The pack in the middle are always protected from any attack.

The 5 behind them are also among the strongest & best; they are tasked to protect the back side if there is an attack.

The last one is the LEADER. He ensures that no one is left behind. He keeps the pack unified and on the same path. He is always ready to run in any direction to protect & serves as the ‘bodyguard’ to the entire group.

Just in case y’all wanted to know what it really means to be a leader.

We need more and better leaders

Reactive opposition to Leadership

The reactive opposition (automatic, based on emotions rather than on conscious reflection) to leadership is rather common and often will be sparked by accumulated fears, caused by our experiences with oppressive leaders in society, fears that we have not been able to let go. 

In fact, very often, leadership has been used to exploit people, to rob them, to take advantage of them. We have many very good reasons to have these fears engraved in us, but however strong our "instinctive" feelings of rejections are, it is still a ascertainable fact that not all leaders are oppressive - sometimes they are liberating (like the examples to the right - and you will get to know many more), sometimes even of entire societies.

Leadership and Authority

We also often confuse leadership with authority (used in a oppressive way) and some of us might have found it hard to avoid being hurt by figures of authority in our childhood (parents, teachers, etc), however loving or mature these might have been for the most part. 

It is also true nonetheless that many (if not all) advances of humanity have occurred thanks to the leadership of people, visible or invisible, rarely appreciated universally (all great leaders have always had many enemies). 

Leaders under attack

The result of these and other factors is that often any leader, no matter how good he or she is (in accelerating Change), will most likely face a considerable amount of suspicion and distress, sooner or later. 

Attacks or apparent attacks will often arise, and these have the double negative effect of slowing down work and sometimes even de-empowering good leaders, while discouraging more people from taking these (important) roles.

And so the 'system' controls us: even if we call it that, we often forget that it really IS a system.

Four Levels of Attack

There are patterns that can be recognized in these attacks, and they are seen in at least four levels. 

The first level is that leaders are criticized when they make a mistake. 

This may seem quite legitimate because it is so common in our culture to focus on mistakes (instead on what works well) and more common even is criticizing everyone, and especially leaders. But we should first look at how many useful and good things that person has done ... and then compare to the amount of mistakes she or he has made. 

If the criticism is disproportionate (not honestly valuing the positive as well as the negative), you can be almost certain it is an attack.  

Criticizing anyone is rarely rational in practice - in the sense of useful. 

First of all, those criticisms (when they are attacks) are rarely verbalized in front of the person who supposedly committed the mistake, but rather are outed "behind their backs". Even if they do get heard by the person who supposedly committed the mistake... to criticize anyone hardly ever makes sense (it does not usually help us to act better, it rather makes us defensive), but it makes even less sense to criticize people with a high level of self-responsibility: they normally have already realized they have made a mistake, and if they didn't, they would be happy to receive help to make things right. 

Critical people however tend to not be interested in fixing problems or making things right, because the criticism they spout is based on their own emotions and personal histories. All they really want to do is criticize, in a vain attempt to try and feel better themselves. 

Ironically, criticism often comes from people who feel frustrated not to be leading in their own lives (leadership is a very creative and satisfying job and it is natural for human beings to enjoy leadership) and they can even feel jealous of the leader they criticize because they feel afraid to take on the task of leadership. Then the easiest way to try and vent that tension is to criticize other leaders. 

But then, criticizing, they only manage to reinforce their own great fear of leading (because, look what happens to leaders ... everyone feels it is in their right to criticize at any moment!), starting or continuing a destructive spiral. 

The second level of attack on leaders is attacking and criticizing him or her to "test" if they can resist attacks from outside and continue with their program. The more one relaxes and trusts oneself whilst listening to these attacks, without getting tense or defensive, the shorter the attacks will be. 

Part of this kind of attack will come from internalized oppression; for example when female leaders are "eliminated" within the same movements that fight for her liberation. In theses cases, an explanation of how oppressed internalization works will help to terminate with this type of attacks. 

Attacks of the third level will come from individuals not exactly from their group, who are trapped by their fears, who look for vengeance or want to "hurt someone" for the maltreatment they received in their childhood. 

These are the "troublemakers", the thrashers, the murderers, the violators. These fearful patterns can incline to attacks because they feel that who has a rational and humane program is a "timid idealist" or a "innocent goody", a "easy target". 

On an organizational level, these fears search to destabilize and sometimes destroy organizations. 

Essential to have good allies

This is why, among other reasons, we say: should you decide to lead something - get an assistant!   

Because sometimes you will simply need protection - it is better for you to not waste energy on responding to attacks (because they basically are to make you lose time and energy) and another person will be able to face this better. 

This is why you have to organize protection, get rid of any fears of weakness from your side and learn self-defense. Do not think that permissive listening will reach the humanity behind those fearful patterns of the attacker. 

Fourth level attacks will come from society's repressive agencies, from members of the Ku Klux Klan that occupy public positions, from the national security agencies like the FBIs, the CIAs, the secret services or from anyone that offers to serve them as an agent. These attacks are a tribute to the influence you have managed to reach. 

You have to be prepared for the possibility of these attacks and notify the members of your group to counter-attack when they occur, without hesitation, united and with indignation.

It is better not to debate nor to counter the insults, until you have overcome them with a counter-attack. 

The group has to agree to not discuss nor argument the accusations, only to counter-attack indignantly, until the attacks are overcome. Any error or weakness from your side, that has been used to attack you, can be discussed if it is necessary, but in private within your group, and only after the attacks have been overcome and they have stopped. 

Understanding and being able to handle these difficulties is part of being a good leader, and all leaders that you form should have this skill and training. Nonetheless, once prepared, these possibilities should not worry you too much. A good job of leadership reduces the risk of these attacks happening and knowing what to do when they occur limits the time and energy necessary to overcome them.