Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
According to Li Xin Bai in the Harvard Business Review blog, The Conversation, there are three types of leaders:
Sun-like leaders. The quintessential sun-like leader is an entrepreneur, one who takes the lead in everything, just as the sun illuminates everything. Their subordinates get close supervision. These hands-on leaders sometimes feel like if they're not involved, they've lost control — as their follower, you need to be aware of this sense of insecurity.
Moon-like leaders. The moon reflects the light of the sun; a moon-like leader reflects the light of his employees. He is more open-minded and trusting of his people. Only when you lose your way — just like someone walking a dark road at night — would he step forward to shed light on what he thinks you should do.
Star-like leaders. Leaders of this type will only indicate a direction, like the North Star. Their teams, however, still need a light source, so star-like leaders need followers who can step up and light the way for others. Only those leaders with great wisdom have the confidence to be star-like.
Personally, I'm the fourth kind of leader: the Black Hole leader. I tend to suck up all of the light and energy in my universe and then collapse into myself and into the time-space emptiness.
Or so I've been told.
But it's an interesting set of descriptions. And I think they hold up -- we're all, basically, both leaders and followers throughout our days (and lives).
Politically, though, I wonder if we've got too many Suns and not enough Stars? Was Reagan a Moon or a Star? (We know he wasn't a Sun....)
Obama seems like a Moon -- he totally reflects the will of his real employees, his direct reports in the federal government. He runs the federal side of things like a CEO who is wholly-owned by the labor union bosses in his company.
Something tells me, though, that what we need is a Sun -- a hard-charging, hands-on leader to make real change. Chris Christie seems like a Sun to me. So does Mitch Daniels. What they may lack in Star-like vision, they make up for in sharp elbows and real accomplishment.
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May '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
Sun leaders are more egocentric, and moon leaders are actually more likely to accomplish things. GW Bush was definitely a moon- he preferred to be misunderestimated.
My favorite is still the Mushroom Manager from my old business school days.
Aug '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
Suns, moons, stars? It's almost magically delicious.
Suns have sharper elbows than stars? Who knew! -- I could've sworn we learned in school that the sun was just another star.
But I think our categories need even more diversity. So in addition to including black holes, how about nebulae, pulsars (different from other stars, thus deserving their own special category), and dark matter?
That some celestial bodies are named in this list is not intended to discriminate against celestial bodies not so named, though some institutional discrimination is inevitable.
Edited on Oct 11, 2010 at 1:16pmAug '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
I think Obama's a black hole leader powering his czars, toadies, and minions, who are whirling neutron star leaders. Twin rays of deadly, devastating radiation spin like beams from a lighthouse, destroying everything in its path and frightening everyone who witnesses it.
Here's the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crab_Nebula.jpg
The Romans believed we in some way came from the skies, and were destined to be stars in the sky after death. Perhaps they were onto something?
Edited on Oct 11, 2010 at 1:20pmJun '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
Rob: I have a hard time with academia's penchant to force-fit their ideas about leadership (and everything else) into these false metaphors. I worked in a large corporation for many years and found two kinds of leaders: (1) those with common sense and a strong work ethic and (2) self-important nitwits. The first kind are successful; the second kind aren't (unless they change jobs fast enough so that when crap happens, they're not there to have any of it splatter them).
I really like Mitch Daniels and, from everything I've read, he's a hard-working, common sense kind of guy. That's good enough for me.
Aug '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
It appears from this definition that Suns are micro-managers; something we definitely don't want in a president. True leaders are rarely if ever micro-managers; they empower their followers and get out of the way.
BTW, I think Palin may be a Supernova - a dazzling display which in the end leaves nothing but empty space.
Sep '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
I'd put Obama in the Jupiter-like leader category. Planet Jupiter, being a gas giant, looks huge from the outside but really doesn't consist of that much solid matter.
Aug '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
Frozen Chosen:
BTW, I think Palin may be a Supernova - a dazzling display which in the end leaves nothing but empty space. · Oct 11 at 1:25pm
What's left behind is not entirely nothing.
Aug '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Frozen Chosen:
BTW, I think Palin may be a Supernova - a dazzling display which in the end leaves nothing but empty space. · Oct 11 at 1:25pm
What's left behind is not entirely nothing. · Oct 11 at 1:33pm
Sorry, I had a really cute girl in my freshman astronomy class that I wanted to date and didn't pay much attention. Got a "C" in that class if I recall correctly...
