Orphan sits in a lotus position, reading a book on communication and group processes, written from a social psychology perspective. It was rough going for him. The closest Orphan had ever come to taking a psychology course was the couple times during his adolescence when he was given batteries of psychological tests due to his having scrapes with the law and his habitual truancy and under-performance in school. Still, there were some things he found interesting, especially the stuff about groupthink.
He wasn't sure he was getting anything that was going to be immediately useful out of it, but he'd give it some time and keep thinking over what he was reading. Usually things made more sense after he'd done that a bit, and then he'd be better able to judge how useful an idea or piece of information was.
Orphan put down the book when it was time for the chat he'd arranged with Magister West. He figured that would provide some immediately useful information, as well as lots of things to think about.
He grabbed a bottle of pomagranate juice before seeking out West, and when he finally found him - about a minute prior to the appointed time - he greeted him with a simple "Hey, West. This a good time for that talk I asked about?"
West sat in the yard, involved in the mundane task of stretching. Sweat shone on him from his running, and a towel lay to the side, resting near one of his ubiquitous handguns.
"Sure," he replied. "I made it back just in time," he added with a slight smile at his silly pun.
Orphan grins at the joke as well as he sinks once again into a lotus position, but then gets serious.
"I've been thinking a lot about leadership lately... thinking about good leaders I've met and read about, and what made them good, and reading a lot about the topic from a lot of different perspectives. What I think will be most useful, though, is to get some first-hand perspective. So, if you don't mind me asking, how did you become a leader, and what do you think are important qualities of a good leader?"
"I got a battlefield promotion," West said, clearly not thrilled with the thought. "There just wasn't anyone else. Normally, I'm either a First Talon or T-Guard." He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"I'm not sure I know what makes a good leader, without just regurgitating things I've read. Kai and I always just... agreed; then did the job."
After thinking a moment, Orphan says "That's interesting you say that. Thinking about what I've read, it seems like a lot of successful leaders wouldn't be nearly as successful if they didn't have really close working relationships with some of the people under them. Not just good people, but people on the same wavelength, yet different enough to not just go along without questioning things or offering suggestions. Grant and Sherman understood each other better than brothers. Lee and Stonewall Jackson had that, too, and Lee's strategies didn't get carried out nearly as well after Jackson died.
"So, part of what I've got to do - what all of us need to do - is get to know each other, get on that wavelength, like you and Kai had. That sound right?"
Orphan had already been thinking a lot about him and the other Arrows needing to get used to working together, but getting to know each other as people ... that was a whole different thing, and thinking about it, Orphan realized he didn't really know that much about his companions, or them about him. He liked Tug a lot, but he wouldn't have a clue what sort of gift he might like, or what he liked to watch on TV other than sports... or did he even follow sports any more? Joshua kept everything close to the chest, and seemed like a very private person, and Falx... Orphan didn't know what was up with Falx, other than that something had happened to him while he was in the military. PTSD?
"Well, I wouldn't call either Kai or I Generals," West said with a self-deprecating smile. "For the most part... the Ungala Draconis used us for threat assessment and nullification. Our Cabal, the Neidan, was formed from an earlier Cabal called the Archangels, and there were some who even called us a hit team."
Over a year now since Baltimore. Since JoAnne, Uriel, Aphophis, Soul, Madelyne, Hephaestus, Ridley, The March Hare, and Kaa.
Since Pandora.
What are Chris and Diane doing?
"Sure," Orphan says. "But wouldn't you say the same principle would apply to things like sports teams and... I dunno, cops that work in a special unit together, or even a really good construction crew? Knowing each other's abilities is important, but knowing each other well enough to be able to account for the human factor, for each member's personality and stuff like that... that sounds like a universal principle, something that's always going to up the odds of success."
"Of course, to be effective," West replied. "I thought you were still talking about being a good leader, though... and I'm not sure if a good leader can afford to completely trust someone to cover their deficiencies... but, maybe they can. I haven't really thought about it."
Finished stretching, he relaxed, leaning back on his arms.
"Sure, a fire team does, because each person's role is based on their abilities, which for us, is more clearly defined by Paths -- most of the time. Neither Kai nor I achieved Mastery in our Path Arcana first..."
