I have a favorite book on leadership called "A Failure of Nerve." The author is a famous therapist versed in helping toxic systems become healthy. Those toxic systems can be the workplace, homes, clubs, churches, synagogues, teams, politics, cities, counties, or...groups on a forum.
The authors premise is that anxiety creates havoc in the system and the more out of whack the leaders are the worse it is for everyone. Here is the list of things that are true of people who are in or contribute more anxiety in a system...
1. Reactivity: the vicious cycle of intense reactions of each member to events and to one another. Limited capacity for reflection, large capacity for reaction.
2. Herding: a process through which the forces of togetherness triumph over the forces for individuality and move everyone to adapt to the most emotionally recalcitrant member of the system.
3. Blame Displacement: an emotional state in which family members focus on forces that have victimized them rather than taking responsibility for their own well being and destiny.
4. A quick fix mentality: a low threshold for pain that constantly seeks symptom relief rather than fundamental change.
5. a lack of Well-Defined Leadership: a failure of nerve that both stems from and contributes to the first four.
If leadership is a topic for you, this is a must read. As far as this thread goes, many of the 5 are getting displayed. The question that should be asked is which one of those did I display? Not, which one did ol' so and so display?
Capacity for reflection and not just reaction. If you can't learn to reflect you won't get very far.