Guyana needs transformational leadership

May 25, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

We now live in a transformative world that is increasingly driven by technology that requires concomitant knowledge/education/relevant skills readiness.
The sheer scale of such change demands that attitudes and behaviours adapt to the change. At the same time, change needs to be agile, reacting to and accommodating new processes, through leadership with the capacity to implement adjustments to accommodate the change and steer the economy toward successful outcomes.
The transformative economy emerges out of the increasing desire of the consumer to satisfy his self-actualization needs, the highest tier of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Thus, the old approach to political leadership collides with the more informed society, where people no longer accept that a leader knows best.
In light thereof, our emerging oil and gas economy, amidst national instability, political corruption and deception, in a world characterized by uncertainty, turbulence, and economic instability, calls for transformational leadership.
An important requisite of our emerging economy is a transformational leader, i.e., one who serves as a role model, demonstrates an ability to motivate, inspire, and stimulate followers to be creative and innovative, and equally important, one who shows genuine concern for the populace.
In fact, transformational and charismatic leadership have been the hallmark of outstanding leadership. One of the strongest traits of transformational leadership is paying attention to the needs of followers. Further, a transformational leader challenges the way followers think so as to enable them to be more creative in their problem-solving
Today, we harness ourselves, to the detriment of the nation, with leaders, many of whom are entrenched in one or more of what the pundits refer to as the ‘dark triad’, i.e., three personality traits encompassing Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy, which are associated with negative-oriented leaders.
Those subscribing to Machiavellianism are imbued with the tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal gain. The narcissists exhibit a sense of grandiosity and a strong need to be seen and admired by others; they manifest an extravagant sense of self-importance, a sense of superiority, self-centered and self-referential behaviour, exaggeration of talents, boastful and pretentious behaviour, grandiose fantasies of unlimited success, a willingness to exploit others, and lack of empathy.
Those indulging psychopathy are characterized by traits, such as manipulativeness, superficial charm, lack of remorse or shame, egocentricity, exploitation, deceitfulness, irresponsibility, arrogance, and shallow intellect.
In a nutshell, our future requires us not only to be cognizant of the emerging needs of our economy, but also to promote dynamic transformational leadership with integrity – moral or ethical behaviour -as we navigate the knowledge-centered transformational economy.
To such ends, we must identify leaders with the aptitude for national progress and prosperity measured in terms of human welfare/well-being, and not merely by an increase in dollars and cents; leaders who will pay attention to the needs of the people of this country and be shy of unnecessary hubristic acts; leaders who will not only challenge the way people think, but will also conscientiously endeavour to provide opportunities for them to be more creative in their problem solving skills/pursuits.
To achieve such goals, however, we must reject outrightly, those who portray themselves as leaders, but who are imbued with ‘dark triad’ personality traits and avaricious appetites for wolfing our wealth and plundering our treasury.
Yours sincerely,
Ronald Singh

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