EXEMPLARY LEADERSHIP

“Follow the leader”, Mark exclaimed even as he walked briskly through the ranks from the back to the front. He had just learnt that every leader was meant to lead by example. Hannah, who was in line focused on Mark and urged others to do the same, “Even followers have to follow by example she said thinking she was talking to herself but not knowing that she had voiced it out. What do you mean by that, queried Bayo, the leader is the example we follow not the followers. Oh, I didn't know I let that out, thought I was whispering to myself, Hannah replied.

You see, she continued, just as the followers follow the example of the leader, the followers to have a role to play in making the ride an enjoyable one for the leader. There are some followers who will probably dislike the leader, or hate his tactics or even want his position by every means, but as a follower who has the interest of the group at heart, I must work for the good of the group first putting my sentiments aside. When I work from my heart for the good of the group, I am also working for the good of the leader, my fellow followers and myself. The leader is not bigger or greater than the group he is leading; he is subject to the vision just like anyone else in the group. If the leader deviates from the vision or purpose of the group, a follower of good character who understands can point it out to him in a way that will not be detrimental to the group. So when I do the right thing always, other followers are also seeing what I am doing even if I do not see them watching me. And because what people see tends to stick faster and better, this will in turn make others follow the “Leadership of a Follower”.

As a follower, you are a sub-leader in the leadership hierarchy of any environment you find yourself. This in turn is a privilege for you, as there are people who will consciously and unconsciously look up to you, pulling from your actions and in-actions (way and manner of speaking, way and manner of approach to issues, way and manner of dressing, relationships and associations to mention a few.

The leader is the main example or you can say that he is the city set on a hill or candle light on a table in the dark, everyone focuses on him. All the willing followers will be small houses around the leader; little lights reflecting the main light of the leader, so whatever aroma the leader is giving off will be absorbed by the followers. The followers in turn will probably magnify the scent mixed with their own ideals, understanding, convictions and other internal ingredients in their own way for others to absorb, thereby creating a ripple effect in the long run.

A leader who lives by the sword, making destruction of lives and property his/her own way of leadership will be surprised at what two, three, four or five generations of his followers would be doing if S/he is privileged to be alive.

You do not need to have direct contact with your followers before your ocean of “excreted” actions, words, way of life, associations, relationships, excesses etc. touch their lives. They most likely will magnify what has been registered in their subconscious, a subconscious that is loaded like a database with content from the words, actions, lifestyle, attitudes of people, situations, happenings, natural and human induced events and disasters to mention a few.

The short narration above brings to bear the importance of exemplary leadership in all areas of life. A leader needs to be exemplary physically, spiritually, mentally, psychologically, socially, financially, morally, and in other areas of life. A leader who was once a bad follower will have had people who saw him/her during the days of being a bad follower, and that could have robbed off on the minds of some people. When such a person attempts to or assumes the service position of a leader, his antecedence will probably influence the way some of his followers will see him. That is why it is very important even for followers to strive to be people of good character so that in the event such a person assumes a service leadership position, S/he will have had a good record with people and him/herself.

A person with pockets of dishonesty in little things will have boxes and suitcases of dishonesty in greater things if given a service leadership position. This dishonesty even as a follower can rub off on other followers in the process and, the dishonest character may be manifested on a larger scale than the original carrier of the “virus”.

The examples we lay down are like an ocean of words, attitudes, expressions, actions that have been exhibited at one-time or the other, which affect people either directly or indirectly and register in their subconscious creating a pool of resources that can be drawn from anytime.

In creativity and innovation, any leader should be at the fore-front. It is beyond talk and dramatic expressions; it goes deep into active involvement of the heart, mind, body and soul of the person. If one part of you is disconnected then every part of you is disconnected. Organisational leadership transcends the borders of paper qualifications and courses attended; it is first the whole-hearted active involvement of the leader in question, which is then evident in exemplary actions and process for the followers to pick from and adapt to their situations with the inputs of their own knowledge.

