Did you know that a great head without a great heart employs a terrible hand, bringing a bad reputation to every head? Today, I remembered a gathering I once attended about seven years ago where the person-in-charge said:
“Here, we have no leaders. For us we only have coordinators of different things who ensure the smooth running of our activities at different levels of our operation. That’s it. No leaders here!”
Coordinators vs. Leaders:
We do not need to study rocket science to agree that ideally coordinators are leaders! In addition, he himself was the founder and leader of the team – and it often came through his words in one way or another.
Beyond his assertion lied the frustration that most leaders have not proved helpful to the entities they lead. It is basing on that universal frustration that I assert thus: bad leaders are not an excuse for no leadership at all. Note that I have not said, “Bad leadership is not an excuse for no leadership at all.” I said, “Bad leaders…”
The Leader vs. Leadership:
Someone says, “We no longer need any leadership because our leaders have let us down.” The frustration about bad leaders is understandable, but the resolution to do with no leadership is unfortunate. Let me make the following assertions:
- Leadership is not the problem. The leader who is exercising the leadership is THE problem.
- Leadership is merely a neutral tool for causing change. Whether that change is good or bad depends on the leader.
- Leadership is merely a harmless instrument for making a difference in society. Whether that difference made is positive or negative is determined by the one in charge.
- The quality of leadership is determined by the quality of the leader.
- For the most part, the man first makes leadership and that leadership he has made for himself makes him.
- Leadership is like electric power: whether it warms your water for a comfortable shower or shocks someone to death is decided – consciously or not – by the one using it. While it is an instrument of industrial development, it can still be an object of occupational hazards. Both ways, it is the worker who decides, either through deliberate positive effort or negligent attitudes.
CONCLUSION:
So, leadership, just like electricity, is a tool, an instrument, an object. It can either be profitably exercised for the good of the user and those around him or used dangerously to the detriment of the one exercising it and those he has charge over.
So, if you have challenges with your leaders and you feel like doing some firing, please fire THE LEADER, and preserve LEADERSHIP! If you change the leader, the leadership – a tool – will change.
A word of wisdom to the leader being referred to here: While we as leaders can be changed through workplace firing or being voted out of a public office, we would rather change our heart which is the cradle of leadership change. Once we do that, then out of our heart shall spring great leadership. A great head without a great heart uses a terrible hand! Let not bad leaders destroy good leadership!
#YouWillManage
| Live . Love . Lead |
