In the gallery of life, how can you set apart a true leader from an impostor?
How do you determine the heroes (or heroines) from the villains, sort out the good from the bad, pick out the original from the duplicate?
In my book, genuine leaders should possess ten – yes, at least ten – traits and you will know them when they display and exercise these qualities in various circumstances.
German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, in his treatise Elements of the Philosophy of the Right, wrote: “Whatever is reasonable is true, and whatever is true is reasonable.”
I think by way of Hegel’s dictum we can measure what leaders can be made of, ideally speaking.
First in the list is wisdom, wit and intelligence.
True leaders inspire people when they exhibit these with their optimism. Without optimism, a leader cannot hold together his people and the country. No one wants to listen to a nincompoop and his blabber.
Second, true leaders are also indispensable. They make their presence felt, significant and important. A true leader magnetizes the crowd and gathers them without even trying. The leave their audience awe-struck and asking for more.
Third, true leaders are strong, focus on their positive traits without disregarding their weaknesses. They are not overwhelmed by the odds nor intimidated by what opposes them.
Fourth, they are not high-strung but understand themselves emotionally, their feet on the ground and taking extra care not to forget their limitations. They are calm, cool and collected.
Having a high quality of standard comes in fifth. True leaders possess naturally high expectations and big results. They dream big, aim high, confidently expecting positive results.
The sixth good trait of true leaders is their ability to prioritize their goals. This means that they do not unnecessarily flood their stream of thoughts with whatever bright ideas they can think of. They focus only on one top, most pressing matter at hand, ensuring that the goal is achieved with a hundred and ten percent accuracy.
The seventh extraordinary trait that a true leader must have is integrity. The dictionary defines it as having the “quality associated with a file that is complete and uncorrupted; sincerity, wholeness.” In one word, a true leader with integrity is a man (woman) who is incorruptible.
Indeed, integrity is a mix of credibility, probity and honesty.
The eighth character trait that a true leader must have is the ability to speak with clarity and conciseness. As he is understood, a true leader must also listen to varying opinions, learning from these by separating the chaff from the grain.
Ninth in the list is that a true leader must act promptly and decisively on matters of national as well as international import. He does not dilly-dally because he knows that delays are very costly which is a negative factor in executive management and governance.
And last but not the least, true leaders must always act intelligently – dissociating from emotional blending practical wisdom with rational methods of thinking, ensuring that the decision-making process is vetted in its entirety.
If the above listed ten values are used to measure our leaders, how many of them do you think would pass the test? My friend, your guess is as good as mine.
As a parting shot, I leave you this quote from Carl Gustav Jung, taken from his joint work with Aniella Jaffe called ‘Memories, Dreams, Reflections: “The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.” (Email your feedback to fredlumba@yahoo.com.) Romans 3:10-11: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.” FOD BLESS THE PHILIPPINES!
