Leadership

Leadership

This seems to be becoming a hot topic again. Perhaps this is due to the lack of leadership that we see all around us. Sadly so many have fallen to corruption, we hardly know who to trust anymore.

As much as we need to respect our leaders, I think we all should also remember that leaders are servants first. Leading is not about fancy cars and positions. Leading is about serving the people you are leading, hence the name civil servants when it comes to government. If you are part of government, your daily focus should be on how you can make things better for the people in South Africa. If in business, you should focus on serving your internal and external stakeholders.

As leaders, we should focus on the vision, the people we are trying to take there, and serving all our stakeholders. Leadership takes courage, it involves caring for people, being responsible and accountable and having a clear goal. It is not dependent on money, fame, status or power.

Leaders who are no longer serving the needs of their stakeholders or followers, should not be leading, and we should not let them.

Outcomes based education has been a dismal failure. Who is standing up for the children that will suffer from this for the rest of their lives? Why did it take two commissions and seven years for a decision to be made that it was not working? Our leaders were entrusted with our children, and they failed us. Who is being held accountable for this? We are equally at fault not to expect more, and to allow this to go by unquestioned.

Let us stand up as people and expect more from our leaders.

And let those of us who are leaders, rise to the challenge, and keep our focus on the goal we are trying to achieve, as well as on the people we serve.