“Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

“If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader.”
– Dolly Parton

“Choose your leaders
with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward
is to be controlled
by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool
is to be led
by the opportunists
who control the fool.
To be led by a thief
is to offer up
your most precious treasures
to be stolen.
To be led by a liar
is to ask
to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant
is to sell yourself
and those you love
into slavery.”
– Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents

I don’t know if a good leader ever recognizes it in themselves. Only those being led can tell us whether they follow a truly good leader or if those that they follow are simply going the same direction. Good leaders aren’t made for entire lifetimes. Good leaders are made for the muddy crossroads in history. They are born from moments of shared struggle and hope.

A good leader would have to be hesitant in the assumption of their role. Leaders are responsible for the well-being of those that follow them, whether they want that burden or not. Once that position of power is accepted, there is a bargain made between those who would be led and those who would lead. It isn’t a light burden and a good leader would respect the duty that comes with the power of leadership.

The duty of a good leader is to lead shoulder to shoulder through all struggles. It is to take the same, or equal, risks that they are asking their followers to take. They become both the leader and the servant of those who follow them. It is their responsibility to ensure that their followers have what they need to survive, or even thrive, in their roles. That would mean that a good leader needs to maintain daily contact with their followers in order to ascertain their health and stability. A good leader will stand and defend their followers, taking responsibility for their errors.

Finally, being trustworthy is an absolute necessity for a good leader. Anyone who would ask their followers to follow them blindly without compensation or care has broken the bargain of power. If a leader cannot be relied on then that leader has failed in their responsibility to their followers.

“He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.” – Aristotle

“The day the soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you stopped leading them. They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care. Either case is a failure of leadership.”
– Colin Powell

“Rank does not confer privilege or give power. It imposes responsibility.” – Peter Drucker