When reading stories about the great leaders of old, we marvel at their cunning, their decisiveness in the face of turmoil and their glorious manifestations of justice and righteousness.
It is easy – after one reads about such instances – to resolve to cultivate leadership in one’s own character or those of his children. But leadership is not a virtue in of its own right.
Leadership is the collective manifestation of numerous, smaller virtues which harmoniously combine into the apex trait so many seek to possess.
Those who seek to ‘become a leader’ in this misinformed way see only the secondary, outward manifestations of righteous, effective leadership as the thing itself. They try to infer the ingredients of a cake by analysing its outer appearance instead of consulting the recipe.
To become an effective leader, you must first stop trying to be one.
Instead, try to nurture the qualities and traits that comprise of great leadership. Patience, consultation, humility, decisiveness, wisdom, foresight, a strong sense of justice, compassion and strength to name a few.
When these traits are cultivated in a man, they combine to form something that is greater than the sum of its parts. When the situation calls for it and such a man is present, a leader will be born.
Instead of aiming directly for the end result, cultivate the means.