Leadership Results

Chapter 6The initiation to leadership

The debate about whether leaders are born or made has raged for years. But what if this is a dead-end and misleading question that — like most closed-ended questions — not only limits, but actually hides the truth?

What if effective leaders aren't either born or made, but rather ‘initiated'? What if leadership requires making a major life transition and is a life-long journey?

The first initiation

A young brother and sister are playing together in the field. They both get highly energised and excited as their game escalates. The boy picks up a fallen branch and threatens the girl with it. Observing from a distance, their parents notice this aggressive behaviour and the father races over and grabs the boy, shouting, ‘You must die!' The mother is profoundly shaken and cries, ‘No!', but the father drags the boy into a nearby river where he sticks the boy's head under the water and holds it for a long time. The mother and the girl watch in absolute horror until the mother shouts, ‘Stop it. You're going to kill him!'

‘Yes, that's what I want', responds the father. Finally, he drags the boy out of the water. He's still breathing. The father then shouts, ‘My boy is dead and a man is born!' With that, the father has given his son his first initiation.

What is initiation?

Initiation is an anthropological term used to describe the ceremony some societies use to mark the transition from childhood or adolescence to becoming full members of adult ...