A leader should be a representative of the people, and because they are, they have responsibilities to those they represent. Some leaders simply have innate leadership skills and it’s just a matter of time until they are given the opportunity to lead.
We find leaders in many fields from politics to business. From the family to the classroom, in each circumstance we see that leaders fall into different categories: Leaders who want to lead and know how to; leaders who don’t know what they are doing but are happy to be in a position of power; and reluctant leaders who would rather not do the job and therefore are bad at it, but could do a better job if they tried and often, they are not there for the right reasons; resistant leaders, the ones who have the innate qualities of a leader but don’t like the honor that comes with it, that is why they would never run for public office, etc., and many other categories of leaders in between.
What is interesting is if you look around, you will find that there are many people who should be in a leadership position but are not for a variety of reasons. One reason may be because they are shy or more of an introvert, or they simply were not given the chance, however if someone were just to push them into the position, they would shine.
In this week’s Torah portion, Bamidbar, we see how the Jews, while in the desert, had one leader, Moses. However, after the Mishkan was completed, Moses appointed twelve additional leaders, one for each tribe. What process did Moses use to choose these leaders? The Torah does not mention any kind of voting system, so we must presume that they were appointed. Did Moses choose them because they had connections to him? Did they lobby him for the job? What were the criteria that he used to appoint them?
The Torah uses an expression, Keruie HaEdah (they were summoned by the congregation) when it came to their appointment. From this we can deduce that Moses chose these leaders for their popularity. Not “popular” like current famous people that young people follow, but popular because every person felt that these individuals represented them. They were liked by everyone. These twelve leaders encompassed this important trait of being a leader, making sure that everyone who followed them felt that their best interests were being kept in mind.
Too often, a leader who decides that they want to lead from the front, which is the way to go, forgets about the people who they are leading, and this creates a rift between them and their following, feeling those others are just followers. A true leader leads from the front but always has their eye on their followers.
The leaders that Moses handpicked were not just leaders but they were leaders everyone wanted – even without an election.
We should aspire to be such a leader.