While I firmly believe that being in a “leadership position” does not necessarily make one a leader any more than a regal garment makes one a royalty, I am convinced as well that it (being in a leadership position) is the best platform where one’s leadership is perfectly exercised. Thus, for me, there is no better place that one can become a leader except in this context.
Fresh from attending two leadership summits in a row (Willow Creek’s Global Leadership Summit and OI-Australia’s Leadership Conference, in October and November respectively), I have been haunted with the feeling that the leadership principles I learned from great leaders around the world would only come to naught unless I would be able to answer this one very basic question: Am I really a leader?
“The Way of the Shepherd”, a book authored by Dr. Kevin Leman and William Pentak, however, caused me to look at the other side of the coin… and perhaps help me find the answer to that question that has been bothering me for quite sometime already.
Faces of leaders (mentors, bosses, directors) from various fields whom I got the privilege of being in contact or having work with, came to mind as I began reading through the principles that I see are being practiced by either one or all of them.
I was already halfway reading when I got struck by the question of the mentor to his protégée regarding the leadership of the latter’s father.
Honestly, like that protégée (who happened to be Ted McBride, the on-going CEO of General Technologies for nearly 20 years), I never looked up to my father as a leader for some reasons: he never held a leadership position at work (well, none that I heard of); that he is more of an introvert (he prefers to be alone rather than to be with people); that he is a man of just a few words (thus his thoughts can seldom be heard).
And as I went on reading, it dawned on me that though I had been hearing a lot about leadership as influence rather than position, I failed to see it the way how my father actually lives his leadership out that has so subtly contributed to my growth and development as a person.
A trip down memory lane brought me back to my first day in grade school when my father told me in the vernacular, “Never starve yourself. Your mother has prepared a snack for you. If it isn’t enough to fill your hunger, then buy food with your pocket money. Just be sure you have some extra money left in case of emergency.” (My one peso back then already had a long way to go.)
And as I did a quick mental picture of this occasion, which is still quite so vivid in my mind, I cannot help but smile at this fatherly reminder to a first-grader. Now talk about influence.
Flashes of various encounters with my father teaching me do some mundane tasks properly and deal with life situations, filled my memory instantaneously.
There was that moment when I was a sophomore in high school that my father taught me how to press my uniform correctly.
There was also that instance when, in response to the incident a drinking glass was broken when it accidentally slipped off my sister’s fingers, my father commented, “There’s no use crying over a broken class. No matter how much crying you make, it will never go back to its original form. Just be careful next time so that it won’t happen again.”
The principles I learned from all these? One, always be prepared in all circumstances. Give allowances for surprises. Two, there is only one way of doing things and that is, doing it correctly. And three: you cannot undo your past. Leave it behind you and learn from it. Then, move forward, this time with you as a better person.
This was how I learned some basic principles in life from my father: from what seemed to be just ordinary encounters; some daily occurrences that are normally not considered as something that even merit a thought.
But above all these is one remarkable trait I see in my father that speaks about his leadership. Like the father of the then protégée, McBride, my father is a man of unquestionable integrity.
He never compromises his values and principles even during those times when we were so hard up financially. By God’s grace, he never resorted to do things that would stain his -- and our family’s -- character and reputation in the guise of “survival”. “The end does not justify the means,” so goes the familiar adage. Di bale ng maghirap tayo, huwag na huwag lang tayong magnakaw o manloko ng tao.
And this is one leadership stance that my father has modeled with conviction to us in which we his children hope to also pass, by the help of God, to our children and our children’s children.
With that, my father gains my trust and respect not simply because he is my father. He earns it because of who he is and what he does as head of the family.
Leadership is not just confined in the boardroom afterall. One does not become a leader because he is given the title, the position. One may be placed in a leadership position by virtue of his profession or eminence but that position commands leadership only when that person lives up to it.
In the words of Dr. Jack Neumann, McBride’s mentor, “People long to follow a leader who is a person of integrity, authenticity, and compassion… a person whom they can trust.”
Hmmm, looks like I’m beginning to see the answer to the question I posted in the opening of this article. In the meantime, let me end this up here as I still have to continue digging into the remaining four of the seven secrets of the “Way of the Shepherd”.
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