People don’t lead. Ideas do.

The people we call leaders are “voices” or “spokespersons” of ideas. They can capture the feelings, longings, fundamental needs of people who often can not express themselves.

Having identified these feelings, desires, these needs, even unconsciously, the “spokespersons” organize them and transform them into articulated ideas. Ideas that can be easily presented and understood, communicated intensely, and mobilizing. The ideas, then, resonate with people because they came from them.

The “spokespersons” that stand out do not set paths or ways to realize ideas. They encourage people to look for ways and shapes themselves. They can “compile” the various proposals and, once again, organize them so that they are easily assimilated and put into action.

There are numerous historical examples of these “spokespersons”: Moses, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mandela. These can be seen as “spokesmen for good.”

There are also “spokesmen for evil” such as Nero, Genghis Khan, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Idi Amin.

Several of these “spokespersons” did not impose themselves by force. They were chosen, elected by the people. And they led them to perform abominable acts in the name of a cause that, somehow, was within them.

Feelings of frustration, helplessness, unhappiness with life are open fields for the emergence of such leaders. That encourages xenophobic, prejudiced, discriminatory behaviors. As if the culprits for not fulfilling the wishes were the others.

Ignorance, bad faith, and thirst for power combine and favor these “spokespersons” to manipulate people’s feelings for something that causes division, suffering, persecution, crimes, wars. But it is important to note that also in these cases, the supposed leaders are spokespersons for the people’s desires.

We live in a time of social networks full of fake news and which, with their algorithms, we only give us ideas similar to those we carry within us. That is why it is essential to be aware that the so-called leaders are “spokespersons” for ourselves. Essential to make deep reflections on what we most intimately want, what our deepest beliefs are, how much we are willing to challenge our convictions.

On the other hand, we must evaluate how we react to the information that comes to us. It is not admissible to plainly accept them and to forward what seems interesting to us. We must question. Where did the information come from? What are the sources? How reliable are they? Are the things sent to us as if they were signed by prominent authors really theirs?

Each of us has a responsibility to check any information, text, news before forwarding it to anyone. And report false information. Otherwise, absurd ideas can also lead many people and cause irreparable harm.

Social networks can be an extraordinary tool to disseminate noble values, high purposes, ideas, and causes for which it is worth working.

It is the ideas that lead us. It is up to us to be “spokespersons” for those who actually contribute to human progress and all forms of life.

This is a proposal for conscious leadership.