LEADERS SHOULD AWAKE TO CONSCIOUS, RESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP

by Brenda Kali

It is quite ironical that the President of a country who has to deal with devastating floods and loss of lives is more focused on the corruption, looting and stealing of disaster funding allocated to the province of KZN, rather than the homeless, waterless and hungry victims of the flood. It is an indictment of the country of Madiba to see how far into the depths of colossal greed and moral degradation some of our leaders and public servants have sunk.

Among the enormous challenges we have to endure are a vengeful virus, load-shedding, non-delivery, non-performance, and the indolent stupor of some of our greedy leaders, shod in Gucci shoes, who have been allowed to repeatedly erode our national psyche. It is more than any nation can withstand. We have to do something urgently to change the behaviour of the thieves, thugs and goons that populate our political system.

Conscious, ethical leadership will be explored at the Conscious Leadership and Ethics Summit today, with soul-searing conversations from some of the world’s most brilliant minds and conscious thinkers. They would provide a brave intolerance for the nightmares that visit us from the errant behaviour, trickery and thievery of some of our leaders and their underlings. It is also an opportunity for leadership to evaluate and deepen the understanding of power, purpose and service as well as to heed the call to create a more conscious, courageous and humane socio-economic and political environment.

The time has come for leaders who hold the future of a nation or their companies in the palm of their hands to seriously get to grips with conscious, ethical leadership. Failing which, all attempts to unify and re-build a country that was once a rainbowed, global beacon would be of no avail.

A special message from the Dalai Lama to the participants at the Summit calls for the “basic human need for kindness, compassion and care.” He says: “It is natural to be driven by self-interest, which is necessary to survive. But we need a wise self-interest that is generous and co-operative, taking others’ interests into account. When leaders have a genuine sense of concern for others, there’s no room for bullying or exploitation. Instead they can be honest, truthful and transparent.”

“There are three styles of compassionate leadership”, His Holiness continues. “The trailblazer who leads from the front, takes the risks and sets an example; the ferryman who accompanies those in his care and shares the ups and downs of the crossing, and the shepherd who sees every one of his flock in before him. Crucially, these three styles of leadership have in common is an all encompassing concern of those they lead.”

The multi-billion dollar question is, do you recognise any one of these leadership styles in the government of the day or your organisation?

What kind of leader is President Cyril Ramaphosa and does he even display any of these leadership traits that the Dalai Lama mentions?

The benevolent paternalism for some of our dirt-covered politicians who stand on platforms telling themselves that everything they do, they do in the name of greater good is farcical and mindless. Their paralytic inaction and the inexplicable lack of accountability, an example of which is the Digital Vibes debacle and the Minister of Health getting off unscathed in parliament, should enrage us but most of us are so immune and helpless against the blatant mismanagement and crippling corruption that we have sunken into a pool of indifference, despair and inaction.

I pray that those conscious thinkers and leaders at the Summit, as well as those who join us virtually, will be galvanised to act and awaken the hero within themselves in the pursuit of consciousness.

This is not the domain of the feeble-minded or hippies or new age flakes as is the perception in most boardrooms, but rather those who are energised with passion, purpose, productivity and vision for a new way of being and doing business.

Those within the conscious leadership ecosystem soon realise that the more they awaken to consciousness, the more powerful, courageous and responsible they become. Conscious leaders have a penetrating insight into suffering where they take on the responsibility to purposefully do the right thing, despite the odds.

The philosopher Seneca once said “A hungry people listens not to reason, nor cares for justice, nor is bent by any prayer.” This holds true today as it did centuries ago, when he first said it. We are a hungry people despite our natural resources and what we are currently experiencing with rolling protests by the disgruntled and destitute becoming commonplace is just the beginning.

However, it is not too late for the leader of this country to display courage and change the insidious malaise of corruption and greed that is so rampant in his government. All he needs to do is look within the core of his being and ask the question:

“What kind of leader am I and what is the legacy that I would like to leave?”

President Cyril Ramaphosa needs to wake up and see where we are headed if he does not act.

The outcome of the Summit is to compile a Report to the President to give him and his executives the tools to embed conscious, ethical behaviour and place the welfare of the people of this country first. The question is, does he have the courage and insight to embrace it, let alone read the Report!

Only history would judge him.