Leading By Example Isn’t Leadership

“Do as I do” is not a leadership style, it’s a cop out

A dear friend whose mind I respect deeply recently made an observation that joined Granny’s quote from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld — “The only evil is when you treat people like things” — with Grace Hopper’s legendary quip that “you manage things, but you lead people.”

In the course of the very interesting discussion that followed, the concept of “leading by example” aka the “do as I do leadership style” came up. And it got me thinking, which always seems to end with me writing a blog.

It’s important to preface this whole discussion by being specific about what I mean by a leader. Because there are in fact, a couple ways to look at what it means to “lead” something. What I am NOT talking about is leading in the context of comparison and competition. The term “leader” in this context refers to someone who is “in the lead” amongst a group who may or may not be competing against each other, but are definitely being compared to each other. I am not discussing what it takes to be a leader in comparison to others. I am talking about the type of leadership that involves being in charge, usually of a team (per Grace Hopper’s charge regarding the difference between management and leadership.)