Lead, Follow, or GTFO

Sorry so for the lack of posting, but RL has been....difficult to say the least, and with the recent patch to Eve, and what this post is about has got me going and 100mph.

This is what was bred into me for 4 years, and something that sticks with me to this day.  We have great people in my Alliance, but getting someone to take charge during a fight at times became an issue.

I am still new to the game, and with only a year in I still feel unqualified to be CEO, and now a FC (Fleet Commander).  My first try of it was a nasty one, and I welped about 600mil worth of ships against a Snails and Frogs gang.  If you do not know who Snails and Frogs are they a Worm Hole group that can give you a nasty fight if you do not respond quickly, and fight on your terms.

LEAD:

Taking charge is key, and setting the tone of who you are going to be as a FC/Leader in general has to be first and foremost.  Do you want zero chatter? Loose and free comms?  Whatever you decide make sure everyone knows as soon as you take control so there is no confusion.  DO NOT! tell your fleet (we are all going to die).... I do not understand why you would do that, even if you know you are going into a fight that you will lose.  Take the fight like you are going to win always, and the reason for this is you'd be surprised how people react even in the face of a losing fight, and what can be accomplished.  Even if you are unsure about a command or what you are about to do act like it's something you've done a 100 times.  Confidence like that even if it does not work out helps show that you are not second guessing yourself.  As soon as you do that they will start to second guess you.

FOLLOW:

This is really the hard part in my opinion as getting people to follow you, is not easy especially in Eve Online.  As trust is worth more than PLEX at any given point, and once gained is a powerful tool.  To you all fleet members follow if you have questions ask just make sure its not during an active part of a fleet.  Educate yourself if your FC, Corp, Alliance, and so on are not so you can be a better asset to the group.  If you do not like the way the FC is running a fleet wait till after or just bow out early if you can.  Disrupting a fleet can get everyone killed and/or kill the moral of the fleet.

GTFO:

Like it says get out if you are not willing to do either.  If you want to be a solo pilot thats great nothing wrong with that, but in a corp/alliance you've got to be able to do one of the above.  If you cant your not helping anyone.  Eve is all about helping helping each other....or helping destroy one another..

Orion