THE MOST PRESSING LEADERSHIP QUALITY TODAY

Leadership, since antiquity has been defined in several angles by several people. It is even believed in certain quaters by some people that leadership has about 366 definitions, in that, there is a new definition everyday in a year. As a matter of fact, if there is any field of endeavour that has attracted scholarstical definitions of gargantuan proportion, then its the subject of leadership. However. the most simplest, yet resourceful definition came from one of the American christian leaders called Howard. He said "leadership is the ability to positively influence people to do what you want because they want to do it.

To all intents and purposes, leadership is exigent in all department of achievements. However, circumstaces, events, and occrences in all nook and cranny of the world depicts, portrays, and demonstrate that in spite of all fact that great leaders of incredible calibre and highly intellectal attainment and unparallel accomplishment had come and gone like Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Ghandhi, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Nelson Mandela,Wintson Churchil, William Wilberforce, Martin Luther to mention a few

Notwithstanding these stirling, resounding and bodacious leaders that the world had seen , it is an incontestible fact that history has numerous and countless evidence that the world has witnessed horrible, horrendous and barbarous leaders like Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussien, Idi Amin, Augustus Pinoche, Charles Taylor and a host of others. In recent times, various continents have witnessed leaders with questionable demeanour and selfish ambitions. In America, a leader's lack of self control and moral rectitude stigmatized him and nearly caused his impeachment as a president.

In Africa, leadership corruption and looting of the nations that they supposedly have welfare for is a common scenario. Right from the early 60's that most African countries gained their independence from colonial emasculation and strangulation to date, Africa has witnessed leaders who have raped their countries of resources and kept them in foreign countries and have surprisingly seemed richer than their countries with example like Mobotu Seseseku. These Billions of dollars are s perpetually stuck in Western banks like Switzerland, France, Britain, Germany etc. But sadly, these countries have made their countries as haven for hiding stolen resources, have wrongly forgotten that this is tantamount to a corrupt and kleptocratic behaviour. Because when you keep a stolen goods of a thief what is the different between you and the thief?

Worststill,the continent of Asia is also beset with ignominous and inglorious assasinations and henious terrorists hideout. It had been a speculation before that Osama Bin Ladin was once hiding somewhere in Asia, and the world has not forgoten the recent cold and faceless assasination of Bernazi Buto. The suicide committed recently by the Korean former Leader Roh, due to the pressure on him as a results of alleged corruption, also speaks volumes of the minuses of leaderhip over there.

Furthermore, Europe also cannot be exonerated of the leadership problems. In the light of this, it cannot be denied that the most pressing leadership issue, is the yearn and thirst for a leadership with integrity.So what is integrity? The word integrity comes from Greek words "integritas" or "integra"

meaning "to be whole".This meaning cuts through all aspects and spheres of the leader's life. It includes sincerity, honesty, truth, keeping one's word, ethics, fairness, justice, punctuality and never faltering from one's conviction. Intergrity is also being consistent with one's value or belief system and not wavering or kowtow to outside influence. Best still, being a person of integrity means you are solid, principled, true to your very best self. It means you walk your talk by living up to your highest ethical values. It means you endeavour to do what is right even in the face of tough situations and never succumb to pressures and temptations to compromise your value

CHALLENGES FOR A LEADER
Has the one ever broken a bad personal habit? If one cant master his challenges, then one cant be a responsible master of others. Does the one lose self-control when things go wrong? The leader who loses self-control during testing situation forfeits respect and loses influence. Since influencing other is a great quality and bedrock of leadership, a leader must be calm in crisis to be able to move people along.Does one think independently? A leader may be guided by the thoughts of others often, but he or she must be seen to be soly responsible for decision taken. Can he take credit for the good and debt for the bad? Does the person handle criticism objectively and remain calm under it? Can the person turn criticism to good account? A humble person with integrity can derive benefit from petty and even malicious criticism.

Can the person readily secure the co-operation and win the respect and confidence of others? An effective leader should be able to rally both supportive and opposers for a common cause. As we defined from outset, a leader with integrity should be able to induce people to happily and willingly do a legitimate cause that benefit them too, but otherwise would not like to do. Does the leader possess the ability to secure discipline without having to resort to a show of brute force or authority? True leadership springs from an internal quality of spirit that quickly infects others and set them along a desired path. The leader should be a peace maker. It is easier to keep peace than to make peace, especially where the peace has been shattered. An important function of leadership is concilation; the ability to discover common ground between opposing viewpoints and then induce both parties to accept it. Can one accept opposition viewpoint without considering it a peronal affront and react accordingly? Every leader should expect opposition in one way or the another and should not be offended by it.

Does the person find it easy to make and keep friends? Who are the people closet to him? The circle of loyal friends of a leader is an indication of a quality and extent of leadership. Do the subordinates appear nervous or at ease in the presence of the leader. A leader should give an impression of sympathetic understanding and friendliness that will put others at ease. Is he really interested in people of all types, tribes and shades of opinion. Is there a hidden prejudice, anti-social person. An anti-social, prejudice and tribalistic leader is overly likely and highly predictable to consciously or unconsciously stir up his people against each other as we witnessed in West Africa sub-region and other African countries which have turned many children into orphanes and several refugees as well as dispalced people.

What is the person's attitude towards people? Does he use or cultivate people. Does he shun problem of people or seek them out? Does he possess tact and anticipate the likely effect of statement before making it? A leader without tact often attracts ridicle. Does the person nurse resentments or readily forgive injuries? Is the person gripped by a master-passion as that of Apostle Paul who said "The one thing I do". Such singleness of purpose will focus one's energies and abilities on the desired goals. There are certainly other points that can be added to to these challenges.Nevertheless, they are meant not only to challenge our leaders but also to serve as criteria or yardstick for assessing potential leadership. They should be primarily applied to people seeking election or appointment to national, regional and local leadership positions as the world and for that matter Africa is starving for a resounding leadership with integrity. There is no gainsaying in the fact that the underdevelopment and impoverishment which is prevelent on the continent of Africa is deeply rooted, entrenched and evolved from centuries of slavery, colonialism, coups, armed conflicts,brain-drain, endemic corruption, mismanagements, dictatorial rules of self-styled demi-gods, kleptocracy, foreign interventions and the fight to control the natural resources. To all intents and purposes, in spite of the aforementioned catalogue of problems that have bedeviled Africa, the most negatively outstanding of all is this nightmarish leadership the continent is facing

God bless Africa

FROM : EKOW WILSON-BAIDOO