True leadership anchored in reality

I recently witnessed a scene at the entrance of an upmarket suburban mall.

A security guard inspecting motor vehicles entering the mall was embroiled in a heated argument with the driver of a big, black, shiny new four-wheel drive vehicle usually driven by the Nairobi glitterati.

The driver was gesturing menacingly at the security guard and muttering expletives to the bewildered guard.

But the guard seemed to be directing the driver to the basement of the mall.

LOADING ZONE

I later gathered that the driver did not want to park in the basement, insisting on parking in the nearby loading zone much to the chagrin of the guard.

As I got closer, I heard the driver mutter loudly in Kiswahili…and I translate… “Some people think they are so important, and behave as if they will never die.”

The deep philosophical undertones of his statement, made me stop and ask the security guard why he was so upset.

He explained that his work is extremely frustrating as he often encounters people driving into the mall, who ignore or disagree with his instructions and some who routinely verbally abuse him.

SHEER ARROGANCE

The sheer arrogance and lack of respect by these people is what had put him in the foul mood and was the reason for his profound exclamation touching on the mortality of us all human beings.

I reflected on the situations I have personally encountered in various workplaces where the so-called bosses treat their employees and junior colleagues like trash.

Demeaning, disrespecting and in some verbally abusing them.

I also reflected on the way the national leaders practise the same behaviour as they lie to the public about their good and grand intentions while, in reality, their intent is to seek financial largesse for themselves and their cronies at the expense of the people they purport to serve.  

IMMORTAL

The phrase the security guard alluded to was in relation to the phenomenon that is known as “delusion of immortality”.

This is where people think they are eternal and immortal.

Such people are obsessed with the world, as if they will never die. 

They live without meaning. They are concerned only with the present and their obsession is solely in worldly pleasure.

DISRESPECTING THE ELECTORATE

They seek positions of leadership at all costs in their delusion of immortality, continuously disrespecting the electorate,  with well-choreographed lies of the rosy future they plan to create.

This is a case of mass disrespect and the humiliation of others just as that security guard was badly treated.

Their quest for power is eventually crowned with victory and the pleas for votes are eventually replaced by the famous Kenyan quip…mta (what can you) do?

While riding the waves of power, such leaders do not spare a thought for the impoverished and what they can do for the common good.

CONSOLATION

Without any meaning in their lives, they remain concerned with the trappings of power and the consolation they get from the minnows that surround them.

Their vision is sadly limited to the extent to which they can amass more and more in the shortest time possible and woe unto those who oppose them as they will readily humiliate or even exterminate them as they hurtle through their meaningless existence.

In this phenomenon, there lies the wisdom of the ages in relation to the effective leadership that we so badly need and desire in our beloved nation at all the levels.

COMMON GOOD

By acknowledging that we are mortal, we realise that life is but a fleeting opportunity that starts and ends so quickly, yet it possesses the possibility for a leader’s contribution to great and lasting progress for the common good.

Such leadership can only lead to joy and self-fulfilment for the leader.

The opposite is a leader who squanders in a mindless cacophony of activity akin to a rat race focused on an insatiable search for meaning through self-glorification and primitive accumulation of wealth at the expense of desperate fellow human beings.

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP

Effective leadership needs to be anchored on the reality of immortality.

This is the conscious leadership that we should all embrace in our families, learning institutions, workplaces and in national leadership.

As we encounter the numerous security guards in our midst, the hardworking subordinates in our workplaces and the hopeful voters seeking a messiah to better their tomorrow, let us ruminate on the words of the great American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Junior, who once said: “We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.”

Dr Mwangi is the managing director, Centre for Personal Leadership. [email protected]