Front Leaders: These leaders take charge, set the vision, and lead the way. They take the initiative, and step up to the call when Allah (سبحانه وتعالى) calls them.
Back Leaders: These leaders encourage, gather everyone’s opinion, call meetings, and encourage mutual agreement and compromise.
In Islaimc work, and in any project, you need both types of leadership. Like when a group hikes through a trail. You need someone at the front to pick the path and set the pace. But for the people who get left behind, who stray away, and who get lost, you need a leader at the back to encourage them and guide them.
If you lack a leader at the front, everyone says “Hey, leader, why don’t you take charge and do something?” and your work degenerates into a spiral of meetings after meetings. Nothing gets done.
If you lack a leader at the back, the leader says “You wash the floors, you buy the dates, you call the speakers” and he gets pegged a tyrant.
To succeed, you need both styles of leadership. If your organization or project is stuck, change up your leadership style. You need to mix it up, or maybe hire a partner.
Wallahu ‘alim.
Muhammad Alshareef. Lecture. AlMaghrib. Conquest: History of the Khulafa. University of Toronto, Toronto. November 2005.