Bullets, Posion, Daggers and Nails

The Rule: Good leadership doesn't have consequences.

Bullets, daggers, poisons and in some cases nails entering any leader's body says a lot about the quality of his leadership.

To be assassinated is either a tremendous complement or utter defeat. No one has ever been killed due to mediocre leadership. An assassin's' bullet never makes its way into a leader if the leader has not forged new grounds.

No leader wants to die by an assassin's hand They would much rather die in their sleep in a quiet room covered by cool colors of a summer's evening and a warm breeze gently caressing them, not by coughing up blood with their brains leaking out of their skull.

Leaders want easy lives, but that is not possible. A life of a leader is brutally painful with assassins lurking around every cubicle, hiding behind lurking eyes at a staff meeting, two clicks away from a gut piercing email aimed right at him. Leaders have to take hits that many below them cannot do.

Leaders must dodge the arrows, block the swinging daggers and shun the poison goblet. But not every leader is quick, smart or clever enough to do these things. Sometimes the weapon penetrates the skin. In this case a thick skin is needed.

Gossip, slander and harsh criticism lurks in the hearts of all assassins. This is their weapon of choice. The scary part of it is that all can be recruited into the assassin's camp.
Many a leader's assassin doesn't even know they are smiting them. Their warfare is subtle and even subconscious. The assassins could even be leaders themselves, bloody from the battles they have fought and lost. They limp, and snarl with lips of disgust and frustration over the leader's choices. Generally, a wounded solider or patriot is the cause.

So if you are a leader and are not facing any opposition, hardship or assassination attempts maybe you are mediocre and boring. If you are facing these things you have to ask yourself, what type of leader are you: an Abe Lincoln or a Nero. The difference is Nero wasn't strong enough to lead through the turmoil. Instead he let it eat at him and digest his soul until he slit his own throat. Despite opposition and extreme hatred, Lincoln stood through it all. The death came from the outside. As much as we want to be Lincolns, each leader has a little Nero inside him: after a string of mistakes we tend to be our own assassin.

As leaders let's take the hits others throw at us, and disregard our own.