Lead Like a Hobbit (The Prelude)
This is a portion of the introductory chapter to a book I'm working on. It's about leading like a Hobbit.
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This book is for a tiny subset of leaders.
Type-A, lion-like leaders don’t need a book like this. These are the personalities. Leadership comes intuitively for them. They win leadership positions by default. Effortlessly they raise the flag and swing their sword, with the full team following them into battle with cheers and gladness. With inspiring speeches they land on the big stages — the Steve Jobs and Michael Hyatts and Tony Robbins of the world.
This book is not about how to be like them. Because the vast majority of us will never be. Most of us will not invent a revolutionary new operating system, gain the world-class marketing chops, or have the larger-than-life personalties of these people. There are thousands of books and articles about leadership. They will tell you all about their habits and their morning routines.
What does Elon Musk or Seth Godin do as soon as they wake up in the morning?
If you are as big a jerk as Steve Jobs was, you too can be an influential leader.
Which fountain pen does Neil Gaiman use again?
That’s not how leadership and creativity work, and it’s not at all what this book is about.
Leaders Don’t Need Titles
This book is about an adventure of influence that’s much more prevalent. It’s leadership that doesn’t look like our presuppositions. It’s leadership for nerds like me who don’t consistently identify themselves as leaders, but find themselves in a place where leadership is inescapable. And real. I’m bumbling out my front door because someone has asked me to join them on a quest to slay a dragon. Pocket-handkerchiefs, not withstanding.
Okay, to “get” this book you might need to be a bit of a literary geek. Sorry. Like I said, this book is for a tiny subset of readers.
I was an awkward, lanky 12-year-old the first time I read “The Hobbit.” I read “The Lord of the Rings” a year later. It was 1980. My family had moved from Illinois to Georgia. I was not only starting a new school, but was also starting Junior High, 6 feet tall, 120 pounds soaking wet, pimply faced, with wildly curly hair and very large eye-glasses. Imagine Napoleon Dynamite and that was me in the 8th grade. Survival was more on my mind than leadership. Survival along with aspirations to be the next Neal Schon. Weirdly enough, they elected me for the student council in 8th grade. My nomination was a prank (turns out). But I gave a superb speech. I remember Stacey Jordan, the most beautiful girl in the 8th grade, granting a standing ovation. They elected me. And I couldn’t have been a happier kid. I was on my up the Jr High corporate ladder.
But leadership isn’t a title or a position, as I soon found out. Jr. High has a way of showing us that the hard way.
Positions and titles are not for everybody. They can’t be. There’re not enough to go around. Not everyone needs, wants, or is particularly suited for that kind of responsibility.
Leaders Are Not “Influencers”
Most people don’t think about themselves as leaders. (There’s a part of me that would like to keep it that way. Ego is a tough dragon to slay.) But a lot potential leaders assume they are not leaders because they they have less than 100 Instagram followers. What kind of influence is that?
Leadership is not the same as being an “influencer”. As I write this, the phenomenon of social media influencers has taken off and tumbled down. Most people realize that just because someone can get a few eyes on a brand doesn’t mean that one has the ability to change habits or to influence culture. “Influencer” is not a synonym for “Leader.” Hobbit leaders are not influencers.
People with some of the most significant, culture-changing influence never for a moment think of themselves as leaders. They don’t have a title. Their Twitter following is non-existent. Their stories are unsung. No one is lining up to write books about them.
But they are the leaders.
The Leadership Gene?
Leadership is not a natural talent.
In fact, talent is over-rated.
There’s an old Hebrew proverb that speaks to this.
“The sluggard does not plough in autumn; he will seek at harvest and have nothing. ”
— Proverbs 20:4
Talent is an old-growth forest. There’s not much of that left.
Skill results from the hard work of ploughing.
Leadership is a skill in the same way cooking, calligraphy, or bicycle riding is a skill.
Or playing the guitar.
When I was 13 years old, I dreamed of being a rock star. I would imagine myself playing amazing music in front of thousands - while listening to the stadium bands of the early 80s (Fleetwood Mac and Journey, being a couple of favorites). I had a classical guitar, and would “fake play” along with the “Wheel in the Sky” and imagine playing lightening riffs and bending notes to make the world go “ah”.
But 13-year-old me was a sluggard. I wanted the harvest of everything that comes with being the next Neal Schon or Lindsey Buckingham (I wasn’t a fan of Eddie Van Halen, who was quite popular at the time - much to the chagrin of many classmates). I wasn’t all that interested in ploughing, though. Ploughing meant learning scales and bar chords and timing - and playing badly for a very long time.
It’s common in our results-oriented age. We want fruit without the hard work. We want a harvest, but ploughing a field in the fall seems almost counter-intuitive. How’s that going to help?
Besides, ploughing is hard work.
It’s unglamorous.
Nobody sees you ploughing.
Nobody cares.
But it’s essential.
This book is about setting aside a little time to plough.
To lead well, you have to do some of the hard work of ploughing.
You can plough. Or you can dream. One is labor. The other is lazy. The choice is yours.
(To close my personal guitar loop - I did take the time to learn bar-chords and a few scales and get better at timing. “World-class Guitarist” wasn’t in the cards for me - I didn’t plough for it. But I do still enjoy picking up the instrument and appreciate the work of the real masters.)
Leadership is for everyone. Lean into it, live generously, and fulfill your calling to this dangerous business. Think for a moment about the ways your unique gifts and skills influence people — whether it be your family, friends, or community.
But that’s not what we’re told. It’s not how we’re brought up. It’s not the atmosphere we’re accustomed to.
In this book, I want you to see that you don’t need a title, a platform, or a leadership gene. There are no magic rings. — and many who attain the pretense of a magic ring end up as evil overlords. Most readers are born in the Shire where things are pleasant and calm. Where dragons seldom wander.
I’ve been in the “leadership” and “leadership development” space for a long time. I was a pastor. I created a curriculum for emerging leaders in Central Asia. I did a Master’s degree in leadership and Christian Spirituality. “Leadership Development Coach” is on my business card.
I recognize the glut of leadership material out there. Mindset and self-talk and affirmations and habits and principles. It can be confusing. Sometimes exhausting. So I recommend starting here.
If you’re being asked to lead something for the first time and you don’t know what to do, this little book is for you. This should be the first book (of many books) that you read about leadership.
It should be many books because life in the Shire never stays pleasant and calm. Dragons do come around. As do Dark Lords and eventual battles between five-armies.
Office politics can be worse than dark-riders sometimes.
You can lead through this. You can lead well. And you can do it without a title, without a position, without a nameplate on your desk.
This book will show you how.
