Virtue Series: Leadership

All men are born to be leaders. Now, this is not in the sense that all men are meant to lead other men. However, we are all created with the duty to lead and to be followed. What does this look like?

To answer this question, it is worth delving into what leadership means and how we should conceive of it. Aristotle in his Nicomachean Ethics roughly lays out that leaders are those that allow those around them to reach potential. This seems to make some sense. Great generals are those that give their soldiers the best chance of success, great kings are those that allow their subjects to prosper spiritually and economically, and great CEOs are those that let talent thrive. However, most men will only see this as a warning against micro-managing. This is only partly true, although tyrants are obviously evil.

Most men will end up married. Even those who are not currently married should either be considering religious life or should be preparing to run a household one day. Unfortunately, have either ignored or forgotten the natural role of the man in the family, which has led to the ruin of society. As a result of this abdicating of responsibility in the family, kids grow up without moral compasses or virtue and marriages fail. Kids grow to resent their fathers or ignore them, and wives do not respect their husbands.

The other half of Aristotle's observations of leaders is the solution to these issues. Leaders give those around them the best chance of success in part because they themselves are capable individuals striving for excellence. People can only reach the goals that are before them, and if a man refuses to strive for lofty goals then he will settle for less than he should. The ultimate goal that each man should strive for is God. Only through being like Christ can men truly realize their own potential, by which they will help others reach their potentials. After all, Christ was the ultimate man, perfectly loving but also perfectly just and self-sacrificial.

Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

We need to emulate Christ's example. For most men, our best opportunities to do this are not in our careers but in our domestic life, where we will lead our wives and kids to heaven. Most men may not start companies or lead armies, but we should all be leaders for the sake of those around us.