The Pitfalls of Success

Everybody wants to succeed, to be a success. Yet strangely enough, success can be one of the hardest things of all to deal with – especially for leaders.

Leadership emerges in a group when the group faces a problem, and the worse the problem is, the more group members are willing to give leaders power. On the other hand, if a group is doing just fine, not facing any particular problems, it doesn’t need much leadership. So those who hanker after the power, prestige, and visibility that comes with leadership should recognize that leadership can also be a booby trap.

If a leader is called upon to solve a group’s problem and actually does solve it, then there is no more need for a leader regarding that particular problem. This is one reason why totalitarian or autocratic leaders spend so much time manufacturing crises and telling their followers that terrible problems will ensue if someone else is made their leader. Hitler was a genius at it. This is also the reason why groups are often better off without leaders if they can solve their problems for themselves.

There is really only one way a leader can remain a leader and still compile a consistent record of success and effectiveness, and that is by rolling with fate. Persistence is a good trait in a leader, but stubbornness is not. Winston Churchill may be the 20th Century’s best example of a leader who served brilliantly under one set of circumstances – namely, war – but failed to keep his credibility after his side won the war.

Business leaders and entrepreneurs who succeed time after time do so mostly because they have a knack for responding to or anticipating the fickle demands of the marketplace, not because they have any power to dictate the decisions of consumers. Once a group’s problem is solved, members almost automatically seek new problems and challenges. If leaders don’t want to get run over by their followers, they have to seek new problems and challenges too.