The Virtues of Leadership
By Moti Lal Khar
Robert Greenleaf, the founding father of the 'Modern
Empowerment Movement in
Business Leadership', who
coined the term, described 'Servant
Leadership' as follows:
"The servant leader is servant at
first...... It begins with a natural feeling
that one wants to serve first"
'Servant Leadership' is a practical
philosophy for present so-called leaders,
may be political, social or religious. This
leadership is concerned with the ethical
use of power and authority. Such
leaders believe that power and authority
are for helping others to grow, not for
ruling, exploiting or gaining personal
advantage by setting individuals or
groups of community and society at
large against one another.
Followers of Greenleaf's philosophy
have identified ten virtues of leadership
as under:
Listening, Empathy,
Healing, Awareness,
Persuation, Conceptulation,
Fore-sight, Stewardship,
Commitment to the growth
of people and Building
Community and Society at
large. Some of these virtues
come more naturally to some
people than others. But
these virtues are necessary
for successful leadership.
Indian polity in general and
Kashmiri Pandit Community
at present in distress in particular
should be mature enough to appreciate
the virtues of these leadership inspired by humility and sincerety. Both the
political and socio-religious
leaders should
develop in themselves
the attributes and
virtues of a servant leader
and not a master leader
for the common good.
Sage Veda Vyasa was given a unique
assignment to study all the
philosophical and spiritual literature
and sum it up in short. After intense
study with the help of his Yogic power,
he declared, "The act of greatest merit
is to help others and the greatest sin is
to cause intentional pain to others." This
is the ultimate in any religion,
philosophy or spiritual school. Swami
Vivekananda said, "So far as a single dog
is hungry in the country, my whole
religion is to feed it." Max Mullar, the
great oriental scholar of
Germany said, "Given the
option and choice by God, I
would like my next birth as
a woman (mother) in India to
serve." Parents in general
and Indian parents in
particular are concerned
about the welfare of their
children. To err is human,
even if parents make
mistakes, their intentions
can be good; we can not hold
their 'mistakes' against
them. Same can be true to
those leaders who are sincere and who
want to serve others. Another important
way to serve the community, society,
nation and humanity at large is to help
those in need and in distress, as are we
Kashmiri Pandit community at present.
Dole out money based on show is likely
to be counter-productive. Assistance in
education and health would help people
to help themselves. It will give them
confidence and boost their self-esteem.
Source: Milchar
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