THE ONE WHO HAS BEEN TO THE MOUNTAIN-TOP

There is a famous line about leadership: “The speed of the leader is the speed of the gang.”

We can twist it in different ways: “The strength of the leader is the strength of the gang.” Or, “The vision of the leader is the vision of the gang.” 

We need strong, vision-driven leaders… We need them in all walks of life… starting from our homes. Just imagine, when the leader of our own home is bereft of the family vision, and he is timid. Let’s go a little further: our schools, our religious communities, our local bodies and institutions, the organizations we work for, the Government that rules us… Yes, what will be the condition of all these spheres of our lives if we do not have leaders with clear-cut visions and robust spines to lead us?

Yesterday, a friend of mine had sent me a passage attributed to Socrates:

“A group of donkeys lead by a lion can defeat a group of lion lead by a donkey.”

“Hundred percent true!” I shouted in my mind and wrote back my response. “This should be the first lesson for all our aspiring MBAs.”

What I wanted to convey through my response was this: “Only a strong leader can inspire courage and strength in the hearts of his followers. Thus, it is important that the leader should be clear and passionate about his vision… That, he should possess a spine of steel!”

Thousands of years ago, when Moses was chosen by God to free His people – the Jews – from the generations of slavery under Egyptian Pharaohs, the first reaction of Moses was, “I am weak and afraid to talk… How can I stand before the mighty Pharaoh?”

“I will give you courage to stand before the emperor; I will give you words to speak… Go and do what I command!”  When God had thundered like this, the vision of God had become the vision of Moses… The strength of God had become the strength of Moses. Yes, a leader was born.

The great story of Exodus – the story of freeing Jews from the hardened and arrogant Egyptian emperor and leading them to the Promised Land through the burning wilderness… Yes, it is an inspiring story of great leadership. It was Moses who had been to the Mountain-top, first, to see the ‘Promised Land’… It was this vision he had succeeded in igniting in the hearts of the oppressed multitude… For more than forty years, the vision was sustained by the leader despite such heart-breaking ordeals!

Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Mao, Lenin or Churchill… Every good leader is like that – a visionary. He has been to the mountain-top before any of us could sight our ‘Promised Lands’!

It is our leader that keeps inspiring us to march on, to bear our burdens for the ‘greater cause’… to hold the fort, and hold it strong. 

How can a weak leader do that?

We need a leader to hold us all together… 

We want him to fire in our souls the vision… 

 we want him to lead us through 

 our most scorching deserts.

Therefore, it is definitely possible for a group of donkeys to defeat a group of lions… All that the donkeys need is a strong lion to lead them…

And, do it from the front!

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Suman Dhing