Gman - this is an interesting topic!

First of all, are you sure your auntie's boyfriend's didn't mean you specifically?? ha, ha, ha. :-)

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On the subject of leadership I thought of a quote I saw years ago in a book of Zen sayings, something like, "Don't walk in the footsteps of those you admire, but seek what they sought."

I like that idea.

As said better than I could in the posts above, there are different styles of leadership. I think about leadership in the same way you have different teaching styles - so I tend to simplify it as leading from the front (authority), and leading from the back (supportive/participative). At different times the different styles are needed, to adapt to whatever situation one is faced with.

I know this is a mass over-simplification, but if a teacher is only leading fron the front then the children can know what is expected of them and the school's 'law boundaries', but may lose their individual voice. If a teacher is only leading from the back then the children can gain confidence and freedom, but be lacking in direction and maybe discipline. I'm sure its not a water tight analogy, but it helps with my meditation on leadership 'tangle'.

RASpect.

Ras Shawn Naphtali