Imtitangit Pongener
At some point in time, we must all have seen it or something like it. It’s an illustration comparing a boss and a leader. In the illustration, there are two groups of people pulling two heavy objects. Next to one of the groups, one of the men is shouting at his subordinates to pull harder, while comfortably seated away from the group.
In the other group, the man is at the front of the group. The first in line to be pulling the weight while also motivating the rest of the men and taking them along with him.
Which one would we say is which?
Unfortunately, we cannot talk about leadership in Nagaland without talking about political leadership. But seeing as how for us, in any social setting, that is the topic that every conversation inevitably, and albeit begrudgingly, leads to I felt that a break from that topic when we talk about leadership would be refreshing, to say the least.
What I want to attempt to do instead, is to paint us a lens through which we can scrutinise and examine the leadership around us. Because just because a shoe fits, doesn’t mean that that person deserves to wear it.
When a leader succeeds, everybody benefits. People are taken along for the ride without invitation. A leader’s ambitions are tied to the prosperity of the people around them.
However, leadership by itself must not be the goal. Let me illustrate.
In Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’, there is a scene where Duke Leto Atreides is speaking to his son, Paul. Paul is expressing doubt as to whether he is suitable to be the future of their house. Then Leto says to Paul, “A great man doesn’t seek to lead. He is called to it. And he answers.”
Or in ‘Gladiator’, an old emperor Marcus Aurelius is speaking to one of his generals, Maximus, about who he wants to inherit the throne of the Roman Empire after his death. The emperor tells the general that he wants him to take the throne. A bewildered General Maximus, after a moment of deliberation, says, “I do not want it”. To which the emperor replies, “But that is why it must be you!”.
This illustrates one of the most important prerequisites to being a great leader - the immense reluctance to even be one in the first place.
Good men know the dangers and temptations that a position of power and leadership brings.
The great leaders in our history were the ones who believed that we could be so much better. Their goals, their dreams, were to uplift people. And in the relentless pursuit of that goal they naturally and automatically garnered followers. They are not who they are because they were great leaders, they were great leaders by virtue of the kind of people they were. Take away the power and position and it will change nothing.
But what if a position of leadership is given to a person by their birth or circumstance? How might we measure their calibre then?
Once the position of leadership has been assumed, who do they then start serving?
You might say that this is another prerequisite. Perhaps the most paradoxical aspect of leadership and definitely the most misunderstood is that a position of leadership is, in actuality, a position of deep service. Service not to one’s impulses and wants but to the people around them.
Leadership positions naturally come with power. I like to split this into two categories - assumed power and given power.
Assumed power is power that someone pursues or takes for themselves in some way. Usually by force or through the manipulation of due process. It might even be illegitimate at times. It is power in its most precarious form. It creates leaders who live in fear. Political leadership in Nagaland often comes under this category.
Given power, on the other hand, is just that. Power that is given to someone by the people so that the person may lead them. I remember a line in ‘Vikings’ by King Ragnar - “Power is always dangerous. It attracts the worst and corrupts the best. I never asked for power. Power is only given to those who are willing to lower themselves to pick it up”.
What I see happening in many places around the world, and especially here in Nagaland, is that the positions of leadership and power that people have lean heavily towards the assumed kind. We have a cohort of assumed leaders.
Sometimes, however, a position of assumed leadership is the only way to affect positive change at a scale that one may wish to. In that case, we look at if they fulfil the second prerequisite and also we look at what happens when their time as a leader must come to an end.
When Barack Obama’s term as US president drew to a close, in his public appearances, he never seemed happier and more candid. It was almost as if he was having fun even. And then after he left office, what I feel people missed or failed to appreciate was the manner in which he left.
The way that a person relinquishes a position of leadership will tell you a lot about why that person wanted it in the first place.
Once the time comes, do they relinquish the power and position with grace? Do they hold gratitude? Do people want them back?
Influence over fellow men can be an intoxicating substance. Many of us know it but few have experienced it. Nobody is immune to its effects. But you know trouble is spelled the moment we see a person try to cling on to that position.
He or she is intoxicated.
To a great leader, this will be an internal battle they face everyday.
To everyone else, they will relish in the intoxication. Unaware it even exists.
CONCLUSION
In our history, many have come and gone. Many more exist right now. However, those numbers pale in comparison to the great many more still that are yet to be born; in twenty, or fifty years. In a hundred or perhaps even more.
These people exist. Out there as real as you or I. They are our loved ones and the loved ones of our loved ones. They are the future.
hat we are shown and what we hear can often draw a bleak picture of our future. But it is not so. Every one of us can affect positive change no matter how small.
The ignorance and inaction of the people is a selfish leader’s greatest asset.
Therefore, we must hold them to the highest degree of scrutiny but at the same time, more importantly, do the same for ourselves.
Because the calculus isn’t about what will go wrong if we don’t do anything about it then.
It’s about what is already wrong if we do nothing about it now.
We must do this and the other things because it is what we owe the future.
(Winner of the Chalie Kevichusa Essay Contest 2023 (Senior Category)
