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To understand leadership, its power and appreciate its value, we also need to understand self-interest and what it means. These two concepts are the different sides of the same coin. The yin and yang.
Good cannot exist without bad. In the same vein, the beauty of the sun cannot be appreciated without its absence and the presence of darkness. In order to appreciate the beauty of something, you need to know what ugly is.
Let’s start with game theory and something called the prisoner’s dilemma which is a classic example used to explain game theory.
Two criminals are arrested for a crime and are put in separate interrogation rooms, isolated from one another. The prosecutor does not have enough evidence to convict both criminals so offers them a deal. He tells both, if either of you confesses and the other does not, the confessor will go free and the other will be jailed for 10 years. If none of you confesses, you’ll both be jailed for 1 year on a lesser charge. If both of you confess, you’ll both be jailed for 5 years. Understanding self-interest, what do you think each of the suspects will do? From a self-interest perspective, each suspect will act according to what’s best for themselves. Confessing becomes the solution, hoping the other criminal does not also confess, in order for the confessor to go scot free. However, both of them will be inclined to do exactly this, which will mean both would have confessed and will therefore, be jailed for 5 years. The optimal solution would be for both to stay quiet, however, human beings are naturally self-serving and one cannot trust that the other will not do the same.
Then comes in leadership and understanding the prisoner’s dilemma from a leadership perspective. Can you guess it? Leadership is about a lot of things, but ultimately it is the sacrifice of self for the benefit of others. This sacrifice is not conditional on a reward being received but the genuine want of something better for someone else. So, where does leadership come in? The criminal who decides to lead, rejects all deals and proposes something else. He says I will confess; my confession is I did the crime alone, the other criminal was not involved so I will gladly go to jail for the 10 years on the condition that the other criminal goes free because he’s innocent. This is the ultimate form of leadership as the one criminal has completely gotten rid of his self-interest and has made the decision for the better of someone else to his own detriment. Leadership and self-interest have intersected and formed something called sacrifice.
Sacrifice is a result of leadership and foregoing self. This is what makes leadership extremely difficult! Human beings will always seek what’s best for themselves and always seek to act in this manner. They cannot truly step up and lead. This is the reason why there’s very few leaders and will continue to be so. A select few can make this sacrifice because they look for a reward for doing this and once you are able to do so, you will catapult forward. That’s how you win!
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