Why Do We Need Leaders?
Leadership is a universal phenomenon across cultures. Why is leadership necessary? Why do people accept to be led? What problems does leadership address? What needs does it fulfill?
The reasons closely fall in line with the functions and roles that leaders play and are related to the need or desire to be in collectives. Overall, we need leaders:
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To keep groups orderly and focused. Human beings have formed groups and societies for close to 50,000 years. Whether the formation of groups itself is an instinct or whether it is based in the need to accomplish complex tasks too difficult for individuals to undertake, the existence of groups requires some form of organization and hierarchy. Leaders are needed to pull the individuals together, organize and coordinate their efforts.
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To accomplish tasks. Groups allow us to accomplish tasks that individuals alone could not undertake or complete. Leaders are needed to facilitate that accomplishment, to provide goals and directions and coordinate activities. They are the instrument of goal achievement.
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To make sense of the world. Groups and their leaders provide individuals with a perceptual check. Leaders help us make sense of the world, establish social reality and assign meaning to events and situations that may be ambiguous.
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To be romantic ideals. Finally, as some researchers have suggested, leadership is needed to fulfill our desire for mythical or romantic figures who represent us and symbolize our own and our culture’s ideals and accomplishments.
With all its benefits, the need for leadership presents a sizeable challenge. The presence of leaders necessarily and unavoidably creates hierarchy and inequality in groups and with it the potential for abuse.
We often follow people we agree with most but not necessarily all the time. We are willing to tolerate some degree of inequality in exchange for the security of groups and the ability to reach our individual and collective goals.