To Be a Real Leader, Don’t Be One of These

Whether you’re a Captain in the U.S. Army or leading your own mini-team of developers, you have a choice of what kind of leader you’ll be. If you don’t want to be a leader, get over it, you’re already in that position, so it’s time to suck it up, be an adult, and act the part. Here are some types of leaders not to emulate.

First up, let’s discuss the most infamous type of ‘leader’; the Dictator. It’s by far the easiest. By embracing your baser human instincts to bludgeon the ideas (and people) you don’t like, hoarding resources and information, and using threats and intimidation…you’ll feel respected (and no one will notice your tiny peter). At least, it’ll feel that way. Everyone will fear you for a while, but then they’ll inevitably hate you and conspire against you. If you don’t mind eventually taking a dagger to the back, being reviled in your own time and some bigger bully eventually shoving his own rules down your throat, this is a good way to enjoy some gluttony for some limited time. Probably the most juvenile leader type, but it’s worth acknowledging.

Examples: Joffrey Baratheon, Pol Pot, Frieza, Mao Zeidong, Donald Trump, Shredder, Mumm-Ra, Rodrigo Duterte

Let’s consider the Taskmaster. This is someone you see in lots of organizational structures. They’re led by insecurity (probably due to their ex spreading lies, damned lies, about them). Their phobia of failure causes them to try to control every detail. On a country scale, this leads to a police state, and on a company scale, we call these micromanagers. They’re usually tolerated and can be sort of useful in small doses. Your slaves err…citizens/employees won’t really appreciate your efforts to make their bathroom decisions for them. Your best people will jump ship first, followed by everyone else eventually. The lazy and the moles might stick around though.

Examples: Mojo Jojo, that manager over in accounting, Hillary Clinton, Darth Vader, Hitler, most bureaucrats, the Joker

The last one we’ll cover is the Know-It-All. This person is clueless and has the hubris to hide it and act as if she’s not. They may have been good at or known something at some point in their past (so they say), but they’ve rested outside of practice for too long and now enforce outdated, or blatantly wrong, ideas on their people due to some sense of pride. These people are certainly annoying, but typically not much more than that. Successful people still make a break for it when they can.

Examples: Dr. Evil, Jafar, Red Skull, the Riddler, Boris & Natasha

We’ve got lots of options when we choose to be leaders, but if we want to be good or successful ones, you have to make a clear choice every day of how to conduct yourself. You get what you give.