1

The Struggle of Being a Leader

By: Spencer Heath

Leaders are always pictured as the most stable, most confident and most well rounded

people, which majority of the time is not the case. Even though some people believe that being

a leader is as simple as getting people to follow you, there is much more to being a leader with

all the restraints, requirements, and limitations that are put on leaders. These negative limiting

factors that are put on a leaders have a long term effect on the individuals through their mind

sets, their actions and their capability to blend into “everyday” environments. This is the job you

inadvertently sign up for when running for any leadership position, specifically mister freshman.

When our society measures leadership we tend to look for what the leaders have done to help

others but not the toll put on the leaders themselves. The requirements and restraints that

society puts on these leaders can deter them from reaching their full potential as an

individual and as normal members of society.

The phrase “good leaders are born, not made” is a prime representation of the stress

that is placed on meer individuals with ability to persuade and guide. As mister freshman you

are often forced to embody the leadership capabilities that you have without looking at the

detriment to your own personal mental status. The position comes along with a set of

requirements and restraints that help form the vivid image of a nearly perfect individual that our

society pushes people to try to become. The resulting outcome of our society doing this is

leaders with mental illnesses that include depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, and persecutory

delusions ("11 Historical Geniuses and Their Possible Mental Disorders." Mental Floss. N.p.,
 2

n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013). These mental illnesses are psychological issues that limit individuals

from participating, being active and being accepted in the same society that caused these

issues due to their extreme expectations of what a leader is. The requirements and restraints

that society puts on leaders can deter them from reaching their full potential as an individuals

and as normal members of society.

Along with all the psychological damage that goes along with being a leader there is also

behavioral changes that are conditioned into your daily routine and lifestyle. One prime behavior

change that leaders are subjected to is the inability to adapt and differentiate from being a

leader and being a follower when needed to ("10 Early Signs That Someone Will Make a Great

Leader." TechRepublic. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013). Like renowned author August Turak said

“Remember, everybody got a boss. The vice president reports to the president and the

president reports to the CEO. The CEO reports to the chairman of the board and the chairman

reports to his wife. All God’s children got a boss. If you want to be a great leader you must also

be a great follower (Turak, August. "The 11 Leadership Secrets You've Never Heard About."

Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 17 July 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2013).” We pride ourselves on simply

being aware that their is a hierarchy in each and every leadership position instead of preparing

our future leaders, or our mister freshman on this lesson so they can be prepared to deal with

this adjustment. Again showing how society focuses more on the capability of the individual and

not the preparation of the leader to make sure that they are successfully growing as a person.

This impact results in an abnormal differentiation in the leader's course of action when

approaching leadership assignments. Showing not only are we breaking leaders down mentally

we are also changing the normal day to day behaviors.

 3

By definition we characterize a leader as a person that influences others to accomplish

an objective and directs a group in a way that makes it more cohesive and coherent (Concepts

of Leadership." Concepts of Leadership. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.) If as a nation we define

leadership as such an easily understood guideline why is the process of becoming a leader

such an extenuated process with numerous restraints? We tend to not give credit to leaders that

by definition fit the title of what a leader should be but don't necessarily fit the model of what we

have been taught good leaders act like. An example is Adolf Hitler, Commander-in-Chief of the

German Army, Navy & Airforce and Chancellor of the Third Reich ( "Adolf Hitler: Man of the

Year, 1938." TIME.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013). Although he has committed some of the

worlds most terrible acts he was still a leader that people depended on in a time of need. This a

prime example of society trying to force people to be the ideal person, which is basically what

we want people to become in order to be characterized as a perfect leader .

A long with being a leader comes three key areas that help tone the shape of what

someone should be ("Ten Principles of Leadership." Ten Principles of Leadership. N.p., n.d.

