From Knowing to Being: An Essay on Leadership
The Illusion of Knowing
In our world of infinite information, leadership is often mistaken for a skill set—something that can be learned through books, TED Talks, or even by studying great leaders. But as Werner Erhard pointed out, leadership isn’t a lesson you absorb; it’s something you are.
The moment you think you’ve “learned” leadership, you’ve already lost it. Why? Because leadership is not about acquiring knowledge, but about stepping into being.
This is where Gregory Bateson comes in. Bateson warned against the trap of second-hand knowledge, what he sometimes called “deutero-truths”—knowledge that is learned abstractly, removed from experience, and, in the end, hollow. You may know about a thing, but you do not know it.
Bateson’s Levels of Learning: Why Most People Stay Trapped
Bateson mapped out different levels of learning, but most of the world is stuck in Level II—“knowing about” things. This is the level of theory, analysis, and detached observation. It’s the world of endless self-improvement books that never actually improve you.
But there is a higher level:
Level III Learning—where one moves beyond detached knowledge and actually becomes what they previously observed.
And here is the danger: Level III is the leap into the unknown, where old identities collapse. Bateson noted that this level of learning can lead to profound transformation—or total breakdown. It is the point where one stops observing leadership and starts leading. But most people retreat at this threshold because crossing it means surrendering the comfort of certainty.
Heidegger’s Dasein: The Failure of “Technique” in Leadership
Martin Heidegger deepened this insight by showing that modern thought reduces being to technique. We believe that if we can just master the method of something, we will finally grasp its essence. But the essence of leadership—like the essence of being—is not something you arrive at through method. Technique does not equal understanding.
This is exactly what Heidegger criticized—the modern world reduces everything to technique. We assume that mastering the steps will unlock the essence. But being something is different from knowing how to do something.
Heidegger therefore used the concept of Dasein (being-there) to explain that true engagement with the world is immediate, immersive, and existential. Leadership is not found in leadership theories—it is found in the leader’s being itself.
You don’t learn leadership by studying it. You learn it by inhabiting it.
The Leap Beyond the Observer Mode: When “We” Show Up
Werner Erhard provided one of the most radical insights about this transition:
“We” do not show up when things are going well. “We” only show up when something goes wrong. He found that out while he was playing tennis.
This means that our real selves emerge in crisis. When the world is in order, we operate on autopilot.
But this isn’t just about crisis management—it’s about identity. When life runs smoothly, we operate on autopilot—following routines, playing roles, letting the system move us along. But when something breaks, we face a choice:
Step up, or fade away.
This is the moment Nietzsche was pointing to when he said:
“Become who you are.”
Not who you were told to be, not who you pretended to be, but who you actually are—right now, in this instant of decision.
Because crisis isn’t just destruction. It’s the crossroads where being is forced into existence. It’s where subconscious becomes conscious, where the programmed response shatters and leaves only one question:
Do you finally show up—and become?
And when you finally show up, it is the instant where leadership happens.
This is why Erhard insisted that leadership cannot be learned from the outside in—it must be declared from within.
Keep this in mind: Leadership isn’t about commanding an army or forcing an office team to follow your will. True leadership begins with the hardest battle—taking control of yourself and your own life.
One does not “become” a leader through preparation. One becomes a leader by declaring themselves to be one, and acting accordingly.
Leadership is not a technique—it is a presence. It is something that cannot be faked, cannot be borrowed, and cannot be learned secondhand. It must arise from within the individual, through action.
Charisma, like leadership itself, is the side effect of someone fully embodying their own being. You can read all you want about commanding presence, but if you have to think about it, it is already lost.
The Shift from Knowing to Being
So how do we cross the chasm from Level II Knowing to Level III Being? The answer is not in learning more—but in stepping into leadership before we feel ready. This is not about playing a role—it is about inhabiting a reality.
Most of the world remains trapped in analysis. They read, they observe, they prepare—but they never leap. Bateson called this the paralysis of knowledge, where learning becomes an infinite delay tactic to avoid action.
But the truth is:
The world doesn’t need more empty theory. It needs people who have the courage to declare who they are—and the discipline to live it, every day. Because in the end, that is the hardest thing of all.