1. Leadership 101 depicts leaders as autocratic, democratic, laissez faire types… the general biasness is for an adaptive situational needs-based leadership. In truth, however, stepping out from the corporate setting, leadership must be purely based on a supreme truth and high principle-order direction.
2. Here, this may not be immediately apparent, especially in the organisations I’ve had the experience of being in. Mirroring a feudalism of the eastern cultures, Malays will forego their rights and authorities to question when confronting a Malay leader, the Chinese clan leader or CEO will thus derive omnipotent qualities in strategy setting and negotiating positions as regards to their business undertaking, and for the other one, the Indians I’m afraid I don’t have first hand knowledge to dwell upon.
3. What of the leader then? The supreme truth can be gleaned from education, from background and other ancillary sources of power, expert, knowledge, charisma and such. But it often negates what the followers can contribute to.
4. In essence, the only way is through syura, and in management consulting there are ways to gather information and underlying assumptions of where and what we should go to and do that will obtain ownership towards the business and organizational direction. Syura, conducted through rational thought processes will create involvement and participation and enable a more productive organizational setting. It is also in accordance with the Prophet’s Sunnah.
