Greatest lesson in leadership

THE EDITOR: There is one simple lesson all our leaders and politicians must learn/apply in order to better relationships and sustainably move our country forward – the lesson of constructive criticism.

It is not good enough to have degrees of qualifications and achievements from universities all over the world but still not master the art of communication, of understanding human relationships and the art of persuasion. It is also not enough that our leaders (seemingly) kiss and make up in lavish cocktail parties for the privileged few.

Studies have shown that roughly 15 per cent of a person’s financial success is due to his/her technical knowledge, but 85 per cent is due to the ability to lead people and navigate relationships.

So, why do our politicians, as collaborators, not seem to get anything usefully done in TT? Why consistently does the successful party boot out every major plan/policy/initiative put in place by the previous regime? What does it achieve when the Leader of the Opposition condemns and the Prime Minister responds harshly? Nothing, but further condemnation of each other.

Equally important, why do we, as citizens of this beautiful republic, quickly move to condemn politicians and their actions instead of first recognising that their intentions and efforts are for the benefit of ourselves (and by extension our nation)?

Abraham Lincoln, the godfather of all American presidents, once said in response to a criticism directed at him: “Don’t criticise them; they are just what we would do under similar circumstances." One of his favourite quotations was, "Judge not, that ye be not judged."

Our politicians always seem to be reactive to each other and examples abound, including closing of the oil refinery, the Naveen Jindal pullout, implementing a new crime strategy, passing the new property tax law. Most recent is the lack of opposition participation in constitutional reform.

The response is usually the same – "this will never work," or "they don't know what they are doing" and so on. The necessary respect for each other has all but disappeared.

The legendary Dale Carnegie gave recognition to this endemic problem in leadership almost 100 years ago when he discovered that – if you tell people they are wrong you will not get them to agree with you. This is because "you have struck a direct blow at their intelligence, judgement, pride and self-respect" (from his masterpiece, How to Win Friends and Influence People).

The first and foremost solution, therefore, to our biggest leadership problems – the stumbling blocks to our nation's development – is not outright condemnation of our fellow leaders, but instead to make a transparent and genuine assessment of all actions/policies/plans being suggested and to respond constructively, with a genuine intention of working towards a common goal.

YASEEN AHMED

via e-mail