What does true leadership look like? Where do people learn to lead? What makes one person a good leader and another someone you don't want to follow? Does it depend on the leader or your attitude about following another that matters most? Does rank, income, or status determine who can lead and who must follow? Does the amount of education, degrees, titles, or licenses determine if you will be a good leader? Does your ability to influence others determine your leadership skill? What is the measuring tool used to determine leadership? If you determine yourself to be a leader, does the number of followers, friends, or likes confirm you are a leader? Does the way you communicate, the number of books you write, speeches you make, or podcasts you post mean you are a leader? Can you lead even if no one is following? Do you chose to be a leader or is it a position placed on you by others?
These are questions I find myself asking at 3:00 am when I'm trying to write something compelling in my blog. As a philosophical thinker, I ponder these thoughts and many others like them. We live in a world where everything is being questioned, redefined, and reconstructed. Definitions no longer stand the test of time as all traditional ways of thinking, living, and even our own identities are being challenged. To know oneself is no longer a personal endeavor, but one where everyone gets to have an opinion. Some will vocalize their perspective and project that opinion onto you as if it were true, even if it is not true for you. Individuality is promoted in the name of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), which requires everyone acknowledges everyone's individually. By definition, DEI demands I must see you in your uniqueness, acknowledge your value, and include you into my space. Do you also see me in my uniqueness, acknowledge my value, and include me into your space? Is DEI a two-way street based on equal and impartial acceptance of two or more perspectives, even if they are not in agreement?
Ancient philosopher and teacher of metaphysics, Aristotle said, "The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts." In other words, as a family, a community, nation, a society, when we work together toward a common goal, through teamwork and cohesion, we more easily can accomplish those shared goals. When we look at Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, what are the shared goals? It appears that the goal is individuality and the acceptance of you being individually you. If the goal is acceptance of everyone's individuality, once we reach that goal as a society, what follows? What is the final outcome when the parts are greater than the whole? Who leads when we all are determined to be leaders? Does this mean there will be no followers anymore as each individual follows their own decisions, dreams, and impulses? By default, do we become less unique because everyone will be uniquely individual? Will there be equity when there is nothing that determines what equity is because no one is invested in anyone else? Will inclusion end as everyone moves more toward isolation because they exclude everyone else while being focused only on their own individuality?
Again, these are questions I ponder because I do not have the answers. I believe we all should be the best we can be and that makes us unique, which is our individuality. I don't have to seek my uniqueness because I know who I am. I am fearfully, wonderfully, and individually made and my soul knows it very well.
13 For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well."
Psalm 139:13-14
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