Leadership and What Makes a Good Society

By Eddy Kubwimana · May 6, 2023 · Leadership Reflection

Leadership and society

Living in a world with many things competing for attention can sometimes be challenging. As young leaders, we are energetic yet ignorant of the past and some natural laws that are the solid foundation for our goals. We are in a hurry to be famous and feel the urge to become successful without the know-how. The elders in society are considered obsolete by the young, while the old consider the young reckless. Both sides need to work together to establish a sustainable society amid conflicts often arising from any society's old and new wines. This paper argues that leaders need to foster in them the quality of critical thinking, ubuntu, and tolerance to create a good society.

When we are born, we are helpless in the eyes of world problems. However, the more we age, the more we no longer depend on our parents for survival. The process of human life development is in such a way that we live the way we are because of people we did not choose to have in our lives were there to ensure that we reach a certain level to depend mainly on our reasons and abilities to fend most of the things for ourselves. As Dzobo (2010) explains, African traditions cherish human life above anything, and the new life (baby) is wealth (p.227). It is easier to forget that there is a time which for most people is more than 15 years, that we were not responsible for how we ate, clothed, and slept.

In the years when we start to depend mainly on ourselves, we start having more confusing ideas and feelings. In the teen years, we start feeling oppressed by our parents. We need independence from constraints placed upon us. However, as an African proverb suggests, "If your parents look after you to grow your teeth, you must look after them to grow theirs" (Dzobo, 2010, p.230). In most cases, we think we can defy the law of gravity and fly without impediment. In the meantime, our parents and society are pushing back by becoming more controlling and rebuking our initiatives and endeavors. However, if we look closely, some parents are fearful of what they have done to themselves in those years to happen to their children while hiding the reality from them. Dzobo suggests that possessing teachers and surrogate teachers who can transmit values across generations and cultures needs to be improved. We require innovative and adaptable educators who can create novel values to fulfill the demands of modernization and advancement (Dzobo, 2010, p.195). Our society is supposed to engage the energy that is building up in us in a positive way to ensure the continuity of crucial values of society.

We need sound people willing to examine everything to build a good society. In most societies, older people tend to have a say in controlling the direction of society. Older people have the role to come together as one individual and have the plan to engage young leaders in active Learning by letting them participate in current affairs. In raising those leaders, the young leaders need to be able to ask critical questions and challenge the old belief so that they do not blindly follow anything and develop a solid identity and solidarity (Metz, 2013, p.195). The elders need to ensure that they are raising young leaders to replace them, while young leaders need to be willing to learn and unlearn through years of observing what is working or not working in society throughout history.

It is easier to blame individuals for what is not working than to rectify it ourselves. Young leaders tend to have energy, but they mostly lack understanding. They tend to take simplistic views of the social problem. Pointing out what is not working is crucial, but suggesting how to rectify it is more critical. Gyekye (2010) depicts that “rights are correlated with duties, that if there are rights, there must be corresponding duties, and vice-versa” (p.29). As a member of society, it is evident we, too, have some duties, then before we can think that others are messing up, it is best that we start from ourselves and see if we are executing our duties as we must. In most cases, young people feel that if one thing is done, the whole problem will disappear. However, if we look at why things happen the way they happen, we are close to the truth if we suggest that most problems are multivariable. It is not always about causes and consequences. Young leaders sometimes confuse correlation and causation. That is why young leaders need to critically examine what it means to be a leader of people and a member of society. Otherwise, we can be swayed away by attractive ideologies that destroy ourselves and the people under our influence.

Having achieved the level of influence, we must be mindful of everything. There are some famous sayings for following our passions and dreams, among others. However, we must be careful of which philosophy of life we endorse. Gyekye (1988) states that “the knowledge that the human soul is immortal or that it is corporeal and mortal will affect our view of the purposes of a person’s life and the kind of a person we would want to become” (p.3). When we are grown, it is easier to feel that we must do whatever we please without considering the big picture of our actions' impact. For individualists, we matter more than anybody. However, society must matter more than the individual. Young leaders need to ask themselves why they want to be leaders. Because if the individual matters most, society will have leaders who chase glory than society’s well-being. Since glory is an immeasurable abstract thing, the whole society will find itself in peril of glory-seeking leaders who care more about their glory than why they were put there to do it in the first place.

It is easier to think that embracing individuality would make a good society. In most African countries, democracy is an empty word for Africans who carry no weight. However, Popper (1966) argues that it is better to blame the people of a democratic state than the concept of democracy itself for democratic state shortcomings (p.127). The understanding of ubuntu or other African philosophy is ingrained in our values and more meaningful to us than democracy. We must examine whether picking up anything that inspires nothing in us over something valuable for us is a good idea. Ensuring society thrives requires decades, if not centuries, of work and sacrifices. As young leaders, we need to know that we are not the first or the last; we are somewhat in between the long past and the unfathomable future. Prosperous countries today are not prosperous because of their existing population; it combines multiple generations' endeavors.

The continuity of multigenerational endeavors is a must for bettering the best society. However, this continuity cannot be practical once there is no objective truth for what society stands for. Each young leader must ask himself how to get close to the objective truth and navigate the path by recognizing when, where, and how to find it. Getting close to the truth is hard if everybody is busy with glory and bottom desires. If one firmly believes that someone is doing things for the community's interests, one is less prone to errors than when everybody is addicted to self-satisfaction. Metz (2007) states that traditionally, in African society, helping people in need was not considered generous but fulfilling one duty (p.326). That philosophy may sound controversial to what is popular because we know less about ourselves as Africans. If young leaders were to understand the order of things and acknowledge that society can exist without them, but they cannot exist without their society, they can know what must come first before the other. The generational glory of society is more important than the fleeting glory of an individual who will not last more than 130 years.

