipped Moses with the right tools despite Moses saying "no" over and over again. God was patient with him and promised to never leave him. And that's fantastic. 

But... 

I still strongly believe that not everyone is destined to be a leader. Not everyone is destined to be a Moses leading their people out of slavery and into the Promised Land. Not everyone is meant to be in the forefront of things.

So if you're reading this and you feel the same way, know that you're not alone. It can be tough trying to find your way in a sea of people who are all about striving for leadership roles. Perhaps it's because we haven't found that "thing" makes us want to lead in that field of work. And perhaps God is refining us more so that he can later equip us to do something great like He did with Moses. I don't know but we'll get through it.