Leadership

Things just happen, that is why most of the time, I like to work alone. If ever I need to work on a project with a team, I'd like a clear separation of labor so that things neatly fall into place, probably with a few mishaps here and there. Things just happen, and I let it be making it just happen.

I dislike this lack of action in my part. Pretty disappointing.

For the very first time, we were given an exercise to be performed within a group. At first, I was pretty much excited because I was grouped with people I deemed to be diligent and very much dependable, making me feel blanketed with security. All was going well, until the task was divided: each was to try to do the whole exercise, but with a specific area to focus on. Nothing was wrong with the approach, what kept bugging me was the fact that one member of the group wasn't given any specific problem to deal with. I had to admit, with all due respect, that amongst us four, that person had the least capacity to accomplish the task, however still had the capacity to do so. As I coded several classes required for the project, I was thinking about that friend of mine. It was like she was not trusted at all. Unable to contain myself, I approached my friend and asked her to concentrate on an area of the project. However, much to my dismay, the person who stood as our leader ended up assigning the task to the other person in our group.

More likely, I am just over complicating and over thinking things, since I usually have the tendency to do so. I did not know if my friend liked the fact that she was not given any specific task, meaning there was no given pressure on her part. I never knew if she thought that she was a misfit in the group, or if she did not give a damn about the situation at all.

For me, leaders should watch over the people following them. Leaders are not simply flag bearers who represent and direct orders to people. The measure of leadership, in my opinion, is in how well other people grow under one's guidance, and how great those under his leadership desire to share the knowledge they have gained.