An Article About The Leadership Question

The leadership question

Nasim Firdaus

Leaders are born or not…?

The fact that this discussion continues into the 21st century, with researchers still trying to figure out the right answer about who can be leaders and how, it reminds us of the need for mankind to explain why some people are considered to be leaders and others not. Why some can lead and some cannot. Why some people think they are leaders while others think they are not. Some scientists have tried to prove that it is all about genetics. Some behavioural scientists have disagreed.

Nonetheless, the new research re-confirms what mankind has known all along, that is, man is born equal albeit with unique qualities and that nurturing these qualities properly or improperly can make the person a great human being or a scoundrel. In the same vein, nurturing the leadership qualities that one might possess can give us great leaders or average ones, depending on the environment that permeates his or her being.

 

The leadership connection
Leadership is about connection. When a person is able to connect, motivate and influence people he or she is generally accepted as a leader. If the leader thinks he is a leader and the followers think he or she is a leader then the person is indeed a leader.

It is thus irrelevant whether he was born into a family with a lineage of great leaders or not. What matters is his ability to lead through connection, motivation and influence. Amazingly, some leaders connect and then throw it all away by forgetting that their claim to leadership lies in the eyes of the beholder, the reins of which remain in the hands of their constituents.

Leadership is also about power and authority. Ability to use the power and authority — whether given or obtained through democratic or undemocratic means makes a leader too. The democratic leader is one who is inclusive and connects with as many people as he can. The autocratic leader is one who imposes on as many people as he can without connecting with anyone. In between there remains a wide array of leadership styles which vary on the level and stage of leadership.

Gaining trust in leadership
One important factor that comes to the fore in the political leadership question is whether the leader is trusted, can be trusted on every aspect of governance, and whether the leader is genuine in his leadership qualities. In these days of abundant forgery and deceit it is difficult to find leaders who are truly trustworthy of the people’s trust and can be considered as genuinely good leaders.

Integrity, vision and courage are great qualities that need to combine to make trusted leaders. The mistrust that surrounds political leadership is increasingly becoming a worldwide phenomenon that brings fear to the soul of citizens who are in desperate need of trusted, visionary and courageous leaders.  Leaders like Sher e Bangla Fazlul Huq, Hussein Shaheed Sharwardy, Mowlana Bhashani and Sheikh Mujibur Rahman are rare to come by these days.  None of the above men were born into families that had produced great leaders before them.

These men can therefore be considered leaders who were led by their environment to take up the   mantle of leadership by choice or circumstance, irrespective of the possibility of having the right genes.Bangladesh has not since seen a leader who emerged because of the circumstances or for that matter for genetic reasons. A nation, as big as Bangladesh, needs leaders with more to give than take. Political leadership is not only about winning elections; it is about working for the future. It is about leading a nation out of poverty and despair to stability and hope.

Honesty and compassion are qualities that may or may not be entirely genetic but certainly an acquired skill. When families teach their children to be honest in their everyday life one of the most important qualities of leadership is ingrained in their mind and character. It is said that a lie when oft repeated becomes the truth. To carry forward the same logic a truth when oft repeated becomes the hard truth. In this case honesty becomes the truth – an important environmental element for leadership. With honesty comes compassion. Leaders must have compassion for humanity. Burning and looting, destruction and mayhem, hurting others without cause or any fault of theirs, do not fall under compassion by any stretch of imagination.

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Becoming the Visionary
Thinking about posterity is a visionary’s gift to the nation. It needs courage to think big, to think wide, to think far beyond the horizon, and be all encompassing in their thoughts, plans and actions. Thoughts need to be converted into great plans — not average plans; plans need to be executed with definitive and positive actions — not negative reactions. More important however is the need to translate the vision into action before it is is consumed by termites. No dream can be brought to fruition by one man or one woman alone; it has to be a combined effort of planners and executers. Bureaucrats in Bangladesh were once the executers of plans dreamt by our great leaders. Sadly that has changed dramatically as politics, in its twisted motivation to lead, has created sycophants who need extra powered lens to see the wrongs they are committing.

The chemistry of circumstances
On the eve of Barrack Obama’s first inauguration the great columnist MJ Akbar wrote “the genius of any minority is wasted without the chemistry of circumstances…”  Bangladesh has had the chemistry of circumstances many times over yet the minorities of honest and dedicated leaders have not come to the fore yet that can make a difference.  Amongst them are the dedicated women of Bangladesh who have a great deal of fortitude but little environmental circumstances to emerge as leaders. MJ Akber also wrote “individual genius combined with social engineering…”.caused leaders to emerge.

Women Leaders
Men and women have definite difference in leadership styles. For one, they do not look alike so they are genetically different. More importantly, as a minority in power but not in numbers, generally women do not have the circumstances that can make them great leaders. Who knows if a few of the nearly eighty million Bangladeshi women will emerge as great leaders or not if ‘the chemistry of circumstances’ is provided to them at the right time and the right way?

