(From Amigoe.com)
Leaders are responsible for the environment we live and work in. On this ‘baranka’ we think leadership is about the results. Wrong! We as people respond to our environment around us. Therefore leaders need to take care of our environment. A leader is responsible for the people who are responsible for the results.
So, if you take care of the people and their environment, things will work out just fine. We (as in Kòrsou)... got that totally confused.
A simple example: we throw people in jail and hope that they come out better just by a miracle... we must be out of our minds. If the environment is bad, people will turn out bad. It really is that simple.
A lot of us think that because they have a higher rank they are leaders; so not true. We all know lots of people (way too many if I am really honest) who sit at the higher ends of organizations. They have authority and we do as they tell us, because they have authority over us, but we would not follow them.
And then there are people who we will follow in a beat, because they are courageous and show responsibility for our well-being. Look around you, you know those people as well. Those people are the real leaders. They take care of the people with whom they work. It is a practice, it is a skill that can be learned, and it does require practice!
Leadership looks a lot like parenting. Not everyone wants to be a parent, has the capacity to be a parent or should be a parent. With leading it is the same, some just do not have the capacity, want to be or should be leaders.
The scary thing is that a lot of people scream ‘jump on my boat’. But, please ask before you jump, what boat and who will be the captain, who will take care of me on that boat?
To be a leader, you need courage and courage is external. You will feel courageous when other people have your back, when others support you. That will give you the push to move forward. We are people and we are still social animals. We all can care a lot more about our society, our youth, and our people.
True leaders take responsibility for their people.
KAMLA DE HAAS
Curaçao
