By Eric Wamanji
Recently, South Korea gave the world the most intriguing twist of a political narrative. The president, Park Geun-hye, resigned because of a naive “friendship” she had constructed with a con spiritual leader.
You see, Park was a bosom buddy of a lady called Choi Soon-sil. Choi is cultic. She wielded great sway over the president. So, Choi used her proximity to power and influence over the president to extort about US$70 million from some of South Korea’s blue chips like Samsung. The relationship and escapades is replete with toxic twists and turns. It eventually brought down the president. What a tragedy? All because of some brainwashing, faux spirituality, naivety and aloofness.
Why I’m I invoking the South Korean tragic story here? Well, we know that rising to leadership is not for every Tom, Derrick and Henry. Yet, when such a golden chance- whether on merit, fortune or chicanery- pops up, oftentimes, what would-be great leaders end up spectacular failures.
Ms Parks is just the latest of our time. From presidents to CEOs, history teachers us that great leaders do tumble like a pack of cards. Think of Richard Nixon the 37th President of USA, scandal booted him frm office. And I bet you heard of Louis XII of French. He faced the guillotine at the climax of the French Revolution because of arrogance and aloofness.
Even with all these historical cases, it’s sad that those who rise to the throne hardly learn any lessons from history. Their visions blinded and their minds clouded by myopia, naivety or vanity.
Towards a goal
Leadership is providing guidance towards a goal. It could be guiding the Israelites to Canaan or leading a country to the golden age or a voyage to discover the Americas as did Christopher Columbus. It could be leading a team through a critical project, through war as did UK Premier Winston Churchill during World War II or simply a group to work on a class project.
Yet, some leaders squander such opportunities. They never rise to greatness. The end result is embarrassment or jail. Failure, we all know, is painful and therefore unwelcome in any society.
In its entirety, leadership is a complex exercise speckled by nuanced action and components that calls for a person with grips and magnetism on the realm.
Visionless
Leaders fail for lack of vision. Without vision, the ship gets cyclic till it runs out of fuel. It sinks. Yet, most leaders have hazy perspectives of where they want to go. Due to their myopia, they fail to enchant their followers, they begrudge, they fail to attract pedigree advisors… It is not for nothing that the good Book cautions that where there is no vision, people die.
Subjects look for hope and confidence in a leader. The moment that dithers, so are their faiths and their support. Leadership that fumbles or mumbles do stumble.
Hubris, itself a psychological defect, easily ushers the leader to his nadir. Yet, so myopic are we at leadership that even when the writing on the walls are clear, we, like Nebuchadnezzar, dismiss it as mere fantasy from haters. Pride, teaches C.S Lewis in Mere Christianity, “is the complete anti-God state of the mind.”
Indeed, it is pride that turns leaders into despots. Such leaders have acute psychological paralysis. They seek to invoke fear to be respected. But again, I always agree that respect begets respect, and invoking fear is cowardice and signs of deficiency.
Without vision, a leader will not appreciate requisite resources need to accomplish the mission. This could be financial or human. If you want to know that a leadership is headed for the sewer, you look at how it rates and treats its people who are by far the most critical and priceless assets. Such leaders, normally, will not assess the kind of expertise that is required and the best talent at his disposal suited to deliver on tasks.
Power of Communication
Great leaders fail for want of communicative prowess. A great leader must fire enthusiasm. Communication is key to translate vision and to inspire team to action. Such inspiration could be to work late, report early and be available even over the weekend. Great leaders create inspiration to innovate and to mind the business of the organisation. It is a chap called Boje who has captured the reality of narratives well: “Stories are the blood vessels through which change pulsates in the heart of organizational life”
Leaders fail for surrounding themselves with mediocrity. Give me the roll-call of the King’s courtiers, and I’ll predict his legacy. A leader, who hangs around mediocre courtiers, oft lacks in strategy and gets lost in paranoia. You see, simple minds always think that someone is after their destruction. Simple minds will never brook the presence of intelligent people in their midst. It is simple minds that will often initiate a ruckus within the court in a desperate stance to stave off ‘competition’. In most cases, brilliant people will either switch off their contribution or quit. This is detrimental to establishment.
Sycophants are the balms of the leader’s ego, but they are a hazard to the leader. Sycophants destroy establishments. Yet, it’s still befuddling as to why folks, rise, against odds to the position of leadership then end up surrounding themselves with imbeciles.
Counselled Nicollo Machiavelli – “A good ruler will invariably choose competent companions who offer honest advice in response to specific questions and carry out the business of the state without regard for their private interests… Ineffective leaders, on the other hand, surround themselves with flatterers whose unwillingness to provide competent advice is a mark of their princes’ inadequacy.”
Indeed, flatters who form large patches of the coteries, brook no love for the intelligentsia. Soon, the court becomes a theatre of absurd scheming, feuds, and frustration. The leader, who, in most cases will have ears for the sycophants, for the lack of his ability to detect trouble, will continue to remain aloof. Good brains have a choice of leaving or withdrawing their strategic thinking. This move, eventually affects the performance of the organisation, which eventually stagnates. Such leaders would later be kicked out unceremoniously.
It pays to take care of your subjects for they prop you at the top. Ignored measures like fairness, and equity, which by every standard should be implementable, brews discontent and withdrawal of support. Didn’t Plato observe that: naive men think that by ill-treating others they make their own superiority the greater?