G. Balasubramanian | Chairperson, Board of Advisors, ICSL | Editor-in-Chief, The Progressive School
“It takes a whole society to raise a leader.”
This African proverb really means that there is a whole lot of external forces that help to shape and define a leader. A leader needs to have adequate social sensitivity. His/her social consciousness goes a long way in the image building. Unless he/she is conscious and responsive to the needs of the society; unless the society recognizes and elevates him/her to the position one deserves, one doesn’t emerge as a leader in the true sense.
In a world of self-proclaimed leaders, one has to understand that pseudo-leadership doesn’t stand for a long time. A real leader needs to have relevant and visible competencies. As Rudyard Kipling puts in his poem “If” – he/she should be able ‘to walk like a king amongst the commoners and a commoner amongst the kings.’
John Adair, a noted Guru on leadership, the world’s first professor of Leadership Studies in UK classifies leaders as:
Strategic Leaders
Operational Leaders
Team Leaders
A school leader needs to encompass the qualities of all the above leaders. In short, (s)he needs to be a “Leader of Leaders” so that (s)he can generate leaders!
Do you agree?