Think Big Dream High, E50– Smart Leadership  

Versatile, Universal And Respected Leadership

1.Someone who wants to excel and be well known in any field must have good leadership qualities. Each and everyone of us is born a leader. Only those who are able to expand the elements of leadership traits in themselves will be successful in becoming a smart professional, politician, religious leader, singer, entrepreneur or athlete.

2.For ease of understanding, leaders in all of these fields will be referred to as leaders or professionals in this article. This article will make references and comments on the leadership by example qualities shown by some of the leaders in our society.

3.Leaders come and go according to the era. A leader will be praised in accordance with the phenomena created during his leadership era. The leader is relevant, effective, praised and admired during that time. Only those who think big and dream high will be a successful leader, respected and remembered throughout their period of leadership. Their versatility, universality and prominent leadership characteristics endeared them to the people and made them be respected and praised even long after their death.

4.Other than the Prophets whose leaderships are specifically guided by Allah SWT, there are also other leaders of world class stature. For example, Imam Shafie (founder of Mazhab Shafie), Imam Al Ghazali (shariah scholar and a great Sufi), Mahatma Gandhi(a well-known politician from India), JF Kennedy (The former President of USA), Nelson Mandela (The former President of South Africa), Tun Mahathir Mohammd (the former Prime Minister of Malaysia), Bill Gate (the founder of Microsoft from USA), Warren Buffet (the world’s richest businessman from USA), P Ramlee (the legendary actor/singer from Malaysia), Mohammad Raffi (the legendary singer from India), Umi Kalthom(the legendary singer from Egypt), Akio Morita (the founder of Nokia group from Japan), Chung Ju-Yung(the founder of Hyundai Group of South Korea) or Pele (the world’s best footballer from Brazil).

5.The problems faced by the leaders are more or less the same from one era to another, even to this present day and time. It has everything to do with the stakeholders and the environment at the time. There might be differences but only on the challenges, civilization and difficulties faced in that particular era. In the era of ICT, knowledge based economy and globalisation, the challenges, difficulties and diversity are much more than an agricultural or industrial based economy. Obviously differences will continue to exist even in the next century.

6.Therefore for someone aspiring to be a leader in this era should  take into consideration the level of modernization, difficulties, diversity and challenges contemplated at this point in time. All these  with the aim of producing a world famous professional who will be respected and remembered not only for now but more than 100 years in the future.

Reality in Life      

1.There are leaders who rose through the rank and file. There are leaders who are created through the back door. Leaders created through blood relationship, hereditary or nepotism. Leaders created as a result of abuse of power. Leaders created through immoral tactics and unethical strategies. Leaders created through cronysm and being in the good books of the past leaders. Leaders created for reasons unknown obviously not based on pure leadership qualities. This is an example of leaders created through the back door.

2.We do not want to be categorized in the same league as leaders created through the twisted back door. We want to be leaders created through the natural process. The process of leadership creation based on merit, charisma and maturity. We want to be leaders created through the front door, who are risk takers but smart, gentlemen, accountable, responsible, just and equitable and transparent. Leadership supported by the stakeholders in total and uncompromising.

3.Say for example, a corrupted leader, will be surrounded with leaders and future leaders who are corrupted as well. I scratched your back and you scratched mine and vice versa. A corrupted leader will only be able to maintain his position when he is defensive of his subordinate who is corrupted as well. A clean and uncorrupted leader will not be able to maintain his position for long if he is surrounded with leaders who are corrupted. Likewise a corrupted leader will not be able to maintain his position for long if he is surrounded with leader who are clean and uncorrupted.

4.The more advanced the civilization, the more knowledgeable the community, the more they viewed with disgust acts of corruption, falsification, manipulation and non-transparency. As leaders we should remember this fact and avoid them at all cost. If we want to be accepted and respected by majority of the stakeholders and the community we therefore need to be clean and just.

Tips

1. A professional who think big dream high should be a leader of the future with clearly defined vision, mission, working style and goals. Everyone of it is fully understood and accepted by the stakeholders. Everyone of it must be specific, not blurrish and unrealistic. As a leader he should give clear directions, work responsibilities and job scope to all parties involved. Everyone must understand their roles and the contribution expected from them within a specified period of time by the organization. The expectations of the leader must be clearly understood, reminded and refreshed periodically so as not to be ignored. This means, everyone must know, what, when and how the organization’s goals are to be achieved.

2.A professional who think big and dream high should be a leader of the future having diverse knowledge and  upholding the truth, just and excellent. He himself must excel and  be respected in his chosen field. The level of diversity of the stakeholders in the present environment and maybe even in the future are expected to be varied. The character, taste, satisfaction, demands and wants of the consumer and the general public are unlimited. The market is too competitive. The level of transparency, availability of information, accountability and responsibility have become much more buoyant. As someone with high ambition, we need to equip ourselves with all kinds of expertise and abilities. Expertise and abilities needed to facilitate roles and work assignments in a more effective manner.

3. A professional who think big and dream high should be a leader of the future who practices the sharing culture and delegation of authority to other parties involved in ensuring the success of an entity’s mission and goals. He should also showed wisdom in understanding, evaluating, appreciating and using the strengths and advantages of those involved. He cannot afford to be just supervising and giving instructions to his subordinates. As a leader he should work as a team with his subordinates and collectively come up with  the right strategies and plans of action. In this manner, everyone of the stakeholders will be in the same comfort zone and assumed they are all important and needed.

4. A professional who think big and dream high should be a leader of the future, fully committed, engaging himself wholeheartedly in  programmes that are beneficial to the  stakeholders. He should have a futuristic approach in thinking and ever ready to solve any problems faced especially in a new and unexplored territory.

5. A professional who think big and dream high should be a leader of the future, willing to open his door to anybody from varied background intending to contribute information, ideas and  collaboration. The leader realizes that the pooling of a concerted effort in providing inputs, the inherent traits in every members of the group i.e. their weaknesses and strengths will produce the real power to the organization he led. It is only through this kind of approach that can ensure the organization’s ability of being the best.

6.A leader with leadership qualities mentioned in the above paragraphs will undoubtedly be accepted widely as an exemplary and smart leader.