Every leader needs to be exemplary at all times and in all situations. A few years ago when I served my Country Nigeria through the National Youth Service Programme (NYSC), I was privileged to teach some people the basics of operating a computer and maintenance in my place of primary assignment. Towards the end of the service year, one of the students told me how much he wanted to emulate me and go on to study computer science in the University. I was flattered on hearing this, and ten years on, he has a Master’s Degree in Computer Science. During the service year I gave my all to my then employer, and years later, when we communicate the word is that they have not had a Youth Corper like me who served the way I did with all my heart.

A man told about how his little son magnified in a misinterpreted form something he did. He had made rule that everyone must eat at the dining table no matter what was being eaten. He returned from work one day and told his wife to bring his food to the sitting room saying he was tired. A few days later, his little son took his food to the sitting room to eat. When his father saw him he told him to take his food and eat at the dining table, and you can guess the little boy’s response; - “I am tired”. This is the same statement his father had made a few days earlier on returning from work and settling down to eat. His son had picked up something from the “excreted” actions of the father.

The actions and in-actions (words, attitudes, relationships, way of live, mode of dressing) of a leader (whether at family, organizational, political, social, religious or corporate) at any level can cause; situations to improve or deteriorate, people’s lives to get better or get worse, countries to embrace peace or start a war, a people to initiate the wanton destruction of lives and property or sheath their swords, children to hate or love their parents or family members, businesses and organisations to be stronger or crumble, homes to be strengthened or divided, governments to crumble or be stronger and more.

I remember a while back, I was running to meet an appointment with an uncle of mine. In a bid to delay my uncle a bit so I could catch up with him I lied over the phone that I was very close by whereas in actual fact I was not as close as I said I was. The woman with me almost shouted and looked at me to let me know I just lied after I hung up the phone.

A little lie no matter the occasion, to whom or against who can be devastating with a long lasting negative effect in the future. In examples, people pick from a vast ocean of experiences (in the form of visual experiences, hearing experiences and participatory experiences) that have been programmed into their minds at one time or the other, A preceding set of experiences actively or inactively participated in that have formed an ocean of possible actions that can be used at any time for different purposes for the personal or general (other people or things) benefit or detriment. So everyone must be careful of the kind of database being released into the minds of people at all times.

A man was privileged to be in a leadership position, and was going to be relating with a lot of people in the process. After picking people who would be working with him, he expected to build a good relationship with them all, but it didn’t happen that way. One of the people he was to be working with closely started to make things miserable for him. It happened that the person wanted to be in the position, and showed it. Rather than working and cooperating with him he decided to do otherwise, antagonizing him during meetings and disagreeing with him from time to time. Sometime later, the antagonist was appointed to be in the leadership position. When this happened, he began to seek the cooperation of the man he had antagonized. It is funny how people forget that what they do to others will at some point in time whether directly or indirectly be done to them.

On another occasion in Ghana, I visited a cyber café often to check some information on the web and to do some computer aided work. The operator of the café unknown to me had been watching me for a while. Then one day during a short discussion he said; “I have been watching you since you started coming here, and I have seen that you are different from the regular Nigerians that I know and the ones that come around here”. He then told me about the bad examples and lifestyle the Nigerians he had seen and known had shown, and that I was very different; the way I spoke, related with him and others and went about my work. When I first came in his guards were up and he had thought I was the “regular” Nigerians that talked anyhow, defrauded people, and scammed people, but that after his study of me he had come to realize that I was different.

This is an experience in another country in Africa, and I would have been a terrible example unknown to me.

Our lifestyles: how we talk, relate with others (even non-living things), dress, places we go, relationships we keep to mention a few are like timeless footprints that last such a long time in the minds and lives of people that we might never get another chance to right the wrong examples we have put down at first. So we must be careful where we step into and how we step into the places we do, someone is surely watching you. So make that example count.