Leadership From the Front or in Splendid Isolation?

Some of us may have experienced what is sometimes derisorily referred to as ‘distance leadership’.


In the old days, this was manifest by the letter that was delivered from the boss or head office, effectively telling you what you had to do for the period ahead.

In more recent times that may have been replaced by the telegram, telephone, E mail and SMS but the same basic frustrations arise.  How can anyone you barely know and rarely see, possibly be trying to offer you leadership on a day-to-day basis through remote distant communications?

Of course, accusing a leader of being ‘out of touch’ is a comforting cop-out to sometimes help us avoid having to make decisions of our own.  Even so, it is widely accepted today as being a highly inefficient way of getting things done.

Modern leadership is all about participatory endeavor.  It’s about being part of a team and demonstrating leadership qualities through that team in terms of your personal behaviors and communication skills rather than through directives and orders.

In modern models, leadership isn’t about rank and hierarchy.  It’s all about your behaviors and the values you communicate through those.

This is an area that we at the Stars Institute of Learning and Leadership push hard.  It is particularly important for what some still call Aboriginal tribes’ development,as visible behaviors on a day-to-day basis are the best ways of promulgating increased confidence within the First Nations communities.

This is important because reading about leadership success in your community is one thing but it’s nowhere near as effective as being able to see real-life examples of it in practice.  Yes, theory and motivational techniques are important but personal example is even more so.

We don’t apologies for believing that the old models of leadership are now largely, though perhaps not exclusively, outmoded and inappropriate for present day Aboriginal peoples or indeed anybody else.

It isn’t easy to change views in this area because from birth many of us have it had drilled into us that we need to see leadership as being synonymous with parental, school, religious or legal system authority etc.

Our goal is to help you think differently and more broadly about what leadership is and how you can demonstrate it.