Axiom #14: Osmosis

There are certain things we learned in school that for one reason or another, just stick with you. Quite often there is no rhyme or reason as to why they stuck so plainly, they just did. For me, one of those items is the principle called “osmosis.” I imagine most of you recall it. In brief it states that a substance will always move from a place of greater concentration to a place of lesser concentration. My chemist friends can give the exact reasoning, but the principle is true whether or not an individual understands why it works.

I have seen that leadership works in a similar way. If there is void in leadership in an organization or a group, something will always fill that void. This void could be created by a leader’s departure or by a leader’s abandonment of leading, but the void will not remain a void for long. If the concentration of leadership is low, some leader(s) will move to fill that void coming from the place where there is more leadership.

In almost every case, you will NOT like what moves to fill that void. Seldom does a good leader move into a void created by the leader in place not fulfilling their responsibilities. I have seen it occur where a good leader assumes the leadership of the situation, but more often than not it seems to me that a bad leader will take over that role if the situation is left to its own devices.

That leads to the obvious fact; you should never leave an organization or group without a leader in place. If a group you have responsibility for has a leader resign, take steps quickly to determine who you want in that place, even if it is an interim leader while you locate the correct permanent one. If you want your vision to be carried out, you simply do not want to allow leadership to rise on its own. Have a hand it determining who is in that position.