{"id":44,"date":"2013-09-12T06:07:30","date_gmt":"2013-09-12T06:07:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/page-clan.com\/hectic-dad\/?p=44"},"modified":"2015-06-12T16:21:55","modified_gmt":"2015-06-12T21:21:55","slug":"im-in-front-so-i-must-be-leading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hectic-dad.com\/hectic-dad\/im-in-front-so-i-must-be-leading\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m in front, so I must be leading"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Herd\"<\/a>We live in Kansas. I was going to say, rural Kansas…but since the vast majority of Kansas is rural that feels like an oxymoron. Yes, we have cities and urban areas, but they are really, really few and far between. For the most part, we\u2019re the rural America that you see in Chevy and Budweiser commercials.<\/p>\n

We live on the outskirts of a small city (Hutchinson, population 42,142), but no one would confuse us as urban dwellers. To take the kids to school we pass wheat fields, corn fields, and grazing pasture. On that grazing pasture, less than a mile from our house, we see a lot of cattle.<\/p>\n

Most of the time, the cattle are standing in place, eating grass or chewing cud. Usually, they are pretty stationary. But every once in awhile, they get to moving as a herd. If you don\u2019t know much about cattle moving as a herd, it\u2019s pretty much the same thing as sports fans leaving a stadium. There is no leader, there are no followers, just a bunch of cattle or people moving along in generally the same direction.<\/p>\n

Yet last week we saw something that was new to me. The cattle were moving in a single file through the field. The poor cow in front looked horribly confused. She kept turning her head back and looking at the other cows, then frantically looking from side to side. She would slow down…and so would the other cattle. She would speed up, and the rest did too.<\/p>\n

So that got me thinking. This poor cow had apparently just decided to go on a walk, and all of a sudden she had followers. Other cows who apparently thought she knew where she was going. Cows that thought their journey had a purpose. A plan. A destination. It was obvious Miss Daisy wasn\u2019t ready for the responsibility that all this leadership created. She was minding her own business and all of a sudden she was leading the herd. I could almost read her thoughts, \u201cI don\u2019t know where I\u2019m going, but I\u2019m out in front so I must be leading\u201d.<\/p>\n

How many times have you been caught in a similar situation? You\u2019re not really trying to lead, you just make a comment or suggestion and suddenly you\u2019re the anointed leader. Suddenly people are looking to you for direction and focus. And you were just offering an opinion. Honestly, it\u2019s why I find myself being very careful about what I say in meetings.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that I disdain taking the lead on projects. It\u2019s not that I don\u2019t want to help out. No, most of the time, it\u2019s because I have no idea where we\u2019re trying to go as a group (herd?) and I don\u2019t feel qualified to be out in front. Then if I do say something and get pushed to the front of the line I keep wondering where we\u2019re supposed to be going.<\/p>\n

So a frantically confused cow in a field in Kansas has helped me to have compassion to those who are forced into leadership roles where they know they\u2019re not prepared. The next time I\u2019m confronted with such a leader, I\u2019m going to do what I can to help out.<\/p>\n

How about you? Any leaders that you know who are only the \u201cleader\u201d because they\u2019re in front of everybody?<\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We live in Kansas. I was going to say, rural Kansas…but since the vast majority of Kansas is rural that feels like an oxymoron. Yes, we have cities and urban areas, but they are really, really few and far between. 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