been thinking about this for a long time and i have strong opinions about this issue.
many schools and institutions, even businesses have been saying or implying that everyone can be taught to be a leader somehow. our own army have been saying the same thing. every soldier a leader. leadership camps. talks that 'teaches' about leadership and courses to make you a netter leader. i disagree to a large extend.
leader. someone who leads. leads others. if everyone, every soldier, every school child is a 'leader'. what's there left to lead?
every organization have a structure, which serves a purpose and puts every member in a place to fulfill their role and ultimately the purpose of the organization. i can bet you my left kidney, that there is no organization where everyone is a leader. someone have to follow orders and do some menial task somewhere.
perhaps some of the problems that arises when doing group work stems from this mentality. everyone a leader, so everyone wants things done their way. even in a democracy or a republican system, there are leaders and followers, you either vote the people who speaks for your beliefs or you vote for what is the best idea and after the voting, the voted idea's originator becomes a 'manager' of the task and leads people to do them. everyone should follow the decision of the vote. should..
not everyone can be a leader, but having some qualities that a leader should possess is indeed an awesome thing.
what qualities should a leader possess? every book tells a different story. some of the common ones are, initiative, problem solving with available resources, communication skills, negotiation skills and perhaps creativity, which in itself is a problematic trait to pin down.
looking at the above sets of 'skills', we can see that it is not difficult to have those skill sets and not be a leader. we could be just good at being a person in whatever field we're in with those skills. why is that? perhaps there is no desire to lead, perhaps there is no one to lead, perhaps there is no need to lead?
in every situation there are leaders and followers. the tasks may change and the role may change, but the most important thing to lead is ourselves. to lead, one must have a purpose then the skills. so in our own lives, we must have purpose then devise ways to lead ourselves there. in this, everyone can be a leader.
many schools and institutions, even businesses have been saying or implying that everyone can be taught to be a leader somehow. our own army have been saying the same thing. every soldier a leader. leadership camps. talks that 'teaches' about leadership and courses to make you a netter leader. i disagree to a large extend.
leader. someone who leads. leads others. if everyone, every soldier, every school child is a 'leader'. what's there left to lead?
every organization have a structure, which serves a purpose and puts every member in a place to fulfill their role and ultimately the purpose of the organization. i can bet you my left kidney, that there is no organization where everyone is a leader. someone have to follow orders and do some menial task somewhere.
perhaps some of the problems that arises when doing group work stems from this mentality. everyone a leader, so everyone wants things done their way. even in a democracy or a republican system, there are leaders and followers, you either vote the people who speaks for your beliefs or you vote for what is the best idea and after the voting, the voted idea's originator becomes a 'manager' of the task and leads people to do them. everyone should follow the decision of the vote. should..
not everyone can be a leader, but having some qualities that a leader should possess is indeed an awesome thing.
what qualities should a leader possess? every book tells a different story. some of the common ones are, initiative, problem solving with available resources, communication skills, negotiation skills and perhaps creativity, which in itself is a problematic trait to pin down.
looking at the above sets of 'skills', we can see that it is not difficult to have those skill sets and not be a leader. we could be just good at being a person in whatever field we're in with those skills. why is that? perhaps there is no desire to lead, perhaps there is no one to lead, perhaps there is no need to lead?
in every situation there are leaders and followers. the tasks may change and the role may change, but the most important thing to lead is ourselves. to lead, one must have a purpose then the skills. so in our own lives, we must have purpose then devise ways to lead ourselves there. in this, everyone can be a leader.
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