If you’ve played hide and seek with an infant, you will find how they don’t physically hide but rather close their eyes. Their innocence leads them to believe that if they close their eyes, the world cannot see them, hence are invisible. We, as adults, play along, pretending not to be able to see or find them.

Imagine the infant growing up and doing the same thing.

For a naïve child, it is perceived as adorable.

But with an adult behaving in the same way, it is perceived as being afraid to face reality, and therefore, hide. Do nothing! Become a bystander. This behavior is visually evident in times when one is afraid of the outcome.

There are several abandoned buildings and places around the world.

One example is Bodie, California where in the late 1800s, Bodie was a thriving gold mining town. It had a population of more than 10,000 people but today is a ghost town that’s been preserved in a state of arrested decay. Over 50 buildings still stand there today, featuring preserved interiors and antiques that look as though they were sitting there exactly as they were left. But now, it remains abandoned, only open to the public to visit and admire its historical architecture.

Here’s another example of an abandoned place but one with a strict no-entry zone. It’s a forest believed to be a portal to another dimension, mostly because those who have entered have never been found again. There are accounts of people who have managed to pass through this forest. They have reported bizarre sensations, green eyes staring at a distance, women screaming, and girls giggling in a forest with no visibility of humans.

This place is called the Hoia Forest and is situated in Romania. It is popularly named the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania but is left abandoned and secured at the perimeters so no one can enter.

Like these, there are plenty of abandoned places in the world. We just don’t know what to do with them. We haven’t decided yet. Some of them remain as snapshots of remarkable or cruel historical events.

Abandonment by a Leader

When you abandon something, it’s most likely to never be seen again or you see it after many years. Like a doll, a half-written diary, a pen, a scarf, a toy car, and other such materials all are left to the ambiguity of time.

Even abandoned buildings, ships, and forests lay unattended or preserved but nothing more is done about them. It’s like they’ve been left there stagnant and unattended for eternity.

But what about a leader in a high position who stays stagnant in all decision-making processes? Is such a leader the kind that abandons situations, does not get involved, remains a bystander, and never says anything when required? They turn into the infant who closes their eyes hoping a problem will solve itself.

A True Leader Neither Seeks nor Avoids.

~Krescon Coaches

Every leader is tasked with the intense role of decision-making. Decision-making is one of the greatest challenges as outcomes rely heavily on the shoulders of a leader. However, a leader who is afraid to make decisions or remains a bystander is nothing less than an abandoned building.

The bystander leader abandons his or her role and also leaves a team to decay into stagnancy. This is when a leader turns into a fence sitter.

Paul: “If I’m not supposed to be a part of this thing then what am I doing here? I finally have a chance to do something that matters.”

Dusan: “Paul, come on, now you are talking crazy.” Pointing to the last surviving colony of people in the world, Dusan justifies his reasons for inaction, “These people, they’re wonderful, but… it’s a cult. And the extinction, it’s not going to happen for, you know, maybe a few hundred years. It has nothing to do with you. Forget it. Besides, do you think they won’t behave like people always behave? They’re all going to go insane down there and kill each other. They will go extinct long before we do.”

Paul listens to Dusan and walks away disappointed. Downsizing is an interesting movie that showcases turning people into tiny people. This invention was made to help save the resources of the world from depleting.

So, during the course of this movie, there is a character Dusan who represents the ambiguous leader, the one who doesn’t take a stand. He symbolizes the bystander leader who feels that the problem at hand is not an outcome he will be around to experience. He takes the extinction of the world lightly because, in a few hundred years, he won’t be around; so why bother?

This is pretty much what a bystander leader does. He or she becomes ambiguous about their decision, doesn’t say anything at all, takes no action, and does not get involved. One of the reasons a leader might do this is when they feel helpless about a situation or do not take it seriously.

However, a steady and true leader with a high Spiritual Quotient will take action. They won’t stand by if approached for a solution. They won’t remain ambiguous but rather take a stand and not sit on the fence. A True leader also avoids taking action when they are not sought for anything. They instead allow their people to journey as a team and succeed accordingly.

Here’s an interesting poem that easily explains how an ambiguous leader turns out to be:

‘And yet in the thick of things, where decisions didn’t see the light of day

he didn’t move a muscle, say, or do anything.

Let it pass, he thought, memories will fade, and all will be forgotten

But still, loud winds waited on him and so did the crushing leaves

Standing in the abyss of ambiguity, he turned a blind eye

Like the abandoning of a tear drying up halfway down a cheek.’