BETWEEN SMART AND KIND: THE LEADERSHIP PROBLEM NIGERIANS MUST FIX

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Good morning to you and thank you for following my blog. Please keep your comments and feedbacks coming, they are helping me to know how much impact my posts have been making and how I can do better.

Many times in the past, I have written about leadership, which of course is my area of focus on my blog and everyday life. I have always believed and remained adamant that leadership is about relationship. However, in this part of the world, many of our leaders make the mistake of separating leadership from relationships. And this is the consequence you get when a person steps into a position of leadership and assumes that everyone will follow them because of their position.

This is wrong!
As emerging and budding leaders of today, we need to learn and have characters that foster good relationship with people in a bid to bring out the best in them. This is the secret of the change and prosperity we all so much crave for. Characters like love, empathy and competence are very much the needful new age leadership elements than the so much glorified educational qualifications or inherited principalities.

Those people we call smart because of their overseas education or their background are not really smart and so it is not smart to call people smart any longer! To cut my smart story short, calling people "smart" is dumb!. Like Rick Perlstein said, “the notion that your ideas — no matter how crazy, or offensive or wrong — can be valid so long as you have a college diploma, is ruining our politics.” Worse still, the idea that you come from a royal house or a principality qualifies you for a post in Aso Rock is retarding our growth as a nation!

For example, decades of "smart" men argued that deregulation of financial markets was a good idea. Look where that got us!
The APC led federal government ran a presidential campaign on the idea that voters would make the "smart" choice to allow a “change”. Look where that got us!
PDP wanted to remove petroleum subsidy, APC said no; now APC said they have removed it. Look where that got us!
PDP spent 16 years spending over 16bn dollars on electricity yet kept the nation in perpetual darkness and now they are boasting that they would have fixed us in the last 3 years if they had won?
Many Lawmakers claimed to graduate from London Business schools (people like Dino Melaye) and our Governors have (many) PhDs. Look where that got us!
Even the man that just wants to make sense is not making any smart sense because he’s among dumb people that are called “Smart”.
Our Judiciary is full of erudites. Look where that got us. They are now money “smart” but legally puerile.

This is a call to Nigerians, stop looking for these “Smart” people who are only knowledgeable in study. Instead, we must look at the world not between the smart and the dumb, but rather between the kind and the cruel. We've tried to play it smart for so long, maybe we should just go without gut and place more emphasis on character.**

2019 is again around the corner. Don’t do the mumu smart choice again; let’s do away with all these men without characters in our polity. Let’s do away with a few people that are worth millions of dollars in a country that spend Naira and millions of people who don’t get to eat. These are leaders with no love at heart and empathy in mind.

It is only people with love and empathy that can be propelled towards taking actions for the advancement of humanity. It is this same love that causes people to take responsibilities. It is only love that nudges a man to sense the need of the people. It is love that stirs you to respond to your conscience in trying to meet the need of the people and out of this response is your vision borne.

My fellow young women and men, you need to see yourself as a leader that you truly are. And so, you are the kind of leaders that you get. I urge you to begin to equip yourself with characters that are required of a new age leadership: empathy, skill and competence. And when you have done so, remember to be the voice of others. When you have been able to do your own bit in the overall leadership mix, then you will see that our country will naturally attain our desired prosperity.

There so much I will like to talk about but I promise to be back on this issue of leadership which is what our country, Nigeria is lacking at the moment. It is our collective responsibility to fix it by fixing our individual characters.
See you later.

I will expect your comments, feedbacks and upvotes.

I am Victor Doobig and I’m all about responsible leadership in Nigeria.