The Veep

Heather and I took a small road trip up to Denver yesterday evening, and we always have good talks once we get our roadtrip coffees from Starbucks and settle into the drive. One of the things we talked about yesterday is Pete's social behavior. Heather pointed out that in situations with lots of kids, Pete almost invariably falls into the role of being second-in-charge. He identifies the charismatic leader of the kid-pack, gets in close, and becomes the right-hand-man, the trusted number 2.

It's funny, because the role is clearly distinct from the rest of the kid-pack, and it's not a passive role. He's not just the first follower, imitating the leader. In his role, he seems to be in charge of coming up with new ideas, which the leader implements, and acting as a liason between the crowd and the leader. For example, a gang of kids will be playing on the playground, throwing rocks down the slide. Once the activity gets a little stale, Pete will go over to the steering wheel and say to the leader "lets be pirates", then the leader will come over, take the wheel, and tell Pete to man the cannons, and then the rest of the kids fall into their roles in the game. If anyone else pretends to shoot the cannon, the leader will insist that that's Pete's job, and Pete will find another place for the kid.

Being a leader is tough, and the leaders who have the kind of charisma, magnetism, and persuasiveness that other people follow without thinking sometimes don't have the administrative and creative skills to figure out the right direction and keep the gang involved. That's why every Picard needs his Riker, every Bush needs his Rove, every Jesus needs his Peter.