Leadership has never been a bed of roses but always a bunch of responsibilities. One such obligation is to keep the ear on ground and address yourself to the needs of those you claim to lead – not by giving lip-service but implementing strategic policies, transformational programs and enduring processes that relevantly speak to the daily welfare of the people being led.
Today I watched on TV the leader of a Teachers’ Service Commission of a certain African country being heckled during an Annual Delegates Conference of their National Union of Teachers. Amidst very uncooperative storms of noise, he kept on begging, “Listen; give me time. Please let me finish.” Good enough, after about 15 minutes of braving through his speech, the mammoth crowd brought the shouting a bit low and gave him some audience especially when he started addressing issues that their General Secretary had highlighted as important to them, threatening industrial action in the next three weeks.
Running into the risk of sounding judgmental, I learnt this one lesson:
“If any leader abuses the privilege of responsibility by deciding to treat the REAL NEEDS of the people with a deaf ear, he risks losing relevance, being denied their cooperation, and gaining their intolerance, for no man learns if he refuses to listen. Life without ears is the surest recipe for suicide.”
Samuel A. Bakutana
Fellow leader, you better address their NEED or you will be addressed as a WEED in the garden of their life and welfare. I welcome and deeply appreciate your comments to this stand, just in the “comments” section below this post.
To Your Success,
“Inspiring transformational, exemplary and authentic leadership worldwide.”
