The Walking Dead, Survival Rule of the Week: The worst of times

The Walking Dead final season

Leadership makes the difference between a bad situation and a disaster.

Can we talk for a minute about just how awful of a leader Governor Milton is? She decides to sic the horde (Not just a medium-sized herd, mind you, but a full-blown horde) of walkers in her own city, arrests the leader of her military forces right before the horde arrives, then, when it all blows up in her face, decides to order her loyalists to funnel the horde towards the poorest part of the city to both divert the dead, and kill off the portion of the community most likely to push for her removal from power. She almost makes The Governor look good by comparison.

This is why the person who you have as your leader in the zombie apocalypse needs to be really good at the job. When you and your group are existing in a world where not just death could spring on you at every turn, but grisly death, then you need a leader who will not only avoid getting you into such situations but, if one should arise, won’t just throw all of you to the wolves zombies and try to save their own worthless hide.

A good leader knows how to effectively dodge worst-case scenarios whenever possible, whether that’s through good planning, quick thinking, or excellent threat assessment skills. On top of that, though, they also know what to do in the event shit hits the proverbial fan, and work to either get everyone they can out of dodge, combat the problem, and if not, put in people who can, and finally, be able to man up and take responsibility for what, if anything, went wrong.

If you don’t have one in a zombie apocalypse, you need to either find one, fast, or be one and get yourself and your people the Hell away from the idiot/coward/scumbag you got in charge before they get you all killed.