Why is real leadership so hard?

Rabbi Landau teaches that leadership is hard because the things that matter most cannot be forced. “You can force behavior, you cannot force love, you cannot force loyalty, and you cannot force somebody to say, I want to be part of this.”

Fear can get results for a while, he says, but “the second the fear disappears, the relationship disappears,” because the person never chose you.

So a real leader has to build something people would choose even if they were free to say no. The deepest relationships, he teaches, “are built when somebody could say no and chooses to say yes.” That is the meaning of b'ratzon, willingly.

Going deeper: Rabbi Landau's teaching, level by level

Surface claim

Leadership is hard because love and loyalty cannot be forced.

Fear, vulnerability, or tension

Leading through fear works only while the fear lasts.

Deepest human truth

Real leadership earns a free yes from someone who could have said no.

More questions from this teaching

• Is obedience out of fear the same as loyalty?