For most Africans, we know less about our ancestor's life and how they managed to lay the foundation of what we see today. In most cases, our ancestor stories are told by outsiders whom we may doubt their authenticity. For young leaders, it is easier to foster a good society when knowing where it is broken or where to start. As George Orwell (1949) put it, “He who control the past control the future, he who control the present control the past” (p.56). We need to dig deep and evaluate our past. Suppose we can understand where our forefathers were successful and where they were failures. We can then build on the solid foundation of understanding what we ought to avoid or often do to ensure that the future generation has a society they will be proud of. Through this process of Learning, young leaders can develop abilities to dream about the future based on the solid foundation of what already exists in the contextual past and present.

We cannot build a lasting future without sacrifice. For people who like economics, it is said that there is no such thing as free food. Some people may think whatever they do is good for them, but whatever we do has positive or negative externalities. Holmes (1993) states that “a fully rational being will do certain things and refrain from others simply by virtue of being rational” (p.140). As rational young people, we must understand that we must deprive ourselves of something we cherish to get something we cherish more. If our hope and aspirations are to live in an equitable society, we must be willing to sacrifice our satisfaction to that of society. Some people argue that it is possible to have it all. However, it is economically and naturally impossible to do such a thing. Because, on earth, everything has an opportunity cost. There are no solutions to the problem we face, but there are some tradeoffs that can make things better off.

For young leaders, the great lesson to always remember is that there is no right time. The reality is that they will never be. If one problem is solved, the next will arise. To have a society that every individual life in is to know that everyone must be flexible and adapt due to relevant circumstances. For instance, the study done in women-led countries did not find a dramatic change in women's rights or conditions (Pailey, 2020, p.1842). However, some people may be more concerned about what is not working. However, none is a hundred percent innocent. Sometimes we have some contribution to the problem that exists, even if we may be disproportionately affected. Every young leader can immediately have a title, but we become who we are daily. The title given to someone carries nothing, but the character, virtues, and impact follows them everywhere they go. We must lead an ethical and virtuous life today to expect to lead it in the future.

The question may arise whether we need more power or means to achieve our leadership dreams. Living in a society where the most unfair people are the most powerful, we can assume that it is impractical to take a different route. However, if we are committed to making change, we must do the right things because they are right. Holmes (1993) suggests that “for us to deserve any moral credit, so to speak, for doing what is right, we must do it because it is right” (p.135). That is where the part of sacrifice and dedication comes in too. We do not have to do the right things because of the rewards attached. Many leaders have had ambitions, aspirations, and dreams that were better than ours, but the power they received corrupted their dreams and ambitions. It is even funny how sometimes we think we will contribute to society after having some power. If leadership were a football game, we would only accept to represent our country by having had some serious training. Leading people is more important than entertaining them in games which implies that the soon we start serving, the better we become at serving society later.

Serving our community requires understanding. As Plato in the cave allegory depicts, the fact that we have clear and beneficial ideas does not mean that people will follow or listen to what we have to say. However, as Gyekye (1988) explains the implication of the allegory, " The philosopher would thus involve himself/herself in the affairs of the society of the cave— which is the society of the ordinary nonphilosopher”(p.6). Our future followers may still cling to leaders who mislead them. It is frustrating to be visionary and see things other people are not seeing while failing to get people to understand our vision. That is where the act of giving voices to values skills comes in. If we genuinely think we are meant to lead some people, we must understand problems on different levels. We need to be proficient in both the language of toddlers and adults simultaneously. Failing to make people commit to a vision or goals does not mean they are unwilling to follow a good leader. However, we might not appear to be one as Hobbes (1651) explains that humans sometimes have “a vain conceit of one’s own wisdom, which almost all men think they have in a greater degree than the vulgar”(p.13) or they have not known better as psychologist suggest the state called “learned helplessness”. They might have seen the reality of people who present themselves like us or under any experience that deprives them of the sense of reality.

As young leaders, we must be highly compassionate and tolerant. Having good ideas does not mean that they are the holy grail. We must acknowledge that we all have half-truths about what works and does not. Being educated about philosophy does not make us good computer programmers. It is a good skill for any young leader to know that there are limits to what we can do. However, it does not mean that it cannot be done. Popper (1966) argues that “they are never cases in which the will or the interest of one man (…) can achieve his aim directly, without giving up some of it in order to enlist powers which he cannot conquer” (p.122). If someone is not endorsing our great ideas, it does not make those people dumb or enemies, but they make us evaluate ourselves daily to ensure we are doing our best. Most leaders do not tolerate criticism and are very sensitive to people who oppose their ideas. However, it is often fatal to our society's well-being because we are not the savior of society, but a member of society, which implies that we are not the only one who cares. However, other people care too about its prosperity.

After the Leadership II course, my next step is to develop more solid ethical virtues. I used to be frustrated by how leaders do care about people. I used to think that people are unreasonable because I did not understand how some leaders tell lies when it comes to getting people’s favors, and those people never hold accountable those leaders. Using all the above takeaways from leadership courses, and my understanding, I will focus more on being educated in various topics while engaging age mates and adults. I have understood that it is not about whom to blame but it is about why we are where we are and what it takes to get where we wish to be. Everybody has a story to tell, and they are half actual and half wrong, but both can make a complete story worth learning from. Reading and conversing with people with different ideologies would be worthwhile in the next three months.

To sum up, the journey is long, but it is yet short at the same time. Many ideas and philosophies are worth knowing to foster a good society. They are not an exhaustive list, but critical thinking, ubuntu, and tolerance can be the foundation of every young leader for which he can build a solid leadership that will empower them to channel criticism, flattery, and curse to more significant purpose for the sake a peaceful and prosperous society.

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