I agree with most of what has been said here, some people aren't motivated by their desire to lead but rather to serve. Personally, I was more than happy to serve, until the moment Mibbit set up in North Side and took the rank of Godmother and asked me to set up along side her. Being a leader is something which drives so many people, sometimes they want it despite not knowing what to do with it once they do have it.

Your point in regards to leaders caring for their members is a good one. I've always felt the philosophy of having a good rapport with your members was the way to go, however I've also served under leaders who aren't as chatty and yet I felt compelled to impress them. Different leaders have different methods, some work, some don't and you often find those who care little will reap what they sow and thus a silent crew with no bond is often found in these places.

However, going back to your original point. I think the problem lies with the fact that a lot of people are driven so deeply to don that bold suit that they don't know what to do once they get it. They have no previous experience with leading and so they struggle and it's usually these people that we will see disbanding their crews because they are out of their depth. I think it's times like these we really miss the 200 man HQ's. When they were around, it was easy for us to get an idea of how someone could lead a crew by how they ran a sub crew, or how they were a capo to several sub crews. Now, we throw people in the deep end and expect them to swim and it doesn't always work out.

Despite your good intentions, I doubt that these unnamed leaders will heed your advice, or even listen to your speech. It's just the way the world is right now. People hit the required rank, they get a crew, then they bury their heads in the sand and hope all goes well.

I agree with what you say WiggleButt, some people really have no clue how much work is involved in running and growing your own family. The people who auth them should know by now and brief them carefully on this and also guide them into becoming a good leader. In whatever position my family has been in, I've always had helpful people around me who showed me the ropes and I'm grateful for that.

And like Rusty says, there's no families with 200 members anymore these days, but I'd like to think there's still tasks to be found to test someone's capabilities. Sure on a smaller scale then back in the days, but the step up is also smaller then back in the days. WiggleButt mentions that caring for your members is important, but even caring about 40 man can be quite hard. Sponsors really have a big task here that doesn't end when a recruit steps through the doors of the family Headquarters. If a sponsor can motivate and train a recruit to get to the point of becoming a part of the family with a fair amount of wealth accumulated that's great. Meanwhile having worked and improved on the strength of their character in physical and social aspects is even more great. A recruit is being cared about. A sponsor feels responsible and involved. A crewleader can see how a sponsor handles his responsibilities over small tasks and based on that can start to trust them with greater tasks.

Or let hands or high rankers publish in-family updates on the financial status. Some families do it, others don't, but it's good for people with ambition to learn that cash doesn't always come flowing in like the Mississippi. Let them think about how to improve family profits. Again responsibilities can be tested, involvement guaranteed and a sense of unity will improve. If that person ever starts running his or her own family, they'll be less surprised when the weekly income isn't a 100 million, but those forts and bodyguards do need attention.

With some creativity there's enough tasks to be found in social and operational areas to give people with ambition a bit more responsibility before they have to get out own their own and have to do it all by themselves on a much larger scale. And not only as a preparation for auth, cause there's no need for that many leaders, but just as a boost to activity and involvement. I suspect that if each family would be creating such tasks it would be very good for our society and it will affect everyone across all ranks in a positive manner.