On day 1 of introduction to cult leadership, we talked about the foundation. If you build something on a solid foundation it will last forever. Leadership is no different.
First, you need to put your emotions aside and look at people like math equations. Because there is no emotion in math. It’s simply straight forward. The only emotional part is when you can’t seem to get it right. People are like math. They are an equation that is black and white. It’s just frustrating figuring out how to work the equation. Leadership is all in your critical logical mind. And emotions do not exist in your critical logical mind.
Second, you need to be an equal with the people you lead. A wolf doesn’t lead a dog pack. A dog leads a dog pack. Or think about it from a math perspective. When someone looks down on you and gives you energy from a 90° angle, it feels less than when someone looks straight at you as a peer to give you energy at 180° angle.
If you are looking towards the people you lead to make you feel better about yourself and more important or valuable, you are doing it wrong. You are a leader to help people feel valued. You are a leader to help people find their way in life. And a large part of finding your way in life is finding yourself.
Leadership is about helping people find themselves. If you are looking towards them to help you find yourself, it will be a shit show. And the blind leading the blind. Know Thy Self! And help your people find themselves. They will be more valuable once they know themselves. So it is a win win situation. Plus, they will be grateful for your help getting there.
Third, as an equal you need to get your hands dirty and accomplish things with your people. Leadership isn’t about getting your people to do things for you. It’s about accomplishing things as a team and a group. Know your people and figure out their skills and gifts. This way you can utilize those skills and gifts to everyone’s best interest.
Think about the bosses you have had at work. The bosses who tell you what to do without helping are harder to respect. But the ones who get their hands dirty with you and help accomplish the task at hand are way more enjoyable and relatable. They are easier to bond with.
Being a leader who is an equal and works with his/her people will allow you to create a bond with them. Having people who worship you who you don’t know or enjoy, is just like having a group of stalkers. It’s not fun and it can be dangerous.
You need to create a group of people who will be there for you when times are good or times are bad. And you do that by being there for them when times are good and times are bad. You build your life with these people as they build their lives right along side of you. The more you build together, the stronger your bond and more loyal they will be towards you. You do things with your people. You don’t just shout commands. You build lives together. Yes, they are separate lives. But you build them along side each other. You grow up or grow old together. And lean on each other along the way.
My Grandma Kudearoff was an amazing example of this. She made everyone feel special. She always had time to say hi even when countless people stopped her in the grocery store. Never did she look towards people to make her feel important. She knew she was the boss. And she built lives with the people around her. She may not have been a nice or good lady, but people loved her and she treated her people really well. Her family was a different story. But she treated her people well. Because she understood they were how she became so powerful. They built lives together for decades.
When my Grandma Kudearoff was dying, she worked at the hospital. And she was about 4 months away from retirement when she got so sick she had to stop working. The people who worked with her at the hospital gave her their sick days. She came really close to being able to get her retirement because so many people gave her their sick days. They only did this because she treated them as an equal. They knew she had worked hard just like them. They knew she had struggled just like them. Her struggles were their struggles. It was their bond.
You need people to share your struggles with. You need people who will help you when you really need it. You create these kinds of bonds by putting your ego aside and being an equal with the people in your group. Yes, you are a leader. But first and foremost you are a human. Never forget you are just like everyone else. And they won’t forget either. They will be there for you when you need them. No matter if it is good times or bad times.
It was the worst of times, it was the best of times. Being a leader is about being human and building lives with people.
On day 2, we talked about culture.
People who come together with shared beliefs create a culture. And these shared beliefs create patterns in behavior. Your job as a cult leader is to help instill shared beliefs into your culture.
But how do you actually do that? Well, you create patterns in behavior. And these patterns lead to shared beliefs.
For example, you can teach your people that you celebrate wins of all kinds. And at the end of the school year have a big picnic or party for the kids. You can have anniversary parties, graduation parties, wedding parties, birthday parties, retirement parties, etc. Basically you find any reason to celebrate your people. This will teach them that they are valued, worthy, deserving, and their hard work is recognized.
How you treat people and the activities you all partake in together create shared beliefs. This is the culture that brings you all together. So celebrate anything and everything. Because why not? It feels good to be happy and celebrate. And because you need to program your people to celebrate themselves often.
You can program your cult following to succeed. Or you can program them to self destruct. But it feels a lot better to be the leader of a culture that is flourishing and happy.
Today, on day 3, let’s talk about logotherapy.
Victor Frankl was a psychiatrist who was put into numerous concentration camps during World War 2. He used this time to study people and figure out what made them able to survive. It wasn’t the healthiest, the strongest, or the most positive people who were able to survive the unthinkable conditions in concentration camps during World War 2. It was the people who had meaning in their lives. Meaning allowed people to weather the storm because they knew their life had a purpose. This is logotherapy.
Since then science has discovered that telemares are produced when people are being of service and accomplishing their purposes in life. Knowing your purposes and accomplishing them literally makes you a healthier, happier, more optimal human on a gene and cellular level. Telemares allow your DNA to replicate without flaws. When you lack telemares your DNA starts to have flaws and this causes disease, depression, and aging. Lack of telemares is ultimately why we die.
As a leader, it is your job to help your people find meaning. The more meaning they assign to their life the more human they will be on a gene and cellular level. The more meaning your group has the longer, healthier, and happier lives they will lead. The more meaning your people have, the more they will be able to weather any storm. This is logotherapy. It helps people find meaning.
An example of this would be when everyone in my family tells their people that they are superior and deserve to enslave the people around them and conquer the world. They tell you this is the purpose to your life and your birthright. Because this gives your life meaning. And when people accept this mission as their truth and meaning, they wholeheartedly work towards it.
You can enlist people to enslave the world and tell them this is their purpose in life. And they will accept it. Or you can actually try to help them find their purpose rather than enlisting them in your misguided evil agenda.