Clan Leadership - Chapter I (Should You Lead?)
He who cannot be a good follower cannot be a good leader.
- Aristotle
- Aristotle
Hello, and welcome. In this article I will be discussing my views on the “Art of Clan Leading.” Part 1 of this series will cover the topic of evaluating if you are fit to lead a clan.
Before I begin I feel I need to share a critical piece of information: I have never lead a clan. I have served as an advisor to leaders, and I have served as various high command positions, but never have I been the leader. Knowing this, I will offer a different perspective than what ShadowSniper172 will provide. I will use my experience as a clan member to relate what I viewed as both successful, and failed clan leaders. I have both advised and served under a variety of different leaders with a variety of different leadership styles, and seen the results of their actions first hand. From this I hope to allow you, the reader, the chance to evaluate what it takes to effectively lead a clan.
First off, let me make one thing absolutely clear: not everyone is fit to lead a clan.
Is this a cruel?
Possibly.
Is it true?
Undeniably.
Before deciding to create a clan, I feel one must be brutally honest with themselves and answer a few critical questions. Only after honestly answering these questions should you make your choice to lead a clan.
If you don’t meet this standards, you aren’t a bad person. You just aren’t made for this particular role in the community. Not everyone in the military is a SEAL/DevGru/Pilot. But be damn sure, without the person fueling the jet, or stocking the ammo, those units wouldn’t exist. You can have, and likely would have, just as much fun serving as a clan member.
There is no shame in being the foundation of the castle. - II Power III
1. Experience
This should be an obvious, but people often feel it simply isn’t important. They are wrong. If you are going to lead a clan, you should have some experience as an ACTIVE member of another clan. You should know what it takes to be a good clan member, and eventually a clan officer. Simply being a low ranking member is not enough. Views on this may vary, I but believe, as a general rule of thumb, you should only attempt to create a clan after having a command position (over 20+ members) in another clan for a few months minimum.
2. Time
The most critical of all of the components needed to lead a clan is time. As a clan leader, especially early in your clan’s development, you must be willing to to set aside a large amount of time to the cause. To be frank, if you aren't willing to “no life it” for a few weeks minimum, you shouldn’t lead a clan. This doesn’t mean stop eating, doing school work, etc, but you need to going in conscious of the fact that leading a clan takes time and effort.
As a past clan member, and high ranking clan leader myself, I can safely say one of the biggest problems a clan can encounter is an inactive leader. If the clan leader’s subordinates are significantly more active than the leader, it almost always leads to discontent. Unless your clan is specifically designed to run without a leader for an extended period of time (3+ days), the clan will likely become inactive. As a general rule of thumb, the clan will never be significantly more active than the people/person that lead it.
3. Responsibility
It is hard to explain how hard it is to meet this requirement. As a clan leader, you are a clan leader 24/7, not just when you want to. Everything that leaves your mouth as a clan leader is effectively official clan opinion. If you talk trash about your members, that is effectively equivalent to the entire clan talking trash about a member. When your members fail, you fail. When your officers decide it is a good idea to raid your ally clan, that is your failure. Yes, your officers failed, but so did you. It is a cruel truth, but a truth non the less.
4. Freshness of the Idea
Assuming you meet the first three requirements, the next question is “Is my idea for my clan new?” If you are not bringing anything new to the table, why not join a clan? At any given moment, there are a variety of people who could lead a clan, but they don’t. Why? They realize that they enjoy the clan they are in, or see they would fit into a particular clan well. You can make just as big an impact in the community by serving a leader in a clan as you could leading a clan yourself.
5. ***BONUS POINTS*** Be a “People Person.”
Assuming you meet all of the previous requirements, this is the last hurdle. It is a deceptively simple question. Do people get along with you?
To understand what I am asking here, I will use myself as an example.
To be brutally honest, this question has been one of the main reasons why I never decided to lead a clan. I was perfectly capable of leading small, more mature, more “elite” teams well, but I didn’t mix well with the average member. I had a comically low tolerance for immaturity and general stupidity in a clan setting. Unfortunately, this is what the average clan member (is most clans) could have been described as. While I have made significant improvements in this field, at this point in my career, I fail to meet some of the other requirements I have set myself.
From a relatively early stage I identified this and acted accordingly. Instead of attempting to perform a task I was not well suited for, I decided to perform tasks I was good at. I was good at making more strategic, long term decisions, and I was good at evaluating other clan members for potential leadership positions. I more or less sat back, and made the plans, and let others execute them. As a result, many clan leaders saw my value serving in this capacity, and positioned me as such.
In the same way, When serving in other clans, see if people receive you well. As a clan leader, you don’t have the option of serving in an small unit of your clan. You run the show. If you can’t see yourself getting along well with your members and vice versa, save yourself the time and don’t try.