"I think I'm kind of juggling two lines of thought... what it takes to be effective as a team, because me and Falx and Joshua and the rest need to figure that out, but also the leadership thing... and I guess I'm sort of trying to figure out where the two meet. Sometimes a leader stands apart from those he leads - a general, especially in modern times, or a coach of a sports team. But there are also leaders who are part of the team... squad leaders, team captains, quarterbacks, the foreman of a construction crew."
Orphan shakes his head. "Maybe I need to tackle one part of that at a time. So, the leadership thing. Let me ask you this... do you think there's some quality or skill that really makes some people a better leader, and if so, is it something some people just have, or is it something most people can learn? Like... what do you think about the Silver Ladder? Some of them seem to think they are the natural leaders of the Awakened, almost like it's their god-given right or something. Do you think they really are more fit to be leaders than other mages, or do they join the Silver Ladder because they want to be leaders, or to be in charge?"
"It has been my experience that those you seek power, or think themselves fit to wield it, rarely are... and that power corrupts. As with anything... there are exceptions. I believe that the Ladder has the training, focus, and background that they are, or become, the best suited to make decisions for the Pentacle -- just as we are most fit to combat the Pentacle's enemies. Beyond that... we're all just people," West said, after a few moments of thought.
"As far as what makes a good leader? I suppose that depends on what the standards and measures for 'good' are..." he added with questioning look.
Orphan takes a moment to think about that. After all, one is more likely to find an answer if they can define what it is they want to know. "Effective, successful... able to see and stay focused on the big picture... focused on achieving the mission, getting the right result, as opposed to just seeking personal gain, or glory."
The last bit was something Orphan had worked on a lot during his travels prior to, and since, coming to Sacramento. When he'd first started to learn the ways of magic and of his legacy, he'd had a tendency toward being cocky and something of a show-off. His legacy mentor, Typhoon, had worked hard at breaking him of that sort of behavior, and his experiences since then had certainly not given him a lot to feel too cocky about, but one of the things that most worried Orphan about taking a leadership role was that having authority might corrupt him and encourage him to slide back into such behavior. If he was going to be a leader, he wanted to be one that lead for the right reasons, not for himself.
"And where does furthering the overall goals of the organization fit in? Or knowledge transfer? Or Wisdom? What is... 'the right result'?" West asked. He was curious, and serious.
"All good questions, but deep." Orphan thinks, before replying to one of them pretty quickly. "Furthering the overall goals of the organization, I think that whenever possible, the mission - or project, or immediate goal, or whatever - should hopefully further those overall goals. Sometimes that's not going to be the case - sometimes there are things that need to be done that don't necessarily relate to long-term or big-picture goals - but if the missions, projects, etc. never seem to relate back to the overall goals, then one has to ask if there's a problem with the missions, projects and whatever, maybe a lack of prioritization, or maybe the missions or projects aren't being completed in the right way... or, in some cases maybe the overall goals need to be reexamined."
He thinks a bit more. "Knowledge transfer... man, that's a whole big area I haven't even given thought to, beyond just basic effective communication stuff. And Wisdom... well, it's important that a leader maintain high standards if they're going to expect such standards of others, but then there's always the possibility of a situation in which person has to make a sacrifice for the good of the mission or the organization, possibly even at the cost of Wisdom. But one can't take that too far, either, or one loses sight of the mission and can't lead or promote the overall goals very effectively.
"As far as the right result ... well, some people might ask whether you're talking about the morally right result, or what's right in terms of doing one's duty and accomplishing the organization's goals, but I don't think one really gets to the 'right' result if one separates those out too far. Seems to me the ideal is to accomplish whatever it is you're trying to accomplish in a way that follows the path of Wisdom and, I guess going back to the overall goals... it hopefully furthers those as well, and takes into account the big picture while not losing sight of the fact that even small decisions can have a big impact on the persons one is leading, or any number of other people."
After some more thought, Orphan takes that a little further. "I think a good leader tries find balance between those overall goals of the organization and their own sense of right and wrong. If a leader can't do that, they probably won't be a good leader, or at least not within the structure of that organization. If you are often going with your conscience but not the organization goals, or going with the organization goals but against your own sense of right and wrong, at very least you'd have to question whether you're a good fit with that organization."