Does the Leader Have To Dance?

25 May, 2010  leadership

I first saw this video on Jeet Blog. I have since seen it around several other places (here is the original TED talk). The general message is that this guy is a leader, as

  1. he has “the guts” to stand alone and look stupid
  2. he wasn’t a leader until he had at least one follower

And I can’t really disagree with any of it.

I can’t help but wonder, however, what we could learn  if we took the discussion in other direction.

This leader is one type of leader. He is front in center–a classic LAME (Look AT Me, Everyone!) leader. Even those who aren’t dancing, can’t help but watch him. As crazy as he looks, he has a certain charisma, albeit possibly drug induced.

Thanks to the media, this video is not inconsistent with how many think a leader should behave. It may be a caricature of reality, but it rings true.

And it is. Some very effective leaders are LAME leaders. Steve Jobs and Herb Kelleher come to mind here.

But there are other styles that are equally effective. And if you only consider the charismatic to be leaders, then you may never reach your true leadership potential if you didn’t happen to be blessed with the charisma gene.

Who else could be a leader in the video?

  1. The Participative Leader: Maybe the girl in the white skirt and yellow top dreamed up the entire stunt, fully delegating responsibility to the first dancer as to where, when, and how to dance in order to get the most people to join him.
  2. The Servant Leader: Maybe the videographer charged the dancer with the stunt and posted the clip on YouTube in order to help him achieve his dream of appearing on Dancing With The Stars (see Steve Farber’s post for a wonderful example).
  3. The Situational Leader: Maybe the real leader is actually working the crowd, adapting his or her style from participative to autocratic (and everything in between) to the style to which each individual dancer is most receptive, beginning with the very first dancer.

Who else could be a leader in this video?

Edit: Rosa’s new post puts us smack dab on the same page

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  • http://www.fineedgedesigns.co.uk Colin Morrell

    It is impossible to tell if the guy in the video is a leader, what you can tell is that he is a good salesman, he has very effectively sold, for free, his dance to a hundred or so people. Who then takes control of the crown will be the leader and that could be any of them

  • http://cashwithatrueconscience.com/rbblog Ryan

    Hi John,

    After seeing him dance, I have a feeling that he’s the leader ;)

    It takes guts to act from your heart. Most potential leaders won’t take the leap between thinking from their heart and acting from their heart; the possible consequences are too painful.

    Thanks for sharing your insight :)

    Ryan

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