Even in conversation with other leftists I hear people talk about how so and so doesn’t have good leadership skills or want someone to be a better leader. It’s getting to me in a way I probably shouldn’t allow it to, but I feel like that mentality is antithetical to the goal of communism and will only delay its arrival. How do we change that rhetoric?

I’m hoping this is the right comm for this sort of post, please direct me if a more suitable place exists.

Edit: I’m not specifically talking about politics. I’m also talking about leadership talk in the workplace.

  • KittyJynx@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    8·
    4 days ago

    There is a lot of confusion/obfuscation about terms. A leader is someone who is good at bringing people together and motivating them to accomplish a task through interpersonal skills. Leadership describes those skills. Government officials are not necessarily leaders, they are above us in the involuntary hierarchy we were born into that we are compelled by force to keep living in. Some of those officials may display leadership traits from time to time but leadership does not involve coercion by definition.

    Leadership involves mutual respect, sacrifice, and a lot of interpersonal skills like conflict resolution. A leader may be doing different type of work but they should be doing at least as much work as the people who choose to work under/follow them. If someone is just watching people work without contributing they are at best a supervisor, usually an active impediment, not a leader.

    All groups and projects do not need assigned leaders of course. Direct democracy or group consensus is usually the best way but some things require big picture organization or split second decision making making a voluntary hierarchy necessary. Constructing a building needs at minimum someone who can help organize the work. A community militia in combat needs a chain of command or they will get slaughtered.

    I’m having trouble organizing my thoughts but I hope you find this opinion useful.

    Edit: Sorry for the edit but I just wanted to add that Dungeon Masters and Game Masters could be a good example of facilitators and leaders. A group trusts them to act fairly while making a fun time for the group. If they turn into a power hungry asshole who fakes rolls to “win” the group will usually ask them to return to being a player or ask them to find another group if it is bad enough.