Election has been a hot topic in college. Everyone is struggling so hard to get a post, like yea...sometimes its just damn hard to choose the right candidate when you don't even know who are them.
To me, everyone IS a leader. You just need to have the right attitude, and be able to organize yourself. Thats all. You are a leader, cause you do lead your own life. you organize it as how you want it to be, and you bear your own consequences if you fail to plan your life. Right? But as you are involved in social activities, more criterias are needed, cause you are no longer working with yourself, but with a bunch of people. There are several aspects I will look for when choosing a leader. Haha, but its hard to impress me okay? Cause I am a perfectionist, I am looking for every quality that the candidate has. xD
Firstly, I look for the word "we" instead of "I" in their speech. That tells me whether the candidate is a self-centered person or a teamwork person. A person full with ego will often say "I want to make the organization better", instead of "I hope we can work together to make the organization better". Even though one might be an individual with amazing CV, president of this, head boy of that school, VP of that, secretary blah blah, I won't want to work with people that always say "I".
Secondly, ego. Ego is more or less tied with the teamwork spirit. A person who thinks too highly of himself, perhaps due to his impressive CV, is not the person I look for. Because no one is perfect, but many a time, people with impressive CV always thinks that his idea is the best. He will tend to ignore other's idea because he had closed his mind to suggestions already. These people, often found using "Do this for me", instead of "can you help me to". How to judge if a person is ego? By talking to them! You can tell if they are ego when they start talking everything about "themselves". They do not tend to listen to the others, because they simply forgot the proper way to listen.
Thirdly, between "servant" and "commander". Many people thinks that with amazing ability to delicate job and able to command a team fits the quality of leader. But no to me. I seek for servant. A person who serve, is a leader that will run through everything thick and thin with you. Because they will be in everything with you together. Whereas a leader who commands, will command, and thats it. Of course, I am not saying that we can't have both qualities with the same time, but I think that the quality of "serving" is more important than the ability to command. Leader, no matter how well you delicate the job, at times you will have to carry things by your own shoulder. If you have no willingness to sacrifice the most, put the team before you, then you are not the right leader for me. I can see leaders missing, only to be found making up in front of the mirror for an event when they are suppose to be in charged, just because they want to look nice for the camera, or skipped an meeting he should be heading for another event that his existance is no importance, telling me that the other event is more fun. Why? No, he understands his responsibility, its jsut that he lack of willingness to serve, that explains everything. Cause to him, "I" is still more important than "we".
Next, I am looking for a leader who is prepared. Please never use "I will organize event A, event B etc" because that shows you have no other ideas to talk about and simply throw an "etc" to cover up. That tells me you are not prepared. No only that, a prepared leader is ready to take up challenges and sacrifice for the team. Depending on the way they speak, the more "we" they use, the more prepared they are, because they already have "teamwork" in their mind already.
Fifth, learner. You dont have to give me an impressive CV. All you need is you are prepared to learn. Some people with wonderful CV thinks too full and forgot that the process of being a leader is also an orputunity to learn. For this, try looking at how humble they are. Of course, a leader should be humble and authorative at the same time. It is very hard to find the equilibrum point, because different organization requires different ratio of both qualities. But overall, most leader candidates I see now forgot about humbleness and only tries to be authorative. That's it la. The way they talk also can see already. "I will", "and I can...", just pay attention and observe la.
Sixth, passion. While most college presidents candidates are new, I can't really see passion or flame there. Maybe most of them just want it, because it is nice for their CV. These people, just talk to them and you will know, they dont know what should they do as a president. They just want the post, get first, think later. If they are not having passion, as long as they fulfill the "servant" criteria, then I wouldn't mind voting for them, because afterall, they still want to work for the organization, and passion is a thing that can be built in the future. But well, if lack of both criterias, passion and serving mentality, sorry then. Passion can be felt. Just look at the way the candidate deliver the speech. Pauline from SASA for example, has the passion and power in her speech, which is very rare for people who are new to organization. But among all other criterias, passion is the hardest to fake. If you have it, people feel it. If you don't, then I don't feel it!
Lastly, awareness. Are they aware of the role of leader? Like I said, ego person will never be aware of the true role of a leader. You are supposed to LEAD the team up, so that YOUR TEAMMATES shine. You are NOT the one taking credits, but YOUR TEAM. A leader, as it name suggest, is "leading the way". You lead your teammates and build them as leaders. While most leaders think that the role of a leader is suppose to make sure everything is under control, but actually that is the job of supervisor. Leader LEADS, as its name suggest. Again, people with ego always wanted the spotlights and forgot about giving a chance to the others to lead projects and learn from their experiences. A leader should also motivate, inspire. If a candidate just tell me "I will organize projects and I hope everyone has a chance to take part in organizing it, so that we can make the organization better as a team, and learn while have fun together!", that will definitely impress me. Cause what I see now is "I will organize blah blah blah for you guys". Actually, it is a pantang larang for leaders to say so. Because people will sit and wait for you to organize. Your speech have to make their passion go burning and want to work with you. You have to make them to take the INITIATIVE to help you.
Of all the above, its very hard to even fulfill 3 criterias already. I do respect people and recognize them as "leaders" if they have any 3 of the criterias above, and I will consider voting for them. Those with lesser of the above mentioned, to me, they still need more involvement in other organizations to learn new things before they can really take up the role of "leader". It is always nice to learn, but somehow Malaysia Co-co activities lack "personal development". I really do tell the difference when I join AMCHAM YE and school GERKO. Its a HUGE difference wei.
Okay enough of the long lecture. I doubt anyone has the patience to listen to someone MERELY YOUR AGE giving you a long lecture about leadership. But well, its NOT a LECTURE, but simply my point of view, cause I really feel the need to tell people what I think, as many people keep telling me that I am too picky. xD *Its my perfectionist gene! ><*
Alright, thats all peeps! tata!
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