So I DVR’d the show Kid Nation, where 40 kids are asked to run a town by themselves and it was surprisingly interesting. These kids have to do everything from cook, clean, chores, run stores, and even hunt jack rabbits all without the help of adults. I never thought it would be a show worth my time but so far I’m kind of intrigued.

The show got this big group of kids and then brought in 4 of their peers to be their “leaders”. The oldest leader being 14 and the youngest being 10 which adds a really interesting dynamic to the show. How many 10 year olds do you know that are capable of leading 40 other kids their age? Not many.

I’m really interested to see where the show goes and how some of these kids react to certain situations. I think we can all see a bit of ourselves in these kids. One of the leaders, Mike, was talking about how he’s such a great leader when it turns out he was just telling people what to do, one of the bigger kids sort of called him out on it and he got ticked. It’s your classic middle manager with an inferiority complex and the whole ‘my way is right b/c I’m in charge’ mentality but you can’t expect a kid to know that. I’m sure all of our parents saw the same sort of idiotic tendencies that even I”m able to see in some of these kids.

It reminded me of an article I read this morning about leadership which states that leadership is about influence and not control. It’s a very true statement that is often confused by inexperienced leaders but also portrayed in accidental leaders. The article goes on and states

I often hear leaders, particularly younger ones, complaining about their lack of control in various situations. “If only the sales department reported to me, I could consistently hit my budget,” they lament. Or, “If the production department reported to me, I would not have run out of inventory!”

What they are really saying is, “If I could control these people, I could guarantee the results.” The truth is that control is an illusion. You can’t control anyone, even the people that report to you.

However, while you can’t control anyone (except perhaps yourself), you can influence nearly everyone. This is the essence of true leadership. By this definition, Jesus, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King were great leaders. They had control of virtually no one, yet their influence changed the course of history.

Aspiring leaders would do well to stop focusing on control and figure out how to expand their influence.

It’s a really good concept and anyone looking to understand the nature of leadership (which we all should) needs to understand this concept of influence rather than control. It goes a long perfectly and even defines the saying “attitude reflects leadership.” Just thinking about someone you know who is a leader, I would bet a large percentage of them are positive thinkers and hold strong convictions with what they believe. That’s infectious, that’s a good leader.

The author nails his examples of great leaders, but even the characteristics of bad people who happen to be great leaders fall in line with some of the greatest people in history. Hitler, David Corresh, and Napoleon all share similar leadership characteristics of Jesus, MLK and Ghandi albeit with entirely different motives.

I think anyone can be a leader if they want to be, it just takes a simple understanding of leadership and human behavior.

*this post has nothing to do with Scoogles, but I figured you’d read it looking for a connection