What Leeroy Jenkins Can Teach Bike and Transit Activists
A 2005 meme with a timeless message on leadership
OCT 12, 2023
In a training session today with active mobility advocates on the East Coast, I referenced one of my favorite strategies and quickly realized that not everyone is familiar with the fearless leader who inspired it: Leeroy Jenkins. The story of the paladin Leeroy Jenkins from the online game “World of Warcraft” is a simple and brief one that became an early 2000’s hit meme. It graced the pages of the Guardian and was even a clue on Jeopardy! Though it did lead to the death of the character Leeroy Jenkins and his compatriots, there is still a good lesson from the story for bike and transit advocates.
Here’s a brief synopsis for those unfamiliar with the event. Leeroy Jenkins was part of a cohort of online game characters whose “leader” was discussing a complicated plan of attack to beat their collective foe which was documented on YouTube. In the video, the “leader” presents a detailed plan and gives members of the group precise tasks to do in certain sequences. The “leader” asks for verification on the effectiveness of the plan from a colleague, and the colleague confirms that the plan has a 33.3% (“repeating of course”) likely survival rate. Hearing this, Leeroy ignores the plan and screams his name while charging into the lair of the foe to attack. After a moment of confusion, the original leader tells the rest of the cohort to follow, they all do, chaos ensues. In the end, the entire cohort is killed by their foe.
It’s a short, silly story of an online game gone wrong, but it holds five lessons for any transportation advocate regardless of if they want a bike lane, improved bus service or a pedestrian plaza in their community.
No one can stop you from charging ahead. You might not be the official head or advocacy director of an organization– but you can still charge ahead and try to blaze a trail for others to follow. Though it is prudent to preemptively build consensus with your allies and potential coalition partners before you launch a campaign, you can also just charge ahead. If you want to try and get a bus-lane or protected bike lane built in your town, no one can stop you from trying.
When you make noise about the direction you’re heading in, others may follow. If Leeroy just silently walked into the lair, no one would have noticed or followed. But he announced his intention clearly and went after it. Everyone else chose to follow. They did it reluctantly, but they made that choice. So, if you want to get a block turned into a pedestrian plaza, you need to tell everyone who can help you and give them the opportunity to get engaged. Your plaza campaign may not have been in anyone else’s Big Master Plan, but that doesn’t mean you can’t launch your campaign. Also, if you do, you could get the people who do have Big Master Plans engaged (however reluctantly).
When people choose to follow you, you will be held accountable for the results. Even though each character chose to enter the lair on their own volition, they blamed Leeroy for their death. When you take leadership, you are taking responsibility for the outcome. Leeroy’s plan was a bad plan, and they failed. But the original leader’s plan also had a two-thirds chance of failure. If Leeroy’s plan worked, he would have likely been celebrated. Everyone has the potential to take the lead, but the power of leadership also comes with the responsibility of leading well. Your pedestrian plaza or protected bike lane campaign will not face the same fate as Leeroy’s efforts and end in total destruction. However, if you fail, particularly because of your lack of planning and pre-emptive community engagement, you will be blamed.
If you are going to try to lead, have a real and a good plan. The process of crafting plans and building consensus may feel frustratingly slow, especially for people with a bias towards action, but a good plan is often essential to victory. A good plan does not have to be detailed and a plan’s merit is not directly related to the amount of time it takes to create it or the number of people involved. But your plan will be better if you take some time to make it and run it by others first.
A lesson for everyone else: be a skeptical potential follower. Leeroy charged blindly ahead and the others chose to follow. If they did not follow, they would have survived and only the character of Leeroy would have died. Don’t follow someone just because they are loud and charging ahead. If someone is trying to lead you into an action, particularly a risky one, first seek to understand that action’s part in the bigger picture and where it might lead. Leeroy was a disastrous leader and there will always be foolish or even dangerous leaders that try to get you to follow them.
One very important difference between Leeroy Jenkins, his followers and your transportation advocacy work.
As long as your organizing work doesn’t burn bridges with allies, potential allies, and decision-makers, it is still useful even if you fail. So sure, maybe you charge off Leeroy Jenkins-style to try and get a street converted to a pedestrian plaza in your community. If your efforts are mainly circulating a petition and coalition sign on letter with a positive framing and you aren’t trying to paint anyone in particular as a villain, it’s still helpful to the overall movement even if you don’t win. Unlike Leeroy Jenkins and his crew, your most likely worst case-scenario is you shift the public discourse on the topic of how streets should be used, you find allies you didn’t know you had, and you get people engaged who otherwise wouldn’t be.
Considering the huge amount of campaigns we all need to wage and win to make America a place with safe streets for all and abundant transit, I think our movement can use a bit more (wise) Leeroy Jenkins.
Want help devising a strategy and building the skills you need to be more successful in your campaign than Leeroy was in his? I’m here to help! Whether you want a 1-on-1 training session or a group workshop, let’s talk. Email me at Carter@carterlavin.com to set something up.