YOU GET THE LEADERS YOU DESERVE
Qualities of Leadership and
Followership
Musings
By
VIKRAM KARVE
Leadership
presupposes two things:
1. A LEADER
and
2. MEN
CAPABLE OF BEING LED (Followers).
A stag
cannot lead an army of lions.
A lion
cannot persuade an army of stags to follow.
What
then is required?
A Lion
leading Lions
Both
the leader and the followers must be “LIONS”
We then
have a LION leading an army of LIONS - and an army of lions led by a lion will be victorious.
In
other words, the qualities of leaders
and followers are very similar.
The
chief of these qualities are:
(1)
Knowledge.
(2)
Skill.
(3)
Determination.
(4)
Endurance.
(5)
Courage.
(6)
Cunning.
(7)
Imagination.
(8)
Confidence.
No one
is greater than the other, but the first of all is knowledge.
Paraphrased
by me from a quote by Brevet Colonel J.F.C. Fuller, D.S.O. in his article: “Moral,
Instruction and Leadership” in Journal of the Royal United Services
Institution, Vol. LXV (1920)
We get the leaders we deserve.
Are we “LIONS” - then we will get leaders who are “LIONS”
And if behave like meek “STAGS” (deer) we will get leaders who also behave like deer, meek and weak.
2 comments:
disagree - mostly because the way you have put it. It appears as if you are saying that a leader can only lead if the followers too have leadership skills
Last year, at a Toronto strategy consultant seminar organized by Robinson Leadership, I've learned that honesty is also a very important quality of a great leader nowadays. Leaders have to be honest. In this way, they will surely succeed in their business and life.
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