The True Leadership

Nations and organizations have some things in common. They both are about people; they both need to grow and develop, and they both must be led effectively to get the desired results. History is replete with examples that prove how leaders have been able to turnaround nations and organizations. If, it was Otto Von Bismarck whose name is synonymous with Germany, it is Jack Welch who symbolizes General Electric (GE).Then  we have our own Sardar Patel who is supposed to be  the architect of modern India. But name dropping and lionizing past heroes is not the purpose of this assertion. It is also not to evaluate and recommend names. What, however, is intended is to critically assess the situation in which our country is today and find out what is the need of the hour.

Given the state of the nation there can hardly be any doubt. The situation demands a strong leadership – firm and decisive. Democracy is often confused with coaxing, cajoling and placating, that is, managing feelings, interests and demands. This of course is more self serving than anything else and creates more problems than it solves. Democracies are not to be managed. They are to be led. Led by actions, demonstrated by examples. What is required is leading from the front.

Sometimes the leadership issue gets diluted when attempts are made to make everyone happy. What this can lead to can be understood by a very old parable from the Aesop’s Fables. It is about a young boy and his old father. Once they were going from one village to another. They had a donkey with them and the father was riding while the son was walking. On the way some people seeing this commented that it was selfish on the part of the father to make the young son walk in the sun while the old man was riding comfortably on the animal. The father got down from the donkey and made his son ride. As they travelled a little distance further some other passersby did not like this and said that how bad the times have become. The young son shamelessly is riding and the poor old father is made to walk. The son really felt bad and said to his father that it is better if both of them walked. After covering some more distance they came across a few people on the roadside. On seeing this, the people ridiculed the two saying how foolish it was on the part of the father and the son to have a donkey and yet not use it. Confused and disturbed they both decided to climb the donkey and move ahead. The poor animal was now in a pitiable condition. On their way they came across a narrow weak bridge over a small river and while crossing it the donkey got nervous, and over burdened as it was, collapsed throwing both the father and the son in the stream. The moral of the story is very clear. Your actions, no matter how well intended can’t be approved by all and looking for a consensus is like trying to find a chimera.

This was the reason why Martin Luther King, Jr., the American civil rights activist had said that  a genuine leader is not one who looks for consensus but one who moulds consensus. History bears testimony to the fact that countries and peoples have always preferred strong and genuine leadership. None can doubt that there is a need for such leadership today and people are looking for someone who thinks of not of the next election but the next generation. While it is not easy to define the qualities of such a leadership, Valmiki Ramayana offers excellent guidance on what those qualities are in the famous Bharat – Ram ‘samvad’, the portion in ‘Ayodhya Kand’ where Bharat wants Lord Rama to return.