Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. This definition, I think, captures the leadership essentials of inspiration and preparation. Effective leadership is based upon ideas, but won't happen unless those ideas can be communicated to others in a way that engages them. Put even more simply, the leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and leadership skills that makes others want to follow his direction. In business, leadership is welded to performance. Those who are viewed as effective leaders are those who increase their company's bottom lines. To further confuse the definition of leadership, we tend to use the terms "leadership" and "management" interchangeably, referring to a company's management structure as its leadership, or to individuals who are actually managers as the "leaders" of various management teams.
Nigeria as a country has many people who claim to be leaders but refused to exhibit and discharge their leadership responsibilities. This is evident in the way the most populous black nation has been plagued by both internal and external problems leading to unemployment, poverty, anarchy, breakdown of laws, increase in crime rate and so on. Several of these issues are capable of catapulting the nation to the economic standings that cannot be compared with worldwide but due to the inability to handle the boom windows in the country, we are now at the bottom of the economic index.
Nigeria need a leader in the like of late Nelson Mandela
who even at his mortal nature, was able to practice true forgiveness as
witnessed in lifetime when he got jailed as a voice for the blacks in the old
south Africa during their apathy. A country of this capacity desire the service
of an all round leader who will be very fast in actions and execution of projects,
one who will never support corruption though few lapses will abound and stand
tall to defend the lives of her citizens. Nigeria which was Africa’s hope and pool of human
resources, a rising star and role model at independence has suffered and
endured outrageous shocks and tribulations over five decades and lost her place
on global stage.
Today
we are faced with tragic incapacity to feed ourselves, support our
institutions, produce electricity, provide health facilities and educate our
children. We have lost our capacity to provide security of life and property
for our citizenry. We have become weak, fragile, totally import dependent and
unable to provide jobs, housing and basic necessities of life for our people.
Democracy, to be stable and meaningful, must be anchored on the principle that
government derives its powers from the consent of the governed. Little wonder
did Nelson Mandela in one of his charismatic speeches said “poverty is a man-made disease”. It is caused by greediness and unwillingness by our leaders to
bridge the gap between the economic chain which is therefore emulated by the
young and today is the bane of the day.
Do
we actually need to fight to lead? Do we need to say “it is our turn to rule if
things are in their right places”? Are we supposed to see leadership seats as our
right? These are rhetorical questions that you should ruminate on. When you
abandon the moral principles of life, you become faced with the challenging of
dancing to the tune of mischief makers.
In
the current challenges of Nigeria therefore, it becomes pertinent for the
leaders to shed their songs of hatred, war, humiliation of opponents, electoral
manipulation, loots and money laundering, the practice of divide and rule which
has become the style of Nigerian leaders who instead of building bridges of
peace, have resorted to divisive leadership style of planting seeds of discord among
her citizenry and gaining at their expense to the detriment of Nigerians they claim
to lead.
Having a great idea, and assembling a team to bring that concept to life is the first step in creating a successful nation. While finding a new and unique idea is rare enough; the ability to successfully execute this idea is what separates the dreamers from the secular politicians. However you see yourself, whatever your age may be, as soon as you make that exciting first seat, you have taken the first steps in becoming a powerful leader. When money is tight, stress levels are high, and the visions of instant success don’t happen like you thought, it’s easy to let those emotions get to you, and thereby your team. Take a breath, calm yourself down, and remind yourself of the leader you are and would like to become. Here are some key qualities that every good leader should possess, and learn to emphasize.
Honesty
Whatever ethical plane you hold yourself to, when you are responsible for a team of people, it’s important to raise the bar even higher. Your nation and her citizens are a reflection of yourself, and if you make honest and ethical behavior a key value, your followers will follow suit.
To
be continued…………..
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