Leader~sHHHip (I)

Perhaps we would get some very essential components in generic leadership if we try to respell as Leader~sHHHip. This series would clearly pinpoint the trinity of Leadership: Heart, Hand and Head of a Leader. I believe they form the real essence of leadership and a leader must consciously remind himself of this bedrock. If truly we want to operate an enterprise that would outlive us, then we have to model a leadership centred on values and quality. Simply, a leadership born of the heart, showcasing the craftsmanship of the hand, and apparently reflecting the brilliancy of the head. 

        *The HEART of Leadership

True leadership, I mean TRUE Leadership is a thing of the heart. I am yet to see a leader whose heart is NOT in a ‘cause’ and attain prominence. Adolf Hitler gave himself to a ‘cause’: “exterminate as many Jews as I can, rule the world.” Osama Bin Laden lived and died for a ‘cause’…an unjust cause though. Regrettably, some ‘leaders’ or wielders of power are just as terrible as these two guys are. Their cause has the same end as that of Osama and Hitler. Why? The people will always perish or cast off restraints {destruction} when there is no ‘vision’. Vision is a compelling picture of a desirable or preferred or better future. Real Vision has the people as the focus of its mandate. It betters lives. It improves standard of living. It governs actions and stimulates growth at all levels within the organisation. A vision of this type is born out of a sincere heart. Your heart is the essence of your leadership, your life, your identity. Let’s touch three basic attributes on the heart of leadership. 

      

         *Integrity

Bernard Madoff’s 150-year Imprisonment Sentencing in 2009 for the highest Ponzi scheme ever recorded in history is both funny and subliminal to me anytime I ponder over it. Madoff didn’t only swindle his many devastated victims of over $65 billion fraud, he left a ‘legacy of shame’ to his family and children. He deceived his wife who had been married to him for over 50 years. That’s pathetic! Living a life of dishonour has huge and demeaning consequences. A leader’s heart is the connecting point of his thoughts, words and actions ~ the very essence of integrity. Someone said, “The lack of integrity is like a fart, you might not see it but you would definitely perceive it.” Integrity is the core ingredient for character ~ what you are when no one is watching, who you are when the light is off or when the curtains are drawn. It does not matter how many times you have slid in this aspect, listen to the rhythm of our conscience’s beat and get back on track. Oh how our society would celebrate leaders who prioritize character over charisma, convictions over giftedness, principles over power, morality over intellect! We will forever carve plaques on the linings of our heart for visionary leaders who lead with values and spiritual leaders with conscience.

  

             *Sacrifice

Sacrifice is one component of leadership that can never be obliterated from a leadership handbook. It’s saddening however, that some leaders have done just that, perhaps in their own leadership manual. Sacrifice is a thing of the heart. The heart does pump sacrifice too. Sacrifice originally means the offering of something (especially a life) to a deity as an act of propitiation or homage. It is an intentional giving away of that ‘commodity’ so precious to you. It should cost you! Sorry, it must cost you if we are to term it SACRIFICE. No ‘pampering’: “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”~ US President Harry S. Truman. Leadership is service and service comes with sacrifice. It would cost you time, energy, money, interest/comfort, etc. Leadership is an issue of commitment not convenience. It is dying to live. Sacrifice sometimes involves blood spillage instead of oil bunkering; burial in lieu of gallivanting. A grain of wheat can never produce multiple lives except it is buried in the ground. It is a death, burial and the life after burial process. There is a price to pay to rebuild any system, rework a procedure/pattern, organise a life-transforming function, potentials-enhancing workshop, expand the tentacles of your operations or grow a brand. There is a measurable cost and we must pay the price to get the desired result. One of the men I admire in the Bible is Nehemiah. For 12 years, this serving governor refused to collect nor use the food allowance provided for him ‘cos taxing the people at the time is like crushing them under a hard yoke. He remained focus at rebuilding the fallen walls of Jerusalem and yet fed more than 150 people daily. That’s sacrifice!

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             *Compassion

There should never be a time in your leadership when you can no longer feel the sincere needs of your people. Come to think of it, every authentic vision has the people as its centrality. Granted, there are up and down times in every journey such that the leader sometimes gets caught in the trap of losing grip of the main theme while pursuing his vision at pressuring moments and at other times, distractions set in at victory phases – the peak periods. Whichever season your leadership experiences, compassion remains a concurrent exercise. Author of The Politics of Humanity, John Holmes says: “there is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” That’s leadership simply defined.

These are just few reminders of the fundamentals of leadership. They are rudiments we can never outlive. The tough can keep going when the going gets tough because he’s living from a force within ever greater than the seemingly pressures without. As your responsibility ascends, it would be required of you to give up more of your rights. Please oblige! Let integrity guide your affairs. More importantly, let LOVE be the motivation for your leadership.

Raise the edge always! Take the LEAD!

Femi TIAMIYU

#LEAD360