Leader

Full Title

One member of a community that rises to set the path for the community to follow.

Context

Self-organization of communities of individuals soon develop into hierarchies of individuals. At first the leader may be somewhat accidental, as happens in flocks of birds. The nature of leadership causes some communities to go back to selecting leaders by the casting of lots, but by far the most common form of leadership is for one individual with an idea how to proceed to rise up and take a leadership position. Even today leaders that rise up to take command when required are most revered when then can gracefully cede leadership when it is no longer required. Examples of such rare leadership were exhibited by Cincinnatus in ancient Rome and George Washington at the beginning of the American experiment.

Solutions

Leader Selection

After the first World War Germans felt that they were leaderless as all of the old aristocracy was gone and the imposed republic was not one of their own choosing. What happened then is basically a reprise of the way that Leaders where chosen in primitive tribes, strong, charismatic individuals stood forward and offered their own skills in the service of groups of individuals. One good example of this is recorded about Werner Heisenberg The Bund der Neupfadfinder, The League of New Pathfinders was founded based on three notions of Gemeinschaft (community) Fuher (leader) and Reich (empire) was created in 1919-23 with Gruppe Heisenberg as one of the founding cells. Heisenberg was 17 years old and one of the elder of what was basically a children's crusade. As usual, when a large number of individuals try to form a framework for action, there were differences of option, walk-outs and reformations till a stable framework evolved. These ideas were then passed to Adolf Hitler, who was in prison for the Beer-hall putsch. Once the Nazi's realized the impact the took leadership to the next level, the cult of the leader.

The Cult of the Leader

From earliest recorded time Leaders have been anointed with special powers that have come from on high. For Julius Caeser, it was fate that led him to success. For David it was the word of the Lord to Samuel. For Bismark it was the favor of the king of Prussia based on his political skills. But these stories were embellished after the fact of becoming the Leader. The embellishment was performed by the followers after the great man was gone in order to justify their own acts and to inherit the mantel of the past Leader. In the case of Bismark, it was the Nazi's that took his legacy, amplified it and turned it to their own advantage with Hitler as the Fuher.