Why Personal Leadership Matters More Now Than Ever: When 65% Would Rather Follow Orders Than Do What’s Right

Time is long, but people’s memory is short. And that’s why history keeps repeating itself.

​There’s a saying:​

And unfortunately, it’s true.

Not because the lessons aren’t there. But because people’s memory is short.

I remember when gas prices in LA were approaching $5 a gallon. I was driving a service truck for work, so I didn’t have to pay for gas. But my personal truck was parked on the street in Westchester, near LAX.

Twice, people siphoned gas out of my truck.

I wasn’t upset. I felt sorry for them. I was blessed—I was working steady, all my bills were paid. I wasn’t the guy putting only $5 worth of gas in the tank at the pump, like I’d see some people do.

I also remember LA’s car culture shifting. People were getting rid of their big gas-guzzling SUVs because of gas prices.

But you know the funny—and stupid—thing?

A few years later, I saw the same gas-guzzling SUVs back on the streets of LA.

Now, I’m no economist. I do my best to follow the economy to prepare for the boom and bust cycles of the construction industry.

But it seemed foolish to me:

If you can’t afford an SUV when gas is $5 a gallon, can you really afford the same SUV when gas is down to $4 a gallon?

And who’s to say it won’t go back up to $5? Or $6?

Time is long. But people’s memory is short.

And that’s the problem.

Why People Are Shocked (When They Shouldn’t Be)

I’m watching what’s going on in the US right now. And people are shocked.

But they’re only shocked because they haven’t learned from history.

I went looking for information on the Nuremberg trials recently. Because hopefully, the US will go through the same system of accountability.

On the homepage of my website, I list my “enemies”:

Losers, lemmings, and Luddites.

Those who live in fear. Those who are afraid of change, progress, diversity.

Those who want a simple, safe, secure life—when that’s only an illusion.

Those who cling to some “perfect past.”

And I always ask:

The past wasn’t perfect. It was just the past.

And clinging to it—refusing to learn from it—is how we end up repeating the same mistakes.

The Stanley Milgram Experiment: When 65% Choose to Hurt Others

Have you heard of the Stanley Milgram experiments from the 1960s?

Milgram wanted to understand how ordinary people could participate in atrocities. How average citizens could follow orders to harm others.

So he designed an experiment.

Participants were told they were part of a study on learning and memory. They were instructed to administer electric shocks to another person (an actor, though the participants didn’t know that) every time they answered a question incorrectly.

The shocks started at 15 volts. But with each wrong answer, the voltage increased. Up to 450 volts—labeled “Danger: Severe Shock.”

The actor would scream. Beg them to stop. Complain about a heart condition. Eventually, go silent.

And the participants were told to keep going.

Guess how many people turned up the voltage all the way to 450 volts?

A few? Some? Half?

65%.

65% of average people would rather follow directions and hurt someone than stand up, think for themselves, and do what’s morally right.

Even when it’s “legal” to be immoral.

Why This Matters to Me Personally

As an electrician, I’ve been caught on a 277-volt circuit in the middle of the night on graveyard shift.

I screamed. The current went through my chest. I couldn’t pull myself off the circuit.

I finally buckled my legs so I could tumble down the 10-foot ladder I was on.

The guys around me who heard me yell came running at full tilt. Coming to my aid.

Now imagine that same scream.

But instead of rushing to help, someone turns up the voltage. Inflicts more pain.

That’s what the Milgram experiment proved people would do.

Not because they’re evil. But because they were told to. Because an authority figure said it was okay.

Because they didn’t think for themselves.

The Problem: Too Many Losers, Lemmings, and Luddites

Here’s what’s wrong with people as a whole:

We have too many losers, lemmings, and Luddites. And not enough leaders.

Losers are the people who’ve given up. Who blame everyone else for their problems. Who refuse to take responsibility for their lives.

Lemmings are the people who follow the crowd. Who do what they’re told without thinking. Who go along to get along, even when it’s wrong.

Luddites are the people who resist change with violence. Who cling to the past. Who fear progress because it threatens their comfort.

And all three are dangerous.

Not because they’re actively malicious, though some can be as we have seen. But because they abdicate personal leadership.

They let someone else do the thinking. Someone else make the decisions. Someone else take responsibility.

And when enough people do that, bad things happen.

What Personal Leadership Actually Means

Personal leadership isn’t about being in charge. It’s not about having a title or managing people.

Personal leadership is about taking responsibility for your own thinking, your own decisions, your own actions.

It’s about refusing to outsource your moral compass to someone else.

It’s about standing up for what’s right, even when it’s uncomfortable. Even when it’s unpopular. Even when an authority figure tells you otherwise.

Personal leadership is the opposite of being a lemming.

Why Personal Leadership Matters More Now Than Ever

We live in a time when:

• Algorithms tell us what to think by controlling what we see
• Social media rewards conformity and punishes independent thought
• Authority figures demand loyalty over integrity
• People are more interested in being right than finding the truth
• Fear is used as a tool to control behavior

In this environment, personal leadership isn’t just important. It’s essential.

Because if you don’t think for yourself, someone else will think for you.

