What is a leader? And how do they emerge?

A leader is the plant that grows from the soil of the people.
As plants are first within the soil as seeds before they emerge above ground, so are individuals first within the people before they emerge as leaders. And just as the seed extracts nutrients from the ground it uses to grow into a plant, so does a person extract nutrients from the soil of the people that he uses in leadership. Before leaders emerge, they exist within concentric circles of influences within the broader circle of a country. The innermost circle is the nuclear family; the second circle is the community; the third circle is the township within a state; and the outermost circle is the state within a county. What is more, the circles are colored according to the nature of the cultures in question, which express unique concepts and tendencies. These are all layers of influences and characteristics that creates a collective DNA into which a person is deeply embedded, like the soil composition.
However, we must bear in mind the differences in the use of the free will that enables man to overcome any influences, and thus never makes man a victim of circumstances owing to his ability to guide his actions according to his intuitive sensing…if he so desires. Nevertheless, it is the characteristics of this collective DNA to which a person is inwardly connected that contributes to influence how they grow, and what they eventually express as leaders. Through the leader, the people (soil) receive the ripened fruits of their own collective nature. And that is why it holds: a people can only elect their own consciousness. The people fashion the environment that determines the type of leadership they experience.
As the leader is only a reflection of the collective consciousness, to truly change the trajectory of leadership in any environment, each person has to look within and begin making changes there. For only when the individual through his commitment to furthering values becomes a fertilizing agent in his environment, will the soil be prepared for the emergence of a strong and noble leader who, as a nourishing plant, will bear fruit and spread blessing among the people. Thus, by the people electing their own changed consciousness through a noble leader, the Divine Law is fulfilled: “you reap what you sow”.
~Dr. Ikenna Q. Ezealah