The Leaders Job

 

The leaders job

We can define a leader in many ways. And we can spend many hours in debate over what leadership is. But, in order to understand the leader's job, we must define it in terms of its function, and how it adds value to all of us together. We must be able to identify with it for us to know what it is and what it means to be a leader.  A car is a piece of metal with four wheels. But unless you define it as a means of transport, it can be anything but a car.  A cow has four legs and two horns, but unless you use the terms "milk" and "beef" it means little sense to anyone. A man has a body with a head, arms and legs, but unless you tell me that his mind sets him apart from every other being, you have not told me who a man is.

A leader's job is to lift people from the depth of despair to soar above the clouds of human misery and make them see their eternal destiny.  A leader opens the eyes of the blind, not only to who they are, but to who God made them to be. A leader brings light to darkness and hope to the hopeless. A leader works hard to transform the lives of his people and serve his customers. It is the leader's job to see and help others to see what can be and not just what is. And works hard to bring what can be to be. Leaders do not fight; they foresee.

The first level of leadership must be to identify with you and me. A leaders who does not, cannot be. A leader descends to the people and identifies with their struggles. He examines the challenges they have and studies their needs. Jesus was such a leader and so was Mother Teresa. But these leaders are also found in classrooms, offices, farms and laboratories. They go by the names, shopkeeper, nurse, teacher, doctor, researcher and worker. Their job is to deal with the problems of the people. They study their needs and create solutions to the problems of the people they serve.

However, the leader must ascend to another level. The leader may be born in a slum, but chooses not to live in it. He picks up litter, does the right thing, speaks well of his neighbor even if the person speaks ill of him. He turns the other cheek. He lives above the misery of humanity by a higher law. He makes people to realize that what is; does not have to be. This leader does not tell people what to do, he does it himself.  The leader sweeps, cleans and is an example. Jesus was such a man, but many others live by his example. Mothers, fathers, entrepreneurs and artists are not sustained by what is, but by what they know can be. They work hard for a better life for their children. They make sacrifices to make things better.

But the leader must rise yet again, above himself, and help people see their eternal destiny. The leader helps people see their true identity. The leader shows them who they were meant to be. Leaders help people see that we are all children of God. Jesus was such a man. But so was Rosa Parks, John the Baptist, Desmond Tutu, Jomo Kenyatta and Nelson Mandela. And so will you and I be; if we all chose to reach out to our enemy.

The leaders' job is to lift the souls of men from the struggles of today to the possibilities of tomorrow and the reality of eternity. It is to work with the hopeless until hope catches fire; it is to strengthen the hands and the heart of the weak until faith burns bright. It is to work with the oppressed until they walk in dignity. It is not to fight, but to shed light on what is right. Jesus never fought for what was right, but shed enough light to make things right. This is the leaders' job; to help restore things to what they were meant to be. Do not fight the empire, the government or your boss. They are people like you and me. Be the leader that sheds enough light to put things right. A someone said to me; where can we find such a one. And I said to him; you are that man, you are that woman.

Allan Bukusi, April 2011