It is a common belief that leaders must be available to the followers all the time. Most leaders try to make their presence felt amongst the followers by being in the news all the time for good reasons or for bad reasons. They seem to believe that any publicity is good whether good or bad. They try to create a larger than life image for themselves by being in the news directly.

However, the people who are too available to their followers hardly last long. Such leaders must learn from God who continues to be believed by more than 95% of the population of the world since ages. One of the most interesting things of God is that He is invisible. No one has ever seen God. Yet He is called Omnipresent as He is believed to be present in everything and even inside our heart. Often the leaders commit the mistake of becoming too accessible to their followers. Their familiarity breeds contempt as the mystic of the leader is broken when he is face to face with his followers. No human being can expect to have supernatural qualities in all domains of human life. How can anyone answer all questions of his followers or solve everyone's problem? When you fail, the followers see your limitation and they go elsewhere. Witter Bynner rightly said,

"A leader is best,
When people barely know that he exists."

Good leaders, therefore, learn from God to be invisible. They are known only from their work, their speeches and their ideologies. What do you do to see God? You either go to the temples which are manned by the priests or you go to the Teachers and Gurus who have known God and become divine themselves. In the same way, leaders must interact directly only with the followers who have properly understood him and acquired his skill. They become the messengers of the leader and they interact with the common followers. If the followers want to have access to their leader, they have to become like the leader to become worthy of his acquaintance. A leader must be invisible to acquire the mystery and become larger than life. Close interaction with followers only make him ordinary and small.

The following words of Chinese philosopher of 4th century BC Lao Tzu explain the need for invisible leader

A leader is the best,
When people are hardly aware of his existence,
No so good, when people praise his government,
Less good when people stand in fear,
Worst, when people are contemptuous.
Fail to honour people and the people will fail to hour you,
But of good leader who speaks little,
When his task is accomplished and his work is done,
The people say, "We did it ourselves".

The best and the lasting leaders must resist the temptation of being too much visible to the people which can be beneficial in the beginning as they become known to large number of people. The same followers dump them when they find that leaders are not able to deliver. The magic of leadership, if lost once, can never be attained again.