Becoming a respectable leader (2)
By Empathy, flowing out of genuine compassion, is the driver of genuine engagement. A privileged life and status are natural insulators that can prevent a leader from seeing the realities daily experienced by their followers either on or off the job. Leaders who have no empathy with their followers will use those followers to achieve a selfish agenda and will have no qualms dumping them when it is convenient for them to do so. A compassionate leader reaches out to people because he tries to walk where they walk, even if only in his imagination. That way, he can understand, even if he does not necessarily condone, their weaknesses. He can reach out to them where they are and take them beyond that to where they need to be without demeaning their persona. You don’t qualify to lead a people whose infirmities you cannot identify with.
In the buildup to the French Revolution of 1789, there was a nationwide famine, and consequently a shortage of the nation’s staple food, bread. When the people marched on a protest to the palace, Marie-Antoinette, queen to Louis XVI, wondered what the commotion was all about. When she was told that they had no bread to eat because of a national shortage, she replied, “Well, let them eat cake instead” Such disconnect!
Sure-footedness is a rare but essential trait of effective leaders. From time to time, every leader will be confronted with challenges that give him butterflies in the stomach and literally put his heart in his throat. Leadership capacity is not just about preventing crisis. It is about the ability to face the attendant challenges and swim against the sweeping tide without being drowned by it. This takes a lot of resilience and the uncanny ability to stay the course even when the direction seems hazy. LIONHEART, the latest film by Genevieve Nnaji, one of Nollywood’s shining lights, is a perfect illustration of this particular trait. In the movie, a young lady, Adaeze, is saddled with running a thriving transport company under the supervision of her uncle after her father-owner had to step aside due to health challenges. Everything seemed perfect until the news broke that what appeared to be a hugely successful business was indebted to the tune of almost one billion Naira, a debt procured to expand the fleet in anticipation of a government contract that eventually did not come through. With only thirty days to liquidate the loan or forfeit all the company’s assets, the way forward seemed very bleak and uncertain. But the duo was determined. Bayed at by competition, the press and corporate sharks seeking to swallow up the company, they were able to stabilize things while exploring several options until they were able to fortuitously stumble on what proved to be a lasting and more profitable solution that turned things around for good. Their steely resolve and the drive, even in the face of what appeared to be an impossible quest, are qualities of leadership that every leader can learn from.
The confidence of a leader in crisis does not come from the size of the crisis but the desired outcome and the conviction that every problem has a solution; one only has to find it. In a crisis, effective leaders are guided by a strong, unassailable value system and the solution they seek, not the people who caused the problem. Consequently, they can be decisive without being obtrusive, firm without being rude.
To earn the respect of those he leads, a leader must be Purposeful. Leadership without a personal and corporate ‘purposology’ is a disaster waiting to happen. Leadership is never sustained by a bandwagon effect that simply flows with every fad. It is unique, purposeful and decisive in the pursuit of an overall objective. The purpose remains the compass that determines conduct. To ensure corporate sustainability, a leader determines his destination before embarking on the journey. Leaders don’t take on assignments without first defining a compelling reason for it. Their involvement in any task or project is calculated because they understand that every commitment connotes responsibility.
The world is led by visionary leaders who are goal-setters and goal getters. Success is never by chance. It comes through purposeful vision and actions deliberately embarked upon and pursued with consistency over a period of time. Purpose is the driver of focus. Where purpose is not clearly defined, abuse becomes norm, and as the sage Solomon said in the Bible, people cast off every sense of restraint. While order is the hallmark of visionary leadership, chaos is the signature of purposeless leadership.
A leader who Empowers his subordinates will remain an inspiration to them. The culture of execution is rare where you have a leadership that is not comfortable with yielding power to those it delegates assignments to. Stretching the mantra of “The buck stops at the leader’s desk” to a ridiculous limit, such leaders sometimes deliberately set booby traps in the path of subordinates to whom they have delegated assignments. The intent is to see such subordinates fail so that the leader can reinforce his message of incompetence or incapability on the part of the delegate while amplifying the ‘emperor’ leader’s infallibility.
On the other hand, respectable leaders seek relevance more than they seek dependence. They have no problem delegating assignments and empowering their followers to do the needful in ensuring that the assignment is effectively executed even if it means committing resources of the collective. Confident leaders are so comfortable in their own skin that they have no qualms sharing the limelight with their team. They passionately desire that their subordinates succeed and they willingly empower them to do so in recognition of the fact that the success of one is the success of all and vice versa. Effective leaders operate in the conviction that replicated or multiplied successes in execution contribute in no small measure to corporate success. Empowering leaders focus on the personal development of individual members in a bid to enhance corporate performance. Empowered followers are in turn equipped for leadership. This is a development that underscores the fact that great leaders lead to be duplicated, not needed. So, they build platforms instead of being crutches to the people they lead. Only insecure leaders are content with being surrounded with effete sycophants who are never empowered to use their initiative because of the stifling personality of a leadership that makes those around the leader believe that only the ‘emperor’ knows what to think or do!
If you ever want your leadership effectiveness to gain significant traction and earn respect, cure yourself of the Messiah Complex that ensconces a leader in the delusion that he is indispensable and infallible. No man, no matter how intelligent, has all the knowledge and none, no matter how wise, can solve all problems. Strong leaders yield power to their subordinates, thus unleashing the force of combined potentials for unfettered achievement. Only empowered people build strong organizations… continued
Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!
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