There are many definitions of leadership, according to the science of management. The leading marketing and management ‘gurus’ or authorities like Philip Kotler, Kenneth Clark, John Gardiner, James McGregor, Burns, Gary Yuke, Walter Climer etc claim leadership is one of the most enduring human responsibilities. These learned men on management state - leaders must have the craft and vision, inspire action and empower others. Leaders must be credible. For example, if you do not believe in the messenger you do not believe in the message.
The best, example you can quote from the recent Sri Lanka’s history, is President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Mahinda Chinthana. Messenger is the President Mahinda Rajapaksa and message is Mahinda Chinthana.
The leaders should be forward looking. They must have a sense of direction, vision and a philosophy for future. First key principle of leadership is, it is a relationship between a leader and follower, without a follower, there is no one to lead.
Public relations
The basketball player, Democratic Senator Bill Bradley, once defined leadership - unlocking people’s potential to become better.
Thomas Carlyle interpreted - leadership is the history of the world or biography of great men.
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“A leader may not follow, where the path may lead. He goes instead, where there is no path and leaves a trail,” quipped management authority Harold McAlidon. To begin with, let us briefly study and find out who is a charismatic leader. He should also be a public relations man. Public relation is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its public.
As Charles Plackard states: “Public relations is merely human decency which flows from a good heart. A leader should possess this great quality. Otherwise he cannot be a good leader”.
A person with an extraordinary gift, an individual who faces a crisis (example how President Mahinda Rajapaksa faced the most grave crisis, the terrorist problem and eradicated terrorism, united Sri Lanka under one parasol), sincerely, integrity and motivation. Once Harry S Truman said, leadership is the ability to get men do what they do not like to do.
Take for example, a successful leadership cricket captain of the calibre of Ritchie Benaud (Australia), Sir Frank Worrel, Sir Garfield Sobers (West Indies), Mike Brearly (England), Don Bradman (Australia), Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India).
They possessed leadership material and leadership ingredients abundantly. As captains, they were blessed with half a dozen of men, all rolled into one. They had nerves of surgeons, pose of financiers, human responsibility of psychologists, ten years more cricket knowledge and the patience of a saint.
Leadership entails directing people towards achieving a particular end or goal. There are few ingredients which can be divided mainly as traits, skills.
Great leaders
Personality is very important for a leader. It may be physical - sometimes it may be mental. For example, two great leaders of the 20th century, Sir Winston Churchill of Great Britain and Mahatma Gandhi of India, possessed physical and mental personalities respectively.
The physical traits distinguished characteristics are height, weight and personality. Then there are social traits. Here empathy - the ability to imagine and share another person’s feelings, experience is important.
Then, there are social traits. Here the patience and emotional maturity is vital.
In the present world context, leadership plays a vital role. Quality leadership is the single most important ingredient in the recipe of success in any field. The influence emanates from good leadership is unspecific which promotes the natural drive, fundamental respect and genuine interest in the people.
There are few important methods of improving the leadership ability. If free men and women are to co-operate effectively, you should deepen the awareness of good leadership. A good leader will understand the entire spectrum as if he can simply identify a band of colours seen in a rainbow - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.
An eminent lecturer on leadership had this to say about leaders while addressing a seminar in 1934, at the University of St Andrews.
Ten commitments
“Inbred superiority which gives them a dominating influence over their contemporaries and marks them out unmistakably for leadership.”
It can be broadly divided into two segments - practices and commitments. The challenging practices have two commitments - namely (a) Search out challenging opportunities to change, grow, innovate and improve, (b) Experiment, take risks and learn from accompanying the mistakes.
With the second practice - inspiring a shared vision, there are two commitments. They are (a) Envision an uplifting and ennobling future, (b) Enlist others in a common vision by appealing to their values, interests, hopes and dreams.
The other practice - enabling others to act - the two commitments are (a) Foster collaboration by promoting cooperative goals and building trust, (b) Strengthening people by giving power away, providing choice, developing competence, assigning critical tasks and offering visible support.
Modelling the way is another practice. Its commitments are: (a) Set example by behaving in ways that are consistent with shared values, (b) Achieve small target that promote consistent progress and build commitment.
The final practice in ten commitments of leadership is encouraging the heart. In commitments, there are: (a) Recognize individual contributions to the success of every project, (b) Celebrate team accomplishments regularly.
Qualities
Now, we will briefly discuss the important qualities of a democratic leader. They are;
(1) Good listeners.
(2) They delegate authority to others.
(3) Encourage participation.
(4) Relies on experts to manage subordinates.
Who is a fine leader and ingredients?
A highly successful leader always maintain good public relations practice. It is a must. Who is an ideal PR man or a fine leader? He must be;
(1) A man of character and integrity
(2) Sound judgement
(3) Think creatively
(4) Be objective
(5) Should possess great powers of analysis
(6) Intuition
(7) Discretion
(8) Experience on the institution.
The leaders should always remember that public relations require;
(a) Planning, (b) Setting up objectives, (c) Budgeting, (d) Theming, (e) Where public must be reached, (f) Setting up strategies and tactics, (g) Setting up programmes in operation, (h) Checking results and following through.
Motivators
The highly successful leaders in modern history clearly show that they are good speakers or orators -
A fine examples are the brilliant speeches of Sir Winston Churchill. On June 4, 1940, Sir Winston Churchill with his brilliant piece of oratory, in his own inimitable style, motivated the Britishers to fight against Nazi Germany led by Dictator Adolf Hitler. War Prime Minister Churchill’s brilliant speech to the nation;
“We shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans. We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength on air. We shall defend our island whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds. We shall fight in the fields and streets. We shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender.”
As an exemplary leader Churchill motivated them, he said, “I have nothing to offer, but blood, toil and sweat.” Great Churchill roared like a lion.
Premasara EPASINGHE - Daily News
