Every person a leader.
Yes, every person must be a leader. I firmly believe this must be true. It is a question of accountability, trust, efficiency, passion, achieving the objective, and even life. Yes, all these things are tied together under leadership. Now, some of you think I’m wrong. Some people must be followers. Let me dispel you of this and clarify how every person is a leader and we must all learn to be better leaders.
Followers must decide to be led. It is a matter of choice. This is powerful and goes straight to the heart of my supposition. If you choose to allow someone to be your leader then you are exercising personal leadership over yourself. This is no trite thing. It is real. It is serious. Even in the most dire of circumstances, we have the power to choose. Know this to be true.
And choice, the power it represents, and how it is wielded is core to the premise of a critical thinking leader.
With choice we decide whether or not we will be a leader of others. With choice we decide whether or not we will be led. If we do actively choose then by embracing the power of critical thinking we harness this ability to choose and learn to use it more effectively.
What we choose, when we choose, how we choose, where we choose, who we choose, and why we choose are critically important facets in exercising the critical thinking mind in order to make more informed, better choices. The critical thinking leader understands this implicitly, is always aware of it, and uses it effectively.
What does the critical thinking leader look like?
First let us remember that the hallmark of a critical thinker is the sincere ability to consider and internalize the perspectives of others, most especially when that perspective is diametrically or even violently opposed to their own.
The hallmark is the testament of a powerful mind, someone that may be passionate but has the ability to channel passion and regulate rampant emotion, to leverage feelings and drive them as opposed to being driven by them. In order to be a critical thinking leader a person must stand ready to feel outrageous anger in the face of desperate failure, but manage that anger. They must know how to effectively manage failure, and grow from it. Do they choose to fail up or fail flat, or even worse fail to a fall, and eventual surrender.
And there’s that word again, choice, exercising the power to choose, the power of choice.
If you would be on a high performance team, exercising innovation and choose to lead others or/and be led in turn, given the context of the situation, then if you would be the best you could be you must commit to being a critical thinking leader either of others, or yourself. You must be able to question without rancor or intimidation. You must not use your power of choice as a weapon, or tool to do damage, but rather as an enabler, empowering you to better collaborate, integrate, discern, resolve, and of course most importantly choose. You must be a person that can choose to build, to create, to innovate, motivate, inspire, a person that uses the incredible power of a critical thinking mind in order to elevate and leverage the opportunities that will arise as a result of being able to choose effectively.
Consider this critically.
The Aspiring Critical Thinker/Writer/Innovator,
D.S. Brown