Why Leaders Will Always Be Hatedfeatured

I don’t consider myself a real leader. Mostly because I am afraid of leading. Mostly because I feel like I have never been necessarily good at any one thing. And if I were to lead someone into failure, I wouldn’t know how to recuperate from such a thing.

Now that I am closer to 30 than I am to 20, I realize you don’t have to be good to be a leader. Hell, you don’t even have to be an expert. All you have to have is passion and a will to share that passion with others on some level.

I am a leader only in my heart. It doesn’t always materialize in real life, but I have a passion. My passion is lifting people up. I love making others feel like they matter, like they can touch the world, like they have more potential than they ever thought possible.

I am often a silent leader. An introvert sometimes disguised as an extrovert. A little girl afraid to be too loud, too opinionated, or too clueless. With this fear, come untapped leadership qualities and empty hopes to leave my imprint on this world.

I realize that I’m not currently a true leader because I am a people pleaser. I want to make people feel good and often hold myself back when decisions have the capability to cause pain or harm onto others.

And that’s my problem.

I have come to the realization that leaders will sometimes be loved and sometimes be hated. This is just human nature.

People will always criticize what they can’t understand. Decisions leaders make will never appease all. If that were the case, they would not be leaders.

True leaders make the tough decisions, the ones others can’t make because they rather be followers.

People will criticize leaders’ decisions simply because they’re not in the leadership role. Simply because they don’t understand all of the factors that go into their decision-making process. And that’s okay.

There must be both followers and leaders in this world.

People can inadvertently say “Oh, I would NEVER do that if I were them…” Well, that’s always good to know. Except not.

Who knows what you would do if you were in that leader’s role. Who knows what factors would influence you on a daily basis if you were in that very exact position.

Leaders will always be hated. Whether they are doing “good” or “bad” things in their roles.

People will always have their opinions because leaders are not ordinary. They dare to be different. They dare to stand out.

I am glad I realize this now because I hope to someday be a leader of sorts. But before this ever happens, I must first be okay with the fact that people will hate and criticize me. It comes with the territory, no matter what any of us do, there will always be opposition. And that’s okay.

So, what are you? A leader or a follower? And if you identify with one, do you someday hope to be the other? No matter what you decide, remember, there will be opposition no matter what side of the fence you stand on.

Love Deeply and Forever,

Karen