The Walking Dead, Survival Rule Of The Week: The Leaders We Follow

The Walking Dead, what makes a good leader

3) A Good Leader LISTENS To Other People.

More praise for Negan, this time for his powers of observation, and trying to warn Maggie and everyone else in the group that a marking on the wall of the tunnel (Which was a couple of feet above everyone’s heads, by the way) was, in fact, a waterline, indicating that the Metro tunnels flooded during heavy storms, storms like the one the group was caught in.

Did Maggie listen to this sound advice? Did anyone?

The answer to both of those questions is a resounding “No”.

Now, don’t get me wrong, a flood didn’t hit the tunnel yet, but Negan’s call for restraint wasn’t an unreasonable one, considering that they were in the middle of a torrential downpour, in a tunnel whose clarity was questionable at best, and ultimately, nonexistent.

Remember, we haven’t seen the end of the group’s misadventures in the tunnels, for all we know, the damage around the train car they had to escape into may yet become the means for all the rainwater above ground to escape into the tunnels, and then they would be in a tunnel, blocked by a train and rubble on one side, a herd of walkers on the other, which was flooding!

The larger point here is this: When a member of your group is warning you that a course of action could be bad in the long term, or that maybe you should proceed with caution when they notice something you didn’t, or you’re going into a place you don’t know, it might be a good idea to listen to them…just maybe.

I mean, you could ignore them, but, there’s a point where confidence in the course of action becomes arrogance, it’s the point where you are so sure that you’re right, that you ignore obviously good advice. Once you reach that point, the only way out…is the hard way.