The perils and burdens of being a leader are never ending.  From Captain of a football team to leading a song or being the lead singer of a group, from leading in the polls to leading from the pulpit; leadership is tiring, overwhelming, frustrating, unrewarding and majorly overrated as well as unfulfilling.  Society’s view of leadership is far more attractive of leadership roles.  Society sees the bling, the pop, the paparazzi, the freebes, the limelight and more.  The lack of privacy, the constant need to be on point, the monitoring of what to say, when to say it and how are never the first thoughts one has about and in reference to leadership.  Because society’s view of leadership is so one-sided at times their expectation of leaders too can be equally one-sided.  When one feels that a person has the best he or she also expects the best from him or her.  Again the pressures are never viewed or considered only the opportunities or benefits of being a leader are taken in consideration.  Ironically, every person be it leader or follower begins in the same position, the same place.

Since everyone begins in the same place or position it would stand to reason that once a person obtains a role of leadership there isn’t an automatic session or change in a person’s behavior because a position never makes a person.   However the opposite seems to become true.  When a person is raised to a leadership position instantly the expectations of their behavior is expected to rise and to a degree that makes perfect sense.  When your influence increases your attitude should as well.  Your influence allows one to affect the way others think about concepts, ideas and thoughts.  Too often we know this to NOT be the case.  People rise to positions, influence increases and too often people are lost, hurt and disappointed.

Wouldn’t it be great if every leader had a boot camp designed for his or her particular group of leaders?  A group of people to guide the newly emerging group of leaders into the dos and don’ts, a group that can help limit the casualties that occur through the training period of leaders.  Few are the mentors and less the people with wisdom to become and train those rising leaders.  That leaves the people to sometimes suffer, sometimes they get it right and other times they falter between the two.  Either way leaders will draw criticism.

Leaders are just people.  People called to purpose.  People with a mission smart, intelligent, skilled, talented, and even anointed enough to lead but human enough to not be worshipped.  Leaders are people moved from the streets to the seats of leadership.  They are flawed but that doesn’t mean they were not called.

LEADERSHIP CHRONICLES