Most of us look at a leader as a person who is bold, charismatic, confident and even self assured. If a person has all the characteristics that are associated with high profile individuals who have made it in life, then to us, they are in a position of being leaders. But are these qualifications enough though?
I once attended a leadership seminar and the first question asked was whether leadership is an office, a position or a choice. Every person had what they thought and of course a defence of the same. As the seminar went on, I had a lot to think about as far as leadership is concerned.
We all have encountered great leaders in life. We can begin with Moses in the bible, and then we have Nelson Mandela and Mahatma Gandhi among others. These leaders never fought to be compensated for what they were doing because all they wanted, was a better tomorrow for their people. They did strive to achieve what they felt and thought was the best because they had the best interests of their people at heart.
When it comes to leadership, it is a choice. It will call for commitment with no expectations. When individuals use an office or a position to impose rules and carry out their duties, what they are doing is management and not leadership. Leaders fight to have a better society. They lead by example instead of imposing rules and wanting them adhered to. Leaders seek to guide individuals to make the necessary shift towards the desired change.
Whenever we wonder about the disappointments from our leaders, we should probably look at the people we chose. What did we look at before choosing them? Great leadership is a choice and until we get people who chooses to lead, we are prone to suffer at the hands of people who rise to leadership with their selfish interests at heart. To read more posts by Gertrude, please click HERE
