Chair Esunesco

Leadership: Through the Kaleidoscope

Leadership’s glory has become too obsolete to discuss. It seems that most great men whose unceasing words still printed in our quote books today speak about this one big word—leadership.

Leadership is mirrored with power. However, the “real” power is not the privilege to stand before everyone to command and claim the glory nor it is having and abusing “special treatments and privileges.” It is in the opportunity to deserve that emergent glory in leadership. It’s about humbling oneself and be of true service to those people whom you owe your mandated power. Words may never lose its meaning but the ones who once claimed them as their own may lose worth of it one does not hold true to what it really meant. It doesn’t matter what post you hold, what really counts is what you have accomplished to deserve such a question. Anyhow, whether you won their choice by an inch or a mile, the thing is, it’s yours now. So use it well. Make it worthwhile. Pay forwards the trust and confidence that the people have laid on you. Be the solution not the problem.

Leaders do not stand out, but that doesn’t make them different from everybody else. It’s just that they’ve got an extra task to accomplish, making everyone else’s tasks easier. Just because you’re in that “pedestal” doesn’t mean that you’re exempted from functioning as a member. A leader is also a member with just an extra task at hand. They too have to earn (instead of just demanding and commanding) respect by abiding law and being consistent with their duties. In that way, they have shown respect to the dignity of each person in the group, thus making them worthy to hold authority over them.

In leading, the organization one must always be flexible yet at the same time must still be established upon goals and systems. In the same way, problems like shortage of funds, deadly deadlines, opposition from higher authorities is inevitable. It may push us to compromise some of the organization’s goals, but if the leaders are firmly rooted in a yearning to achieve goals and a clear system, rest assured, the organization can still stand up on its feet. A leader exerts effort in every job and coming out bruised but successful in each challenge. Intrigues and rumors are all part of the obstacles that every leader would pass. Shaken but not broken, all these are normal. Trials mold you to become a strong individual and not crumple like paper.

This is often misunderstood. It is a fact that leadership is a responsibility. “With great power comes great responsibility”. As Spiderman’s famous line goes. Sometimes, the word “responsibility” makes you to have a sigh in exhaustion since this word often connotes something beyond our comforts. Time management is the key to juggling all the tasks at the same time. Using your time wisely and productively could help in easing possibilities of multi-tasking. Being bossy is not synonymous with being responsible. You’ve got to know where you stand and what your responsibilities are. You should stand for it through it all just like a single mother rearing the bay she never planned to have. In success or failure, in glory or in humiliation, a leader stands for the organization because it is his/her primary responsibility. He is held accountable for whatever happens with it. Therefore, one can neither hide nor escape because one’s love and commitment for the organization could really cut through the conscience. If leadership is founded on passion, then it can never be considered a burden.

Leadership is supposed to be shared. Let there be no such thing as a “one-man council”. Monopoly should have no room in tasks and benefits. An organization is a person united with a common goal to give the best for the organization they all belong to. They recognize that they are part of it and because of that; they claim a share both in the problem and the solution. Pinpointing and finding faults would be a waste of time. If we just do all our duties well, be at our best all the time and get our acts together, then maybe all could experience the difference, we’ve all been waiting for.

Leaders are our keys to success. However, the people whom they wished to lead also have the responsibility to follow and respect them. Leadership is also a give and take relationship. All members should also cooperate and not just sit around. On the other hand, members should listen to attain unity.

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