Aspies and Leadership

Post Reply New Topic

Aspies often don't get leadership positiosns due to our lack of empathy and problems interpersonally. I have personaly learned that I need to be assertive and even somewhat agressive to achieve this. I have taken charge in emergency situations when others were panicing while I was highly focused and directed others in what to do. I have been first and second on the scene of accidents and atempted suicides. I can lead if I am the logical choice to lead. I just take charge, but I won't do this if some one else has already done so and are dealing with the emergency well. I am loyal to leaders that are positive and competant and am contemptfull and disrespectful of leaders who are negative and abusive who do not desearve my respect or loyalty!! !! I have proven to be more than they can deal with!! I enjoy standing up to them and telling them off. This has gotten me fired from a few jobs though...no big loss at least!!

I can do decent in leading people, as in coordinating things. I don't like doing some forms of leadership though.....I also good w/helping people with some things....

The problem with being aspie is you can see how things ought to work, but other people don't see you seeing it.

It's the reciprocal part that makes a real leader - aspies are disabled from the role. We make excellent support for leaders, excellent advisers, strategic analysts par excellence and, in exceptional circumstances we can lead. But for everyday consumption, we don't make it.

If the normals had a realer picture of where they were and where we were things might work better, but they don't; and it's going to take another decade or two before we have any chance whatsoever of shifting that. In the meantime, we can only get as good as we can at seeing what's really happening, struggle to master the art of talking sensibly about it, and keep our hopes alive.

I think Aspies in general are much better suited in the position of a Brain Trust than as the actual leader. Leadership requires people skills first and foremost, and oftentimes skillful situation evaluation requires a less humanity-driven mind, and more of a robotic, calculating mindset; Something of which many Aspies possess to a large degree. I know that at least personally I love giving input on situations and teaching everyone what we should be doing, but I suck in the leadership role itself- I have a very hard time with telling people to follow what I say without sounding like a bossy prick


-edit- Guess I just rephrased the posted above mine more or less haha.. It's good that we agree anyway!

At work, at my last project, I turned down a leadership position multiple times. I finally agreed to help some day, and I did not like it at all...

I guess I would rather be the one observing everything and trying to help the best I can the current leader. Some kind of advisor, I would say.

Every job that I have been involved in at some point I have Been put in charge of something or head something at some point. My first job was at Superdrug which for those living in the US or anywhere in the world it is a health store in the UK. There I was put in charge of the small warehouse at the back I was only 17/18 at the time someone did say to me that they reckon that within 5-10 years working I would be store manager at a Superdrug but I left due to depression caused by my being rediagnosed. Also my current job I have been there almost 2 years I work doing maintenance at a school I am second in charge and my boss went away for 5 months over Christmas and I was put in charge in those 5 months and it went really quickly as well and I was very comfortable with it.

I'm glad someone brought this up, because I teach Personal Leadership as part of the skills enhancement series at work.

I have very often been chosen for leadership positions based almost entirely on my level of intelligence, even though it was obvious that I was odd and a nervous wreak. The point was that the powers that be would decide "Oh, Steve's smart; he's not going to mess things up." So, then because it was flattering and I was too willing to please, I would accept these roles and I would do well, but I was continually exhausted, anxious, and unhappy.

So, I teach my students to say "no" to any offers that don't seem to fit who they really are. I love teaching, because it offers a minimum of really personal interaction and zero pleasant "customer-servicy" stuff. I try to reserve my greatest accomplishments for activities that I can perform alone, like the actual lesson planning, and of course, my poetry.

I disagree with your assessment. I have AS and I'm one of those "natural" leaders. I was always a de facto leader of my *very* small group of friends. Now in both my professions I have official leadership roles.

You see, I don't buy the argument AS is the next step in human evolution. It is a disorder - i.e. something doesn't work correctly inside of us.

Take me, for example. I was naturally "wired" to be an extrovert, but because of the AS and all the mistakes / faux pas / "rude" things I say by accident I tend to act very introverted.

I am certainly a natural leader as well, but I realize now where my limitations are. I will gladly take the leadership role in small groups and among people with whom I am very familiar, but to take the reigns for a large project involving a large number of strangers and which requires heaps of tact, just causes me too much stress. We are all capable of leadership in some form, even if it is only in offering ourselves as an example to others.

I agree that it is the AS that stops me from being all I can be, but there are FAR worse disorders we could have. There are physical disabilities that would be more of an impediment. I try to capitalize on the talents and and strengths I have. No one is perfect and I am not going to cry over hands that weren't dealt to me.

I feel like, with proper training, Aspies would make the most effective leaders. Our, some of us, our intellectual abilities and also are ability to cut straight through to the truth allows us to paint a clear picture. One of the things we have to do is develop our interpersonal skills. Something that can be done through therapy and training. You see a lot of the reason Aspies have so many issues is because we are socially repressed, but once we learn to play the "game" so to speak we could possibly be better than everyone. I've always been a very dominant and competitive person. If I did not have Asperger's I would be some kind of Super Alpha Male or something. What I've learned through my years of social torture is that I have to ability to figure how to win or dominate faster than anyone else. I also think that I can learn social skills. Remember, some of the greatest leaders in all of history had Asperger's. People like Thomas Jefferson and Alexander the Great. Our brains make it easy for us to dominate any game or event we participate in.