You can't lead people who won't follow you...

I'm writing this as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is addressing his people regarding his decision not to step down.

This, despite three weeks of heated protests which continue, calling for his resignation because of decaying quality of life for citizens.

People have died in these protests. The country is in turmoil.

But Mubarak won't give up his big, comfy seat.

I find this ridiculous from an everyman perspective.

Imagine being a top boss in a corporation, with a staff of 100 people under you. Productivity is down, morale sucks, people are writing nasty things about you in intra-company emails.

Your response? Send out the hounds to discipline the culprits.

Sounds logical, unless the removal of those responsible just makes the situation worse.

Soon, employees are vandalizing your car, harassing other management figures, setting fire to your office, putting rat droppings in your lunch meat.

Your response? I am not resigning. I am a leader.

You can go on all day about how much you've done for the company in the past. You can call a meeting to try to rally the troops.

But the fact remains, you aren't liked and things will not improve until you swallow your ego and move aside for fresh blood.

OK, I realize my office analogy is far off from what is actually happening in Egypt, but the point is: If I was that big boss with 100 people under me that wanted me gone, would I want to stick around?

Quick answer is no thanks.

Substitute the office of 100 employees for a country of about 80 million, and the situation is a lot more intense and dangerous. I realize Mubarak must have some support left, but even if only 10 per cent of the population wants him out, that's still eight million angry people.

Does he expect by appointing a vice-president and 'delegating' some power to him, people will be happy? No, Mubarak, they want you out. Period.

Is he hoping the whole thing will blow over? Forget it. It's too far gone and there are too many eyes on the issue now.

Remember, this development didn't happen overnight, but the media attention did. I mean, he's been president since 1981, he's had his chance to win favour from the populace.

(On another note – Egypt's president has been elected by popular vote since 2005. In that election, Mubarak won 88.6 per cent of the vote. If the people wanted him out then, they obviously didn't speak loudly enough.)

In any case, there will likely be chaos and unrest in the country until the guy is out. That's a lot of potential violence until September, when an election is scheduled. Mubarak has said he will not run in that election.

But there's no telling who will fill Mubarak's shoes when the people do get their wish.