Web. 15 Nov. 2013). These three areas are confidence,motivation and direction. Without having

all three of these qualities you get results of individuals like adolf hitler, osama bin laden,

saddam hussein,joseph stalin and vlad dracula ("The 25 Most Evil People in History." The 25

Most Evil People in History. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013). Although confidence is one of the

big 3 principles of leadership most leaders tend to suffer from this one the most. These

individuals may be confident about their cause and what they are fighting for, but they still may

suffer from personal confidence issues like their appearance, their personalities and their

leadership style which all derives from the pressure that we put on them to become a leader.

Even though most leaders suffer from confidence and self esteem issues majority of

leaders do tend to have the motivation factor. The reason for this is because without this factor
 4

they most likely wouldn't be characterized as a leader. The most controversial factor that helps

tone a leader's mind set is direction. This is the most controversial because this is what helps

decide what type of leader you are. With a good direction you can be a sufficient leader that has

positive outcomes for both yourself and the body you govern, but with a bad direction you can

become a tyrant and a leader that is feared by its own people. A little factor that makes a big

difference.

If as a leader you do not keep your motivation, your self confidence and a good sense of

direction you may start to dwindle in your leadership capability. The reason for this is because

you begin to lose the mentality of a leader which then leads to you not being driven to be a

leader at all. Some people may argue that once you are a leader you never lose your potential

but that is wrong. Statistics show that over 71% of leaders undergo a loss of motivation to be a

leader ("People Who Don't Like Groups: How to Change Their Minds." ChurchLeaders.com.

Church Leaders, n.d. Web. 10 Dec.

 5

As Steve Hernandez, a leadership and development coach, said “Every company I’ve

worked for has had many examples of leaders getting promoted to the next level, who

unfortunately end up having the inability to raise their leadership capacity.” ("Steve Hernandez

Online." Steve Hernandez Online. Steve Hernandez, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.).

This observation made me stop and think about the reasons why some leaders

successfully take the next step in their leadership while others do not. Is there a secret formula

to continuous success as a leader? What are the successful doing that those who flop when

taken to new heights are not willing to do? My theory is not that the are doing something

different but instead that they are sticking to their original principles that helped get them that

far. Society helps to mold these individuals to keep the principles that they establish or they

choose to let the leaders fall off and lose all of their potential to be successful. Once again

setting a standard that pressures the individual instead of supporting them.

With all these standards there is a lot of pressure that comes along with the title of a

leader. Society plays the biggest role in creating this pressure by both shaping the leader and

and destroying the life that leaders are forced into. As you can see there needs to be a change

because these requirements and restraints that are put on these leaders are deterring them

from reaching their full potential along with making them abnormal members of society. We are

converting them into using their leadership for bad and are pressuring them into abandoning

their leadership skills. This is not only hurting the leaders but influencing our society negatively.

So lets make a change, set new standards and encourage our leaders for greatness.
 6

Work Cited:

● ("11 Historical Geniuses and Their Possible Mental Disorders." Mental Floss. History,

n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013)

● ("10 Early Signs That Someone Will Make a Great Leader." TechRepublic.

N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.)

● (Turak, August. "The 11 Leadership Secrets You've Never Heard About." Forbes.

Forbes Magazine, 17 July 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.)

● ("Concepts of Leadership." Concepts of Leadership. Leaders of Tomorrow, n.d. Web. 14

Nov. 2013.)

● ( "Adolf Hitler: Man of the Year, 1938." TIME.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013)

● ("Ten Principles of Leadership." Ten Principles of Leadership. N.p., n.d. Web. 15

Nov.2013)

● ("The 25 Most Evil People in History." The 25 Most Evil People in History. History, n.d.

Web. 15 Nov. 2013)

● ("People Who Don't Like Groups: How to Change Their Minds." ChurchLeaders.com.

Church Leaders, n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2013.)

● ("Steve Hernandez Online." Steve Hernandez Online. Steve Hernandez, n.d. Web. 10

Dec. 2013.)

● (http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createagraph/index.asp?ID=19207da450784a8aa9aa59e22

8971170)
7