It is the second day that I am sitting in a room of the university I studied medicine waiting for the rector to arrive so that I can get the permission to "get my digital academic transcript through email". Wait! Permission is needed to send an email? Even after the meeting with registrar was not decisive? Well, the answer is "Yes, it was not decisive" but it is not a strange case. Working with different government agencies for years, we have seen the pattern again and again. A simple decision can take a lot of time and resources to be approved aka red tape.
Why? Are we having a leadership crisis here? I have heard that many people saying that there have been a lot of leadership classes in Myanmar. My question is that how many leaders do we have? How do we know who are the leaders? What are their characteristics? How do we make sure that next generation is more effective? How can we train youth to become responsible leaders?
Here in this article, I would like to share my 5 thoughts about leadership.
Thought No. 1: It is not important that leaders are born or made. Leadership is a choice. Guide youth to choose wisely.
In 1840s, Great Man Theory was a popular leadership theory which said the compassion, the morality and many other skills are intrinsic to the leaders and thus leaders were born. Today, we have seen a lot of companies investing in the leadership development programs for their employees. Both theories have their grounds of argument. Either born or made, the most important thing is that leadership is a choice. More precisely, it is a collection of choices that make us leaders or not. Taking risk or not to take the risk is a choice. Being responsible is a choice. To do or not to do is a choice. That being said, leaders are developed over time through the choices they made.
Thought No. 2: Position does not make leaders. The act of leading does. Let youth learn by doing.
I mean, the leaders "LEAD" and this is the point of their intention. They don't just wait and wish the obstacles to be disappeared. They may even seem impatients. They make better decisions taking their resources into account. Sometimes, they take incredible risks with the goal of creating a better result. On the other hand, bosses tried to show their power. We often see in our bureaucratic world where some officials blame their subordinates, then the subordinates blames the staffs and the cycle went on forever. If there is a blame game and nothing has improved, we can simply realize that the responsibility has not been taken by the positional leaders.
Thought No. 3: Leaders are not indolent. They work really hard and get smarter each time. Help youth to learn.
Once, John F. Kennedy said that leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. Leaders have that attitude of "What's next?". The point is that they are not easy going people who are hindered against the obstacles. They challenge the status quo and pull the things up. Along the way, they experience frustrations, failures and hard times. Leaders go through all these and they learn along the way strengthening the resources they have.
Thought No. 4: Great leaders delegate the things that can be done by the other people. Encourage youth to work with teams.
This is the probably the secret of becoming a better leader for many people. Often, leaders who have tremendously great potentials become less impactful partly because they focus on minor things. This is often known as micromanagement. So, why is it important to delegate? One of the reasons is that it is time saving which allows you to explore more opportunities. Secondly, it encourages people to learn. Besides, it creates more leaders. If you empower other to become leaders, you become a greater leader (aka meta-leader). There is one more tip for delegation. Great leaders do not just delegate the task; they delegate the authority along.
Thought No. 5: Leaders lead in the crisis. They don't run away. Let youth experience difficult times.
As an organization, it must be expected to experience crisis at some points. In fact, crisis differentiates good leaders and bad leaders because the breeze does not test the captain. Good leaders walk into the crisis with the team and face the problems along the way. On the other hand, bosses and bad leaders try to point their fingers towards the other people so that they are not blamed for anything. In times of crisis, leaders need to be decisive, resourceful, careful, focused, be quick to spot the right person, and adaptable. Ultimately, they inspire and set the examples for the others.
Oh, Wait! I just missed one most important thing that is important for you, young people reading this. Perhaps this can be the most important truth for everyone. There is no limit that dictates a youth cannot be a leader. Even though people will try to limit you, hinder you and discriminate you for youthfulness, there is NO actual limit at all.
It is the time to step up and lead the change, right?