good leadership

One of our society’s primary challenge is obviously a high deficiency in leadership capabilities. Let us examine the subject for a while. Leadership, simply put, is the art and process of taking people from Point 1 to Point 2. We want to look at this through the lenses of the squirrel. Come with me. I witnessed this incident the day it happened. There was a bush on the other side of the fence of this compound, and from that bush, a plantain tree leaned against the wall. On the other side, within the compound, lavatories were being erected and they were attached to the wall, the fence. The lavatories were only at lintel level, but the lintels had not been cast. There were other trees in the compound. Then came a squirrel from the bush on a mission to cross over to the other side, that is, the trees in the compound. True to its character, it ran so fast on the fence and came to the top of the uncompleted lavatories. Then it met a wide gulf that will not let it pass over to its desired destination. It came to a halt abruptly, paused for a while and went to where it came from. I thought it gave up; but it came back, running more ferociously, now aware of the huddle it must cross. This time, that initial gulf had nothing on the squirrel. It was unstoppable, jumping through and continuing its journey. It however came to about three (3) more of such gulfs (which were actually the doorposts of the lavatories). With each new challenge of a gulf before it, it went back, jumped the previous one, the one before that, went back to the bush, and came back all the harder, until it jumped every hurdle and arrived at its desired destination. The first lesson is that to lead others, we must first lead ourselves. We leadourselves primarily by developing capacity to handle issues and situations. We develop this capacity by going the entire length of the mile, whether anyone goes with us or not. This is the way to even get reliable followers: when they meet you hard at work, your passion inspires them. The main point of the lesson gleaned is in the perseverance and the general attitude of never giving up that the squirrel portrayed. In like manner, whatever we do, we must persevere and stay till the end, as long as it is a good and noble cause. We should also make sure that we maintain the right attitude to never give up, no matter how big the mountain ahead appears to be. We should rather, calm down instead of being anxious, and plan, strategize on how to surmount the mountain. For some, part of the planning will include seeking help from others, and may include prayers. Once the planning is done, we immediately execute the plan. Remember the squirrel, how it paused for a while, evaluated the situation, and when it hatched a plan in its mind, went back immediately to execute the plan. It came out successful. This cycle remains the same whether we run as a single unit, or even when we run with others, perhaps leading them. We must inspire people always to maintain the right attitude in every situation. We must also learn and teach others to be perseverant in tackling difficult situations. In conclusion, being intentional about leadership is the only way to make great strides in life and in any field of endeavor. Good leadership does not happen by chance; rather, it is an outflow of the personality of the leader to his followers’ hearts. Since everyone is a leader, then all must therefore imbibe the right qualities and live them out.