If you don’t stand up for what’s right, you’ll go along with what’s wrong.

If you don’t lead yourself, you’ll be led. And not always in a direction you want to go.

The Framework: How to Develop Personal Leadership

Here’s how you build it:

Step 1: Learn to think for yourself.

Don’t just accept what you’re told. Question it. Examine it. Test it against reality.

Ask: Does this make sense? Is this true? What evidence supports this? What evidence contradicts it?

Don’t outsource your thinking to experts, authorities, or influencers.

Use them as inputs. But make your own decisions.

Step 2: Follow your moral compass, even for people who are not like you.

It’s easy to stand up for people who look like you, think like you, believe like you.

The real test is whether you’ll stand up for people who don’t.

Because if your morality only applies to your tribe, it’s not morality. It’s tribalism.

Step 3: Learn to stand up for yourself and others.

This is hard. It’s uncomfortable. It puts you at risk.

But it’s necessary.

Because if you won’t stand up when it matters, you’re just another lemming.

Step 4: Study history.

Not to memorize dates and names. But to understand patterns.

How do societies slide into authoritarianism? How do ordinary people participate in atrocities? How do economies collapse? How do movements for justice succeed or fail?

The patterns repeat. If you know them, you can see them coming.

Step 5: Build the skill of discomfort.

Personal leadership requires doing things that are uncomfortable. Speaking up when others are silent. Saying no when others say yes. Standing alone when others follow the crowd.

You can’t do that if you’re not comfortable with discomfort.

So practice. Put yourself in situations that challenge you. Build the muscle.

Step 6: Surround yourself with other leaders.

You become who you surround yourself with. If you surround yourself with lemmings, you’ll become a lemming.

Surround yourself with people who think for themselves. Who stand up for what’s right. Who refuse to follow blindly.

What I’ve Learned From Martial Arts

Martial arts has been one of my primary training grounds for personal leadership.

Because on the mat, you can’t fake it.

You can’t just go along with the crowd. You have to think. You have to decide. You have to act.

And when you get hit because you didn’t think, didn’t decide, didn’t act—you learn.

The mat doesn’t care about your excuses. It only cares about what you do.

That’s personal leadership. Taking responsibility for your actions. Learning from your mistakes. Adjusting and improving.

And it carries over into everything else.

What I’ve Learned From Construction

Construction taught me the same lesson in a different way.

You can’t just follow orders blindly.

If the plans are wrong, you have to speak up. If the approach is unsafe, you have to stop. If the foreman is making a mistake, you have to say something.

Because people’s lives are on the line.

I’ve worked with guys who just did what they were told, even when it was wrong. Even when it was dangerous.

And I’ve seen the consequences.

The best guys—the ones I respected—were the ones who thought for themselves. Who questioned. Who stood up when something wasn’t right.

That’s personal leadership.

The Cost of Not Developing Personal Leadership

Here’s what happens when you don’t develop personal leadership:

1. You become a lemming.

You follow the crowd. You do what you’re told. You go along to get along.

And when the crowd goes off a cliff, you go with them.

2. You lose your agency.

You stop making decisions. You let others decide for you.

And you wake up one day wondering how you ended up in a life you didn’t choose.

3. You participate in things you’ll regret.

Like the 65% in the Milgram experiment. You’ll do things you know are wrong because someone told you to.

And you’ll have to live with that.

4. You become part of the problem.

Not because you’re actively malicious. But because you’re passively complicit.

You don’t stand up. You don’t speak out. You don’t resist.

And that silence, that passivity, enables the problem to continue.

5. You lose yourself.

When you stop thinking for yourself, when you stop standing up for what’s right, when you stop leading yourself—you lose who you are.

You become a shell. Going through the motions. Living someone else’s life.

The Challenge

Here’s what I want you to do this week:

Identify one area where you’re being a lemming.

Where are you just going along with the crowd? Where are you doing what you’re told without thinking? Where are you staying silent when you should speak up?

Then make a different choice.

Think for yourself. Stand up. Speak out.

It doesn’t have to be big. It just has to be real.

Because personal leadership is built one decision at a time.

The Truth About Leadership

We have too many losers, lemmings, and Luddites. And not enough leaders.

And the world needs more leaders.

Not people with titles. Not people with authority.

People who think for themselves. People who follow their moral compass. People who stand up for what’s right, even when it’s hard.

That’s personal leadership.

And it matters more now than ever.

Because time is long, but people’s memory is short.

And if we don’t learn from history, we’re doomed to repeat it.

So learn to think for yourself.

Learn to follow your moral compass, even for people who are not like you.

Learn to stand up for yourself and others.

Learn to be a leader, not a loser.

What choice will you make today?

P.S. Can you do me a favor?

Share this with the people who you feel it might help, not so I build my "followers," I'm not looking for that, I'm looking to help more people to become their own leaders.

But that can be hard when you don't have access to information that helps you to be a leader. Believe me I know, it took me over 10 years to get my shit together and another 10 to really own it. Luckily, I had leaders to learn from and it still took me a while.

That's why I do these daily newsletters, not to build a business or get customers. I want to help those who, like me, needed help when trying to figure it out.