What does it mean when you say "They are looking for leadership"?

I am once again the President of my neighborhood. I feel compelled to say that my neighborhood is not the typical gated community type of private neighborhood but rather an old fashioned quasi Borough of the small town I live in. I don;t want you to think I am rich. Feel free to help make me rich though.

We are going through a cyclical agony of dealing with the issue of Town Water being put in - or not - in our neighborhood and some surrounding neighborhoods. The last administration botched their part in this by doing their work without transparency and daylight. This left the Community fractionated and irritated. There are a small group of folks (particularly those that were on the committee) that think the work they did was great. It actually was a good piece of negotiation in general. What they don't seem to realize is that all the work they did that was never made a matter of public record doesn't really exist. The final proposal that they got from the town was never distributed or voted on. I tell you all this to give context for the statement that I want to reflect on in today's post.

My position has been through my previous two Presidencies and indeed this third that the function of the Executive Committee in a Community context is not to make the decision but rather to facilitate the Community's process of negotiation and decision making.

One of the members of the Executive Committee (one at least!) doesn't agree and thinks that "They are looking for our Leadership".

What he and I mean by Leadership are very different in this context. I am meaning the Leadership of facilitation and he is meaning the leadership of fulfilling executive function (read thinking) for.

Years back, in 1990 and 1991 I was experimenting with the Sacred Clown and Political Theater by creating a public persona of Phul Evriman, a Presidential candidate. His motto was "Remember to Think for Yourself"

It is very important to remember to think about two things in this situation; who actually is they? and,  that when you are President you are leading everyone who agrees with you as well as everyone who doesn't agree with you. Leading only those that agree with you is a very different animal (farm) from leading the whole Community. Leading from the follow me if you agree with me position inevitably divides the Community further. You may well manage a to persuade a majority but the minority will resent you. If you lead the whole Community and do it from a follow me and have your say position the Community will be stronger regardless of the margin.