Winning an election does not make you leader- Monroe

Dr. Myles Monroe

Election is the poorest form of leadership development the world over, a leadership consultant and motivational speaker Dr. Myles Monroe has said.

He is convinced even a fool can win an election and become a leader if he is able to garner more votes at the polls.

The balded, soft spoken but eloquent human developer with a perfectly trimmed moustache was speaking to Paul Adom Otchere on Metro TV's late night political discussion programme Good Evening Ghana.

His comments come only months away from a crucial election in Ghana in which political party leaders have begun campaigning in earnest seeking the mandate of the people to serve.

“Election can actually vote a person into power who is not trained to be a leader. Because you win an election doesn't make you a leader.

“You can actually elect a fool if he got in the votes. So leadership is not the same as winning elections,” he stated.

Monroe, who would rather be acknowledged by his functions and not his titles, said a leader must be competent, trained and with a selfless purpose and passion not to win power but to empower their people and followers.

“Purpose has to do with having a sense of significance; sense of personal responsibility to humanity. A person with a purpose is someone who discovers that he was born for a reason not just to make a living.”

Whilst acknowledging that some contemporary leaders are wonderful people, Dr Monroe said they are in fact defective in many significant ways because they only want to pursue a career and “live to make a living instead of living to make a difference.”

He said good leaders initiate change and are goal oriented. “They don't wait for things to be changed; they decide I am going to become the change in the world that I want to see,” he noted.

With five burgeoning businesses to his credit; founder of a magnificent church in the Carribean; advisor to governments; leadership consultant; many have wondered who exactly Dr. Myles Monroe is.

He told Paul Adom Otchere: “I am all things to all men depending on what they need. I am a human developer with no title but different functions.”

The human developer who is making his second visit to Ghana, is scheduled to have a two-day leadership mentoring event in the country which begins on Friday and ends on Saturday.