Thursday, September 18, 2014

Leaders are always humble

What is the greatest quality of a leader supposed to be? The different people have different opinions. Some people say that a leader must exert his leadership, though his courage, determination, setting up examples for others to follow and motivate his people in any situation. In short, a leader must be in a position to lead in all aspects. Some others opine that a true leader must show enough sympathy, affection, kindness and love to their followers. There are others, who say that a leader, apart from all other qualities, essentially should be humble. Humility is very necessary for leaders. If you take the example of many CEOs, who are heading the fortune  500 companies, you will find that most of them are ambitious, courageous, self confident, cool, good listeners and able motivators, but the one essential criteria they  all possess that essentially, they are very humble. Most of them are multi-millionaires, but outwardly they don’t show any pride for  their wealth. They devote their lives in search of excellence. We  recognize them as  very wealthiest persons who have a lot of money power. We are in the darkness of assessment because we give a lot of weightage on the power of money. We classify people on the wrong notion as where they live, which cars they drive, in which restaurants they eat and which brand of clothes they wear. We respect people with big bank balances. A time was there when a man was judged by his character, his values and his knowledge. He was assessed for his ability to think for the welfare of underprivileged, his noble virtues, his moralities, his thinking pattern and top of everything his attitude towards people. In general, all these major qualities were the only benchmark to  assess his potentiality as a leader. Today, these things are insignificant. All these virtues are replaced by the concept of how much money, fame and power you possess.

The fundamental idea of today’s society is based on money. And the money becomes our ruler as a master, whereas we must ensure that money should be a good servant.

A leader must possess the quality of humility and it is must for any leader. This word is derived from the Latin word “humilitas” which means grounded that is the earth beneath us.

Today’s world is full of self proclaimed leaders. They believe in their muscles power and money power. Without these, they feel crippled. They prefer to be aggressive and they seldom show humility. They consider  the trait of humility  as a weakness.

In reality, it is not that true. Humility is now being studied as a virtue necessary for the best leaders. In fact, if you study the autobiography of any tycoons, spiritual gurus and political leaders, who are recognized and severely revered by people, you will find all of them are very humble. It is considered as high esteem, high level of confidence. If you are humble, then only you accomplish a great achievement in any spheres of your life. They are able to organize, manage, teach, train, direct and guide their people in the right direction and people are getting immensely  benefited to be associated with them.

The main problem is our mindset with this word ‘’ humility.’’ We feel that people are humble means they are timid, weak, cowardly, lowliness and itty-bitty types. In reality, it is just opposite. Humility makes you sharper, witty, knowledgeable and provide you the power of wisdom, which ultimately enable you to lead an organization, enterprise, union, church, society or even a country.

When Jesus’s disciples embroiled into an argument over who was holy and who would get placed in heaven, Jesus said to them, “Whosoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. And whosoever of you desires to be first, shall be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to sacrifice his life as a ransom for many”.     

How many of us accept this philosophy of Jesus to deserve to be a true leader. So, we must bring humility to the forefront so that we as leaders can carry out some noble works for other human beings..







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