WHO WILL GET US OUT OF THIS MESS?

WHO WILL GET US OUT OF THIS MESS?

I was reading an article in the evening standard of the week commencing 16th of January 2012, the article had the above title, so it caught my eye and my interest because, I felt it applied to a lot of countries at the moment, at varying degrees and types.

The author of the article gave as a sub text, and I quote,  "with the Directors facing legislation to curb excessive pay and UK management being labelled as ‘ineffective’ a new set of leadership value is needed - and that will open up career in management for a different type of individual".

‘Leadership is and always will be a divine virtue, whereas headship is about management’

As I read the article I was thinking to myself that this person, as with a lot of other people does not really understand the concept of leadership; as the article concluded, the argument that the author was putting forward was having more women in leadership (headship, [director, ceo, etc.]).

The key thing that I'd like to address is that thus; the author of this article was in fact making a case for different people, creed, gender, and age to advance to headship, the position at the top, the top girls or top guy, which is a good thing, after all, we live in a diverse society; however headship and leadership are two different things, they have two different orientation, leadership is and always will be a divine virtue, whereas headship is about management.

The author mentions that new leadership value such as courage, integrity and compassion are now being demanded of new leaders; interesting, yet, leadership, true leadership has always had it, these are not new; when God said to Joshua "have I not made you a commander and leader of my people", the virtues that He (God) saw, as He looked into Joshua’s heart are Tenths and Qualities for Leadership, such as:

Truth, Righteousness, Uprightness are all works of Integrity

1.   Love (Compassion)

2.   Truth

3.   Righteousness

4.   Strength [Power & Might] (Courage)

5.   Maturity of Character

6.   Uprightness

7.   Justice

    The issue is this and those of you who know me will attest that I’ve been saying this for the past 10 years, 'we have to redefine our definition of leadership and who are leaders'.

We all have our cross to bear

I mentioned earlier that the title of the articles caught my eye and interests because I felt it applied to a lot of countries at the moment. It applies to the UK with its fiscal situation, the haves and the haves very much as this article seems to be addressing.

 It applies to the Republic of South Sudan; I was privileged to be in a meeting last week with the Minister of Higher Education, the Minister of General Education and the Undersecretary for Education for the Republic of South Sudan; a country now six month old and on the first rung of rebuild; recovering from the aftermath of 22 years of civil war; the agenda of meeting was on strategies & partnership for rebuilding the country’s  educational infrastructure, which leads nicely to, the question, who will get them out of the mess that they are in?

 Nigeria, a country over 50 years old, yet since 1960, with all its rich natural resources has not managed to organise itself for growth, productivity and prosperity,  is now facing a meltdown in social order; again, the question is, who will get them out of the mess that they are in?

Understanding what leadership is

Who will get them out of the mess that they are in? People, individual that can answer questions such as:

1. What is leadership?
2. What is transformational leadership?
3. What are the qualities for leadership?
4. What do I like about making this decision?
5. What don't I like about making this decision?

      What these question suggest is that, we want people engaging in leadership to be Reflective individuals, leader's that have the mental power house, moral strength, maturity of character, to stand back and reflect on their actions, motives, decisions, vision, strategies, people, and purpose; accessing the depth, breadth, width and height of the impact of their actions.

     Most countries, companies, organisations, communities, etc are in a mess today because they don’t understand the concept of leadership or they have people in leadership position that don't comprehend what leadership is or they have given people the right, power and authority to be over them, individuals that don't have the quality of character for leadership.

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