This is the continuation of  my previous article titled, “5 Signs Of True Leadership”

Change is the only constant

Whoever said that really got it spot on!  Those 5 little words, change is the only constant, is probably one of the few quotes that are applicable in any situation at any point of time.  Nothing in this world ever remains the same for long.  Entire continents may shift apart, mountains may grow over time, rivers may dry up or change their course, forests may disappear to be replaced by buildings, and buildings themselves may disappear to be replaced by forests.  The same applies to people and all their activities.  Everyone changes over the years, influenced by various external factors such as the education they receive, the people they hang out with, the conditions they live in and so on.  The person you are now is not the same person you once were, and will not be the same person you will be.

Each individual is responsible for the change that takes place in his or her own life.  Everything that changes is dictated by the choices that a person makes.  The same applies to organizations.  The change that is experienced comes down to the choices made by the people within the organization itself.  Since not everyone can make every choice for an organization, it falls on the leader’s shoulders to make proper choices and to ensure everyone is pulling in the same direction.  The leader has to analyze the situation and make choices that lead to positive changes for the entire organization.

Let’s take a humble fishing boat as an example.  The crew of the boat depends on the captain to lead them to fertile fishing grounds.  This must be done while ensuring the safety of the crew and the boat at all times.  If the captain is capable of this task, he has brought positive change to his own mini-organization.  The bumper catch will ensure a good payday once back on shore, leading to an improvement in the life of the crew.

If the same captain leads his crew around in circles, repeatedly failing to find good fishing grounds, he is in fact failing to bring about any positive changes for his people.  Even worse if he runs the boat aground or into a storm that sinks the entire boat, that is changing things to the extreme negative!  That kind of change is totally unwanted by the crew and represents a worsening of their lives.  Negative changes can happen on its own without any external influence.  Having a leader who brings about negative changes is worse than having no leader at all.

Look at your student representative council, have they brought change to your university lives? Is its a positive change? If not, then they’re not leaders. So now you have a leverage to tell them that they not doing enough with the power that their hold. Do not be afraid to voice this out because the fact is if you want things to remain the same, you don’t need a leader. In fact as like Pete Teo said in his TEDxKL speech, to vote is our voice that call for reform. We vote because we want changes for the better. What I’m trying to say we spend so much time to do E-voting is because we want change, and if the people we selected can’t do that, why do we vote? Just for formalities?

In summary, a good leader must be able to lead his team or organization to solve and overcome any problems they face.  He must be able to rally his team and play to the strengths of the group as a whole.  It is often said that a good team is larger than the sum total of its components.  A good leader can harness his teams’ talents and help lead them towards positive change and improvements.  Anything else is simply pointless.  Therefore it falls to you to pick a competent leader who can consistently lead your group to positive changes and developments.  Pick someone who not only talks the talk, but walks the walk as well.

Be.You.

Tags: boat, change, change leadership, changes, crew, good, lead, leader, leaders, Leadership, poitive change, positive