Die a Hero, or Live a Villain

Introduction

Among business men and women, there has been an unspoken code. A law that governs behavior and guides choices. From time to time, people brush up against this unspoken code and make their own conclusions. I have done the same. But until now have waited and watched trying not to allow myself to be persuaded to one side or the other until I could see both sides. Some of the best leadership writers in the world speak of the need to lead people from the front. That is to say, people are lead best when inspired and brought alongside leadership. The dangers are apparently clear, however, and are best quoted by the Aaron Eckhart's character "Harvey Dent" in "The Dark Knight." "Fine! You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." This dichotomy is what I wish to focus on today. Why can't leaders lead and stay in charge? Why must they die to become a hero (whether literal or figurative)? What could cause them to fall far enough to become a villain?

The Black and White Knights

Christopher Nolan's sweeping narrative of Bruce Wayne's inner struggle and leadership as Batman is the platform I want to use to share my opinions about the aforementioned leadership struggle. We see Bruce become a leader on fighting injustice in Gotham City in "Batman Begins," we learn how his leadership is short lived because he chooses to do things in an "unconventional" and "uncomfortable" way to get the job done. In fact, there is only one rule he has: He will not kill. This kind of stance makes it apparent that he will not sacrifice justice to give criminals due process. He will not allow even the unjust justice system to come between him and his goal. What that looks like as a leader is becoming so obsessed with a goal, an ideal, a standard, a process that we don't care what it takes to get there, or how long, we will get there. We don't care who aligns with us, be it a people with higher moral standards, or those that share the same. We cannot, however, allow those who compromise our goal to become our allies, and certainly not our friends. This is where Bruce made a mistake. I believe, deep down, Bruce wanted Harvey Dent to take the leadership mantle of fighting injustice before he could fully understand what made Dent tick. In fact, we see the Joker push Dent just slightly and cause his world to come crashing around his ears.

When leaders allow themselves to work too closely with people that they don't understand, they expose themselves to risk. Don't get me wrong, there are times when you can misjudge someone, but a fool is one who does not learn from mistakes. What I am talking about directly though, is when people purposefully allow themselves to trust someone more than reason justifies. Allowing someone to get so close that they can manipulate and twist things in your view is allowing someone to get too close. These "Black Knights" fight for a cause, but are so tainted that they cease even holding on to what they once believed in order to win approval from those who are meant to follow them. This danger even exists among peers.
Why can't leaders stay in charge? Are all of us doomed to "die a hero? or become a villain?" These questions are hard. There are, admittedly, many reasons a leader may leave. However, Leaders must understand that there should be precious few people that directly influence your decisions. If we were to look at a model, we could look at a model of Jesus Christ. He lead 12 men from the front, He had an accountability group, he did die a hero and inspired an entire new way of thinking. But he also only allowed 3 people to be closest to him and they still had not direct ability to influence his mission. He did not allow Peter, James, or John to change his mission. Had he, Peter would have had Jesus fighting in armed combat with the Romans, or James and John would have had him fishing for fish instead of men. With this in mind, the "White Knight" is the antithesis of this. Sure that leader may have friends, but he does not allow those friends to change his perspective so easily without knowing how it relates to his mission.

Summary

This short post was to illustrate the dangers of allowing someone to influence too much. Keeping that in mind, there is a leadership structure for a reason. They are not your friend, they are not your buddy, they are your employee. They are there to take orders and leadership from you, not give you orders. If one can discover their mission, and stick to it, allowing people speak to that, but understanding how their opinions play into the mission is the goal. It is not easy, but it is of paramount concern to any leader.