Leadership for Sustainable Development
Leadership for Sustainable Development
Associate Professor Dr. Tipchan Wongchanta
Introduction
The word “leadership” connotes two critical issues for us to reflect on and ponder: leader and ship. While the former commonly points to a person of high skills to lead and innovate, the latter sharply creates a picture of a powerful vessel to proceed with tremendous forces toward the desired destination, battling bolding against rolling waves all the way through. Because it is an abstract noun that can defy any physical boundaries, leadership is thus relevant to everyone, irrespective of social status or position at work. In fact, leadership has never lost its magical power among writers worldwide. Those who love talking about making creative and innovative changes in life and/or organization hardly fail to embrace building impressive leadership traits in their conversation. As a matter of fact, there have been hundreds of books and thousands of articles written about leadership these days. Different writers talk about it differently and according to their prior knowledge, experience, and/or circumstance. From my experience as a university administrator, I believe that effective leaders must have at least three words in mind and constantly put them into practice before for remarkable results can surface. Those very three words are integrity, empathy, and self-awareness.
Integrity
Oxford Dictionary defines “integrity” as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles” (https://www.google.com.). In the context of leadership, integrity thus presupposes two concepts and/or domains: namely, Being and Attribute. Being for a person of integrity is an empty space for creation and breakthroughs. How much we can create and, by extension, innovate something largely depends on how much space we have within. If our brain and mind are loaded or overloaded with commonalities, i.e., problems at work, personal issues, conflicts with colleagues, or stress from deadlines and/or work requirements, we are automatically limited and have little or, even worse, no space for exciting creation/innovation. Therefore, it is necessary to unclutter our mind from all that make our inner space limited and/or unproductive. Only after this cleansing process can we allow Attribute, the second part of integrity, to set in and proliferate.
Attribute is what makes someone stand out with certain qualities. It is more like an adjective that modifies a noun, or an adverb to modify a verb. As humans, we are different from one another because we are clothed with different sets of Attribute, much the same way as red leaves are different from green leaves or a flight attendant and a pilot. When applied to leadership, Attribute points to such qualities that can turn the situations around, changing what was once supposed to be a setback to become a setup for opportunities and a promising future. No doubt, being whole, righteous, honest, accountable, morally disciplined, and committed is the praiseworthy qualities/attributes we need to cultivate within our already prepared empty space for creation. This practice of ridding our mind of negativities and replace it with productive qualities/attributes is like clothes changing. We need to take off the old before we can put on the new ones, all for integrity to best manifest itself.
Empathy
Empathy is what makes humans truly human. That is, those who have empathy in the sacred sanctuary of their heart and soul know that human beings are not perfect but tarnished with many and different happiness-killing elements. Those unwanted animosities vary from one person to person, including impurity, limitation, shortcoming, flaw, deficiency, and vulnerability. People and leaders with empathy know that life is full of trials and errors, and it is oftentimes far beyond expectation and/or imagination. Such knowledge and sentiments urge them to communicate with others more, which in turn makes them better able to work, live, and produce. It is aptly said that “leadership traits are the people management skills, personal qualities, and technical expertise a person requires to lead effectively in the workplace” (https://www.indeed.com). In short, empathy makes people accept and respect others, which results in success in life and/or career.
I personally envision a road/path to success, happiness, and peace embedded in the word “empathy.” This is because there is a noun “path” in “empathy.” Linguistically, the prefix “em” is used to make the word “path” a verb, and the suffix “y” to make the word “empath” a noun. Put together, “em-path-y” connotes the idea that people who have empathy literally perceive someone’s acting on the path/road as a precondition to success and fulfillment. Empathy warns us not to judge others too easily.
We are all prone to making mistakes, one way or another. In life, we are all on the road of trials and errors. In this line of thought, empathy can relatively lessen conflict, insult, and/or disrespect among people of different levels of knowledge and ability. As a result, empathy entails unity, healthy relationship, and growth in a workplace and/or society where empathy comfortably finds itself.
For the sake of success in life and at work, empathy must therefore be constantly planted in every person, and it must also be regarded as a guiding principle toward a sustainable development and a successful life. The table below elaborates on empathy and its significance in the workplace and in life.
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is another critical leadership trait worth cultivated in a sensible person. This is because it can bring about gratifying and impactful benefits to everyone involved. It is what urges us to pensively examine ourselves, both outside in and inside out, so much so that we can see our public self and inner self much more clearly. In effect, “research suggests that when we see ourselves clearly, we are more confident and more creative. We make sounder decisions, build stronger relationships, and communicate more effectively. We’re less likely to lie, cheat, and steal. We are better workers who get more promotions. And we’re more-effective leaders with more-satisfied employees and more-profitable companies” (Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/ ). In terms of growth and interconnectedness of the present world, self-awareness gives birth to self-reflection, self-reflection to self-knowledge, self-knowledge to self-compassion, self-compassion to public self-awareness, public self-awareness to inclusiveness, inclusiveness to respect, respect to unity, unity to compassion, compassion to love, etc. In this regard, each leadership trait becomes a portal to entail another trait, which in turn, becomes another portal to entail another trait. The positive string of interconnectedness can be stretched as far and wide as the limitless sky above us. All interconnected traits positively culminate in sustainability and happiness in such a way that one thing/person alone cannot do.
Conclusion
With the dawn of each morning, there lies opportunities in front of us. How much we can make use of those opportunities largely depends on the leadership abilities each of us has accumulated. While a battlefield makes a hero, true leadership is not given freely from the air. It is a skill that needs to be sharpened and used continuously. Because it is skill-based, leadership is rather made than born. Consistently cultivating leadership traits within us is wise, and integrity, empathy, and self-awareness are among those traits that we cannot miss. Indeed, sustainable development, personal and institutional alike, is actualized through leadership.
References
Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2018/01/what-self-awareness-really-is-and-how-to-cultivate-it. Accessed on 16/11/2023.
https://www.google.com/search?q=integrity+meaning. Accessed on 8/12/2023.
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/top-leadership-traits. Accessed on 6/11/2023.
Tag: #Sdg Goals #Educational