Have you ever had a leader to tell you to do something that he didn’t know how to do himself? This is that leader that just barks out commands without any real knowledge or expertise. Ever experience this? That is not leadership. That is just telling someone to do something.
Telling someone to do something can be leadership – if you have already done it yourself. Telling someone to do something that you’ve never done before – that’s just telling them to do something.
You can’t really lead someone in something that you can’t do yourself. If you’re going to lead, do it first. If you’re going to lead, do it yourself or at least have the knowledge and expertise to do it. Then when you tell someone else to do it, you’ll actually be able to lead them through it – not just tell them to do it. There’s a big difference.
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identitySPECIALIST 
Fully agree, Lem. Leadership means learning, serving, and, yes, directing. But you cannot give directions very well to a place you never been to. Learn first how to do what you are charging others to do, and do not criticize unless you are ready to take criticism on your attempt. Such mutual iron sharpening results in collegiality (what a notion).
Yes. Absolutely. That’s great. I like that – going there first so that you can give directions on how to get there. Some are pretty good at giving criticism, but part of leadership is also being secure enough to handle the criticism that comes your way.
The iron sharpening iron thing – what a notion! Thanks for reading.