December 18, 2010
Leadership: What Is It and How to Deal with It? [Part Three]
Section: WRITINGS | 103 reads
A life rooted in belief in God and human equality and channeled toward purposeful and responsible behavior.
Authoritarian, arrogant, autocratic leadership, in its roots and origins, even predates the ancient times when Chinese philosophers and teachers celebrated the equality of what they called mankind.
And of the times when, according to the Bible and the Qur’an, a fearless Moses thundered before the mighty Pharaoh:
“Let my people go!”
The essence, spirit and modus operandi of this type of leadership, thus, are as old as the Pyramids and the Pharaohs.
If not older.
And yet they are as new and diabolical as Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini.
Marcos of Philippines and Duvalier of Haiti.
Batista of Cuba and Somoza of Nicaragua.
The Shah of Iran and Mobutu of Zaire.
Amin of Uganda and Bokassa of The Central African Republic.
Assad of Syria and Saddam of Iraq.
Qaddafy of Libya and Mubarak of Egypt.
Pinochet of Chile, Salazar of Portugal and Franco of Spain.
And all the other dictators and tyrants, large or small, who fit this profile and practice this philosophy, style and model of leadership.
Of despotic, tyrannical control over the lives and destinies of people.
The people.
Throughout the globe.
In far off places.
Or in your own neighborhood.
With their brute faces naked and plain for all to see.
Or masking their lust for personal power and greed for selfish aggrandizement behind glib clichés and popular platitudes.
In general, this type of leadership is self-imposed, self-serving and self-perpetuating.
It is not put there by its followers with their full knowledge, understanding and volition.
In ordinary language, it is not representative leadership put in office by the people in free, fair and truly meaningful expressions and exercise of choice.
In a fundamental sense, this leadership is not of, by and for the people.
As a result, it is alien and hostile to the very notion of the rights and consent of the governed.
A genuine, well-informed and enlightened consent.
As a result, such leadership lacks true mandate and legitimacy.
Such leadership casts a Satanic shadow over the souls and lives of men and women it purports to lead.
Like all other types, styles, approaches, philosophies or models of leadership sketched above, this type of leadership is also detrimental to the group, the organization, the community, the nation or the people it purports to represent and lead.
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CIVILIZED LEADERSHIP
All these types, styles, philosophies, approaches and models of leadership are directly antithetical to the very spirit, meaning and purpose of civilized living.
To the very essence of being human.
And being civilized.
They directly negate that stirring Seventh Century-, Qur’anic notion of “The People.”
Annaas!
A notion so clearly and so powerfully incorporated in the American Constitution in the form of the declaration, “We the people.”
Over a thousand years after the Qur’an first proclaimed it and made it a central part of its teachings.
Mentioning this glorious term in its divine pages no less than 200 times!
A notion expressed so simply and elegantly by the American President, Abraham Lincoln, when he characterized his government and his leadership as being of the people, by the people, for the people.
As a result, all of the five leadership styles and philosophies outlined thus far are primitive and pre-civilized in different ways and to different degrees.
And to that extent they are all really pre-human.
Representing the pits of depravity, disaster and loss to which humans can sink.
Legacy of a barbaric past and brute culture.
A man-made culture of the sword – as opposed to a divine culture of the pen.
A Satanic culture of coercion and deception – as opposed to a divine culture of education, enlightenment and persuasion.
And they all carry in them the seeds for the decline, decay, downfall and destruction of the group, organization, community, nation or people they purport to serve, represent or lead.
A civilized society is, above all else, a free society.
It is a society founded on the notions of liberty and equality.
Liberty and equality for all – regardless or race or gender, nationality or class.
And their twin sets of concomitants and correlates: knowledge and understanding; education and enlightenment; logic and persuasion.
And the ultimate fountainhead of all: truth.
What the Qur’an calls Al-Haqq.
The truth.
Data; facts; reality.
Un-doctored; un-fudged; un-alloyed with fiction and falsehood.
Honesty; integrity; candor; openness; transparency.
Untarnished by personal, political, religious and commercial spin or manipulation.
And democracy in the sense of the full, willing and informed participation, involvement, consent and inclusiveness of the governed, The People, on the one hand, as well as the accountability and peaceable replaceability of the rulers and the leaders, on the other hand.
And on the notions of justice and fairness.
And trust and responsibility.
It is a society based on the twin principles of the consent of the governed and the accountability and peaceable replaceability of those in positions of power.
It is a civil society in which all are equal before the law.
And the law is both equal for all and supreme above all.
And a civilized society, more than anything else, requires, demands and accepts nothing but a civilized leadership.
In fact, a civilized leadership is a sine qua non – a defining characteristic and a prerequisite – of a civilized society.
And a backward, regressive, retrograde and primitive leadership is one of the most powerful and pervasive causes, consequences as well as the symptoms and indicators of the downfall and backwardness of a society.
A group, organization, community, nation or people — any group, organization, community, nation or people –deserves better.
It deserves a better and superior leadership.
A leadership that is civilized.
It deserves a leadership…
That is more aware, concerned and caring.
That is more selfless and sacrificing.
That is more fearless and daring.
That is more innovative, imaginative, ingenious and creative.
That is more insightful, enlightened.
That is more liberated, resilient.
That is more capable, resourceful.
That is more dedicated, single-minded.
Next Article: COPING WITH FEAR AND GRIEF: An Islamic Approach [Part One]
Previous Article: Leadership: What Is It and How to Deal with It? [Part Two]
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