As the 2008 elections were nearing Bangladeshi women were trying hard to get more of their numbers in the parliament. The logic behind this loud cry was that once there is a recognisable presence in the parliament women will be bringing forth the desired change in policies that are of interest to women by making their voices heard. Under the leadership of an independent election commission this demand featured in the talks for party registration with political parties. Political party negotiations, mostly led by men, however, denied women that half hearted approach of the election commission putting off the clause of having 33 percent of all positions in political hierarchies allocated to women as a pre-requisite for party registration. This was put on the back burner until 2020 under the pretext that “there were not enough women who were capable” to run for office. Interestingly, on this one issue of getting more women on board, both secular and religious based political leaders saw eye to eye perfectly. There was not a blink!

Social engineering in favour of women
Women of Bangladesh have and continue to contribute a great deal in all aspects — socially, economically and indeed politically. Yet, they continue to have limited opportunities. When Bongobondhu had mentioned in one of his numerous policy statements that investing in education has to be increased if the country wants to make progress he surely did not leave out his daughters from the equation.

Providing educational opportunities to girls and women is a part of that social engineering. So is the opportunity to receive training. Determination of who should get the benefit of social engineering for leadership will of course be influenced by certain factors such as the ability to command with an acceptable presence, an intellect that is above average, or the physique that is acceptable.

When the genetic factors appear right and acceptable, at least prima facie, then social engineering efforts can be expected to yield good results. Social engineering must therefore be done for groups that are disadvantaged and lagging behind but have the possibility of emerging as leaders in their own right and in the right context. Not everyone can be trained to become leaders. Limitations of certain kinds will have to be acknowledged. Gender cannot, however, become a limitation.

BDAWL leadership academy
On November 11 2008 the Bangladesh Alliance for Women Leadership (BDAWL) was launched. BDAWL began its work as a catalyst. Its slogan “Participate, Train and Lead” and its motto “Together We Win” became the mantra for Bangladeshi women who are aspiring to be the new generation leaders. Women were urged to seek out leadership positions in political parties, government and non-governmental organisations. BDAWL’s declared vision is to have a more egalitarian society where women and men can play equally important roles in taking the country forward. Its mission is thus to train and build capacity and leadership skills in women. The goal is to reach 33 percent of leadership positions by 2015 and 50 percent by 2021.

In 2009, following the general elections, BDAWL began work on providing that missing link to women who were interested in training and honing their skills for better leadership opportunities. One of the earliest works that BDAWL did, in association with others, was holding a four day orientation program for women parliamentarians who had just been seated in the 9th parliament. It was an enriching experience for both women parliamentarians and the civil society in building a bridge that has truly gone from strength to strength over the years. Since then BDAWL has held workshops and training sessions for women elected leaders at various levels an in various stages to give them the opportunity to train their own minds, build self confidence, develop the skills required to lead in a forum heavily outnumbered by men, discuss policy issues, and to suggest and advocate actions in favour of a more egalitarian society.

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Finally, the opportunity for BDAWL arrived to seek out its own cherished goal of beginning a leadership academy for women. In 2010 work began on designing the academy and its curriculum where more than thirty great men and women brain stormed to give the best opportunity to elected and aspiring women leaders to “participate, train and lead”. Amongst them were university professors, political party leaders,  civil society and NGO activists, representatives of think tanks, media including the Daily Star, and of course, devoted BDAWL members.  From there emerged a core group that supports and guides the activities of the academy to this day. Today, BDAWL has four active leadership academies for Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi and Dhaka divisions where each session has thirty women getting intensive training on leadership in phases.

In Phase One trainees learn skills in effective leadership and decision making, debate, negotiation and conflict management, effective communication skills, and, most importantly, developing self confidence.In Phase Two a higher level of courses are given on specific policy issues as well as on time management, stress and life management skills, public policy etc.

In Phase Three, women who have done the trainings in phase one and two move on to develop practical skills so that they in turn can train other women at the constituency, community or village level. Many of the BDAWL Leadership Academy “Champions” have already begun using skills learned at the academy to train women at their level in their own areas of influence. This is one of the great achievements of BDAWL.

BDAWL Women Leaders Club
The success of the “empowering women” strategy of BDAWL led to its participants forming their own club. Today, there are three active Women Leaders Clubs where BDAWL leadership academy participants meet, discuss their own problems and prospects as women, identify issues that affect the nation negatively, and are working on raising awareness and advocacy to remove the impediments that stand in their way of empowerment. They are an inclusive group where other women who have been trained in similar programs by other agents of change are welcome to join. The Club provides participants with a non partisan forum where women can discuss matters of national interest outside of partisan politics.  “Together We Win” remains at the forefront of all activities. BDAWL assists them with technical know-how in an advisory role. It also helps them network across divisions by bringing them together and helping them to see that they are not alone in their struggle.

AFP

Who’s Who: Bangladeshi Women Leaders
One of the key BDAWL activities is to raise the profile of accomplished women of Bangladesh through its signature publication of the Who’s Who series – a compendium of women who contribute to this countries progress and prosperity. It is by no means a comprehensive directory but only a small attempt to showcase the achievements of Bangladeshi women.

As the BDAWL Women network grows, BDAWL’s web expands. Soon their voices will be heard deep and wide, not indecently loud.

The writer is a former Ambassador and Secretary and can be reached at
ed.bdawl@yahoo.com

Collected From Thedailystar