What is leadership

What is leadership?
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Leadership is a relationship where a person submits to someone they trust. They do it to receive the support of a mentally strong person.

What is mental strength
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Your happiness and suffering are never completely under your control. This is because you can’t control the factors which bring suffering and happiness. You can’t control the people who make you happy. You can’t control the materials which make you happy. Both people and materials will inevitably bring suffering. This lack of control will make you feel insecure. You cannot remove this insecurity through intellectual knowledge as the underlying uncertainty is an undeniable fact of life. People from all walks of life, experience this insecurity including educated people, scientists and financially successful people. The only way to handle this insecurity is through mental strength. Mental strength is the ability to not be troubled by uncertainty. When you have this ability the uncertainties of life don’t make you insecure. You are confident.

What is the purpose of leadership?
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Most people are not mentally strong. They are insecure. An insecure person constantly seeks ways to feel secure. They will use sensual pleasures to distract themselves from their insecurity. But sensual pleasures only give them temporary relief. The best way for them to remove their insecurity is by accepting a mentally strong person as their leader. When they accept a person as their leader, they trust their leader and submit to that person. By submitting they cedes their autonomy to their leader. By ceding their autonomy to their leader, they feel that they have become a part of their leader. They become parasites and their leader the host. Since the leader is mentally strong, becoming a part of the leader removes their insecurity. Thus, the purpose of leadership is provide security to insecure people. For example, children feel secure under the leadership of their parents. Citizens feel secure under the leadership of a political leader.

What are the characteristics of a leader
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Leaders are mentally strong. All of their attributes are derived from mental strength. They are courageous as they don’t get overwhelmed by fear. They do not buckle under pressure. They go where no man has gone before. They are kind as they have nothing to gain from others. They are fiercely self-reliant and disciplined. They are not overly attached to anything. They don’t even care if they lose their followers. Their nothing-to-lose attitude makes them completely immune to manipulation. Leaders have endless empathy for their followers. But they don’t depend on their followers for their own well being. They don’t expect to receive anything in return for their leadership. Leaders have empathy for the enemy. Their empathy for the enemy allows them to negotiate with the enemy to prevent conflict.

How to become a leader?
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To become a leader you need to be mentally strong. You don’t have to be the most mentally strong person ever, you just have to be mentally stronger than the group you are trying to lead. People will accept you as their leader once they are convinced that you are mentally stronger than them. To convince them you need to display behaviour of a mentally strong person:

Control your emotions
Being able to control emotions is the biggest sign of mental strength. Do not let emotions drive your behaviour. Do not let others control your behaviour by manipulating your emotions. People will try to make you angry or happy or sad in an attempt to influence your behaviour. Do not let them influence your behaviour through these emotions. Show that no one can control your behaviour. Show that you are immune to manipulation.

Be selfless
Have empathy for people. Do not try to gain anything from them. Do not abuse your position to mistreat people. Do not disrespect people to feel good about yourself. Don’t hurt people when they are down to feel good about yourself. Give credit to people when they deserve it. Care for people even if they are not thankful. Care for people even when it hurts. Having genuine empathy for people is the only way to earn their trust. You cannot become a leader without people’s trust.

Pass leadership tests
It is risky for people to submit to a leader. A weak leader can take advantage of followers for his own benefit. Followers realize this problem at a subconscious level. They fear that an unfit person can trick them into following him. To remove this doubt they test the person’s mental strength before accepting him as a leader. They will test the person even after accepting him as a leader. They will test the leader periodically and indefinitely as their doubt never completely goes away. They carry out the tests subconsciously. They will not even be aware that they are testing their leader. The subconscious doubt they have for their leader will make them behave in a way which will test their leader. Even though they are not aware of their tests, they will feel a sense of relief and safety when their leader passes the tests. When their leader passes the tests he is displaying his fitness as a leader. It makes the followers feel safe. If their leader fails the test, the followers will slowly lose respect for him and eventually stop seeing him as their leader. Followers test their leader’s mental strength by trying to manipulate his emotions. If they are successful in it, the leader fails the test, otherwise, he passes. Following examples capture most common leadership tests:

Disrespect
Your followers will disrespect you to test your mental strength. They will insult you, make fun of you or criticize you unnecessarily. You pass these tests by not responding to disrespect. When a follower disrespects you, completely ignore it. You fail these tests by getting angry. By getting angry you are displaying your insecurity of being sensitive to the judgement of others. This insecurity will make your followers lose respect for you.

Disobedience
Your followers will deliberately disobey you to test your mental strength. They will momentarily refuse to follow you. You pass these tests by not responding to their disobedience. When a follower is being disobedient, they are threatening to stop following you. Respond by not reacting. Show that you don’t care if you lose your followers. You fail these tests by getting angry. By getting angry you are displaying your insecurity of losing your followers. This insecurity will make followers lose respect for you.

Coercion
Your followers will try to coerce you to test your mental strength. They will try to force you to behave according to their will. You pass these tests by not giving in to coercion. When followers try to coerce you they are challenging your leadership. Respond by not giving in to their demands. You fail these tests by giving in to demands. By giving in to your followers’ demands you are displaying fear. Your followers might rejoice when you give in to their demands. But they will lose respect for your cowardice. On the other hand, if you don’t give in, they might get agitated. But they will gain respect for you after they calm down.