In Part 2 of my views on the Art of Clan leading I will go more into depth on the responsibilities of a clan leader.
- II Power III
Before I begin I feel I need to share a critical piece of information: I have never lead a clan. I have served as an advisor to leaders, and I have served as various high command positions, but never have I been the leader. Knowing this, I will offer a different perspective than what ShadowSniper172 will provide. I will use my experience as a clan member to relate what I viewed as both successful, and failed clan leaders. I have both advised and served under a variety of different leaders with a variety of different leadership styles, and seen the results of their actions first hand. From this I hope to allow you, the reader, the chance to evaluate what it takes to effectively lead a clan.
First off, let me make one thing absolutely clear: not everyone is fit to lead a clan.
Is this a cruel?
Possibly.
Is it true?
Undeniably.
Before deciding to create a clan, I feel one must be brutally honest with themselves and answer a few critical questions. Only after honestly answering these questions should you make your choice to lead a clan.
If you don’t meet this standards, you aren’t a bad person. You just aren’t made for this particular role in the community. Not everyone in the military is a SEAL/DevGru/Pilot. But be damn sure, without the person fueling the jet, or stocking the ammo, those units wouldn’t exist. You can have, and likely would have, just as much fun serving as a clan member.
There is no shame in being the foundation of the castle. - II Power III
1. Experience
This should be an obvious, but people often feel it simply isn’t important. They are wrong. If you are going to lead a clan, you should have some experience as an ACTIVE member of another clan. You should know what it takes to be a good clan member, and eventually a clan officer. Simply being a low ranking member is not enough. Views on this may vary, I but believe, as a general rule of thumb, you should only attempt to create a clan after having a command position (over 20+ members) in another clan for a few months minimum.
2. Time
The most critical of all of the components needed to lead a clan is time. As a clan leader, especially early in your clan’s development, you must be willing to to set aside a large amount of time to the cause. To be frank, if you aren't willing to “no life it” for a few weeks minimum, you shouldn’t lead a clan. This doesn’t mean stop eating, doing school work, etc, but you need to going in conscious of the fact that leading a clan takes time and effort.
As a past clan member, and high ranking clan leader myself, I can safely say one of the biggest problems a clan can encounter is an inactive leader. If the clan leader’s subordinates are significantly more active than the leader, it almost always leads to discontent. Unless your clan is specifically designed to run without a leader for an extended period of time (3+ days), the clan will likely become inactive. As a general rule of thumb, the clan will never be significantly more active than the people/person that lead it.
3. Responsibility
It is hard to explain how hard it is to meet this requirement. As a clan leader, you are a clan leader 24/7, not just when you want to. Everything that leaves your mouth as a clan leader is effectively official clan opinion. If you talk trash about your members, that is effectively equivalent to the entire clan talking trash about a member. When your members fail, you fail. When your officers decide it is a good idea to raid your ally clan, that is your failure. Yes, your officers failed, but so did you. It is a cruel truth, but a truth non the less.
4. Freshness of the Idea
Assuming you meet the first three requirements, the next question is “Is my idea for my clan new?” If you are not bringing anything new to the table, why not join a clan? At any given moment, there are a variety of people who could lead a clan, but they don’t. Why? They realize that they enjoy the clan they are in, or see they would fit into a particular clan well. You can make just as big an impact in the community by serving a leader in a clan as you could leading a clan yourself.
5. ***BONUS POINTS*** Be a “People Person.”
Assuming you meet all of the previous requirements, this is the last hurdle. It is a deceptively simple question. Do people get along with you?
To understand what I am asking here, I will use myself as an example.
To be brutally honest, this question has been one of the main reasons why I never decided to lead a clan. I was perfectly capable of leading small, more mature, more “elite” teams well, but I didn’t mix well with the average member. I had a comically low tolerance for immaturity and general stupidity in a clan setting. Unfortunately, this is what the average clan member (is most clans) could have been described as. While I have made significant improvements in this field, at this point in my career, I fail to meet some of the other requirements I have set myself.
From a relatively early stage I identified this and acted accordingly. Instead of attempting to perform a task I was not well suited for, I decided to perform tasks I was good at. I was good at making more strategic, long term decisions, and I was good at evaluating other clan members for potential leadership positions. I more or less sat back, and made the plans, and let others execute them. As a result, many clan leaders saw my value serving in this capacity, and positioned me as such.
In the same way, When serving in other clans, see if people receive you well. As a clan leader, you don’t have the option of serving in an small unit of your clan. You run the show. If you can’t see yourself getting along well with your members and vice versa, save yourself the time and don’t try.
In Part 2 of my views on the Art of Clan leading I will go more into depth on the responsibilities of a clan leader.
- II Power III