By: Aaqib Shaheen
Without a leader, morale collapses. Napoleon Bonaparte said that “leaders are merchants of hope”. If there are no leaders, most people lose hope and are demoralized. Why is this happening- simply because morale is confidence and hope in the leader who is at the top.
Here is the equation. If a team develops a specific vision within a strategic plan, but no leader is identified, a problem will arise. The vision will deviate away from the goals and without a leader the vision will dissipate and the team will drift behind multiple, imprecise directions away from the specific goal or the intended purpose of the team work.
But if the team starts with a leader and without a vision, then things will go well and appropriately, as the leader can define the vision, and the leader may be the visionary or upholder of a vision. Former US President Ronald Reagan (1981-1989) says that when he was a teenager his aunt took him to tailor a pair of shoes. The shoemaker asked him how would you like the front of the shoe, round or square? Reagan remembers that he had not decided yet, so the shoemaker told him, “Come in a day or two, and tell me what you decided?” But Reagan did not come back again, and when the man saw him on the street by chance he asked him again, “How do you want the front of the shoe,” and the response was “not decide yet”. After this the show maker told him that it will be ready tomorrow.
Reagan went to pick up the shoes and discovered that one had a round toe and the other a square. “When I saw that shoe, I learned a lesson,” says President Reagan. “If I don’t make my decisions, someone else will make it for me.” When talking about leadership or innovation and development, this means talking about change, or driving change in order to move from a current situation to a new or better situation and change is a positive thing.
There are many companies, institutions and organizations if they do not change or change their way of working, they won’t survive. We hear the slogans of change nearly all times and all sectors of economy, education, life demand frequent changes and innovations in order to stay relevant and keep progressing and developing. Change is the main factor for longevity of industries, companies as well as institutions. Each development and each refined need demands change either in the structural nuances of a given system or the socio-ethical factors.
A leader guides his/her followers through the changing scenarios and also acclimatizes them with change. It has been seen that people are actually averse to change and find comfort in staying with the statues-quo but a leader breaks the ice and introduces change as a positive thing.
Aaqib Shaheen is a novelist poet columnist hails from Shahoora Rajpora area of litter pulwama .He can be reached aaqibshaheenmir@gmail.com