Aug '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
Frozen Chosen
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Frozen Chosen:
BTW, I think Palin may be a Supernova - a dazzling display which in the end leaves nothing but empty space. · Oct 11 at 1:25pm
What's left behind is not entirely nothing. · Oct 11 at 1:33pm
Sorry, I had a really cute girl in my freshman astronomy class that I wanted to date and didn't pay much attention. Got a "C" in that class if I recall correctly... · Oct 11 at 1:47pm
I'll grant you, freshman astronomy is a good class for getting to know cute girls, particularly during the labs (at least some of which ought to be at night, outdoors).
May '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
Reagan was a star and still is for that matter. Thirty years on he is still the conservative true north to which all our compasses point.
It is also what got him in trouble with Iran-Contra. Ollie and Co. were sure they knew what the Old Man wanted.
Rob, on the other hand....
May '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
Personally, I prefer Lucky Charms for my leadership metaphors. Most of us are plain grain, but the marshmallows wouldn't be the same without us.
Aug '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
EJHill:
Rob, on the other hand.... · Oct 11 at 1:57pm
OK, I bite. Where did you get that equation from? Because I'm not identifying it and it's making me feel silly. (My best guess is that it has to do with relationship between charge and mass with respect to black holes -- but that's really a very stupid guess.)
The fact that we can see Rob in your graphic means he's letting some light escape, though. So he can't be as black as he's painted.
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
Many presidents are Comets - they appear in the heavens, fill the people with awe and fear, then vanish. They return years later, when they have a book that needs publicizing.
Jul '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
I left Indiana (after attending both high school and college there) right before Mitch was elected and I've always sorta found him intriguing--what appears to be a common-sense conservative with actual bedrock principles and a lack of interest in involving the government in some of the more contentious social issues. But today I posted the Huffington article on Facebook and ignited a firestorm amongst my Indiana fans. They loathe him, liberals and conservatives alike, and across the board say he's perceived in the state as being just like any other politician in the country. I've thought for a while that sheer wattage might be his biggest disadvantage against Obama (and Palin, in a primary) but this could also hurt. Pawlenty's home-state voters don't want him to run either by a slim margin but his home state isn't one that any viable GOP nominee would really need to flip...If Indiana flips back, Obama's in trouble. If the sitting governor can't promise that as the GOP nominee...that's trouble.
May '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
It's not a stupid guess. It's from the Wikipedia article on black holes and like everything in my TV world it was haphazardly put together for aesthetic reasons, not because it added anything intellectually. It's that crappy deadline thing.
Addendum - I also wanted to Photo Illustrate Diane's thread about Spain but resisted the temptation.
Edited on Oct 11, 2010 at 3:14pmOct '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
Well we all shine on/Like the sun, and the moon, and the stars... -- John Lennon
Aug '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
EJHill
It's not a stupid guess. It's from the Wikipedia article on black holes and like everything in my TV world it was haphazardly put together for aesthetic reasons, not because it added anything intellectually.
Thanks, EJ.
It's a rather interesting equation, actually, saying that the amount of charge (Q) and the total angular momentum in proportion to mass (J/M -- the J had me confused -- I expected L for angular momentum, but forgot about spin) for a black hole is constrained by its mass. If you exceed that constraint, the singularity goes naked -- meaning it's no longer "black", or unobservable.
So if Rob is charged-up, spinning black hole, the fact that we can see him at all means he must have exceeded a certain mass and become a naked singularity -- the only one, ever.
Rob, if this is true, don't ever go on too severe a diet, or you might disappear, literally.
You should also know that your existence cripples General Relativity.
May '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
The Naked Singularity. It sounds like the title of a novel. And then I searched for it on Amazon it and it came up as two different books. No idea is original, I guess...
Edited on Oct 11, 2010 at 4:04pmAug '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
EJHill
The Naked Singularity. It sounds like the title of a novel. And then I searched for it on Amazon it and it came up as two different books. No idea is original, I guess... · Oct 11 at 4:00pm
Edited on Oct 11 at 04:04 pm
Has "Naked Singularity meets Luxury Loo" been done before, though?: "Gravitational field of world's only naked singularity deranges intricate mechanisms of world's highest-tech toilet to create perfect storm. Tempest in a toilet bowl."
You could create quite the superhero by combining the awesome power of a gravitational singularity with all the jets and nozzles of a super-toilet.
May '10
Re: Are You A Sun, a Moon, or a Star?
All set in Flushing, NY, no doubt.