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In all the communities and organizations I've been in the last 30 years, I saw only 3 ways of leading: the carrot, the stick and the _magic-.

Although I assume many of you know about the carrot and the stick, I will still go through them, if only to provide a relevant background - and, why not, a contrast - for the last method, which is obviously the most interesting one.

Leading With The Carrot

The carrot in this case is the "reward". Whatever must be done, there is always some guaranteed reward at the end of it.

The keyword is "greed".

People will engage because they know the value and the size of the reward. Sometimes, there is also some correlation between the amount of work and the reward: the more you work (or the more intelligent your work is) the bigger the reward. But that's not always the case. Most of the times, people work just because they know they will get a certain "salary", which they agreed upon.

The carrot leadership is usually seen as a positive form of leadership, but it does have drawbacks. One of them is that, after a certain time, the reward starts to be perceived as obsolete and the quality of work decreases. In simpler terms, it reaches a plateau. At this point, the leader must either increase the reward, or find some other followers, who will accept the current reward value.

And with this approach, which implies that the current followers must leave, we slide toward the second method.

Leading With The Stick

The Stick in this case is the "punishment". Things must be done not because there is a reward, but because you will get punished if you don't.

The keyword is "fear".

This form of leadership is based on the potential loss of certain privileges, if the leader is not obeyed. This is what I experienced for about 19 years under the Romanian communist regime. People were engaging in social activities (like going to work, attending political meetings) not because they agreed upon a potential reward, but because they were afraid to lose their current job, or even their freedom. This is what happens now in countries like North Korea.

The stick leadership is usually seen as a form of bad leadership and it's obvious why. In my experience, the stick leadership is always interrupted by violent means. Sometimes another, more fearful leader, will take control, or there will be some form of revolution at the community level, which will end the reign of the dictator. That doesn't guarantee a smooth transition towards a "carrot" leadership, though, because the social contracts based on fear are always stronger.

Leading With Magic

Both the carrot and the stick are relying on creating behavioral models based on reflex, at the individual level. They are imposing a certain type of response, based on different stimuli: either reward or punishment. As such, the behavior becomes not only predictable, but also measurable. For a certain quantity of carrot or of stick, one can measure the exact output. In this sense, these leadership strategies are also limited.

The magic doesn't work like that at all. Magic isn't predictable, nor measurable. Magic is something that happens outside of the measurable realm, outside of what somebody deems as possible. That's why we call it "magic", after all.

Leading with magic means creating a common goal, shared willingly and responsibly by all the members of a community. It's much more difficult than it looks. The words "common goals" are simple, but the real actions, the real sharing of a common goal is seldom simple.

Because when you're in a community led with magic, the entire community becomes you. There's no boundary between what you want and what the other members want. There's no conflict, there's no tension. Everybody understands the direction and everybody works towards the same goal.

The keyword is "compassion".

There's no intrinsic reward other than the overall good of the community and there's no perceived punishment other than having to start over, if the initial goal is not reached. And reaching this kind of consensus is incredibly difficult. People are stuck in their own little realities and it takes a tremendous effort to awaken them all to a unique, consistent reality that they will willingly follow. That's why leading with magic is so difficult. But when it happens, something amazing unfolds.

First of all, hierarchies are becoming fluid. They're not completely irrelevant, but they are extremely flexible. Today you're in charge with something simple, managing two people, next day you're in charge of a team of 50, doing something you had no idea you're gonna do when the whole project started. And yet, not only you don't feel overwhelmed in that position, but you become incredibly productive, because you are the one who created the entire structure. It's your contribution to the common goal. It just comes natural to you.

Second, the effects are disruptive. The collective intelligence unleashed in this process may come to surprising conclusions, sometimes changing paths completely. The initial direction may change in very unpredictable ways, but it follows an overwhelming consensus. And each disruption brings in benefits more profound and more consistent than any member could predict.

Leading with magic is very often seen in spiritual movements. If you really think at it, Jesus or Buddha didn't have to reward people or to force them to follow their teaching. They simply unveiled a specific reality that resonated - and still resonates - with a incredibly big amount of people. And talking about the effects of their presence as leaders, I think you will agree that "disruptive" is simply an understatement.

Keeping the perspective, "magic" leaders are always appearing. You don't have to be Jesus or Buddha to unveil in your circle of friends something profound, something deep, that will motivate them towards a common goal. But it will take a lot of work, a lot of open communication, and, obviously, a lot of compassion. A lot, a lot of compassion.

Sometimes, the community built around Steemit seems to be led with magic. And these times are exact the times when founders, influencers and regular contributors are working with the same goal in mind. During those periods (which are becoming longer and longer) antipathies are briefly abandoned, tensions are released, everybody communicates openly and the end result is simply beautiful.

I look forward to see more of this in Steemit.

image source - Pixabay

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I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.

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