The circle of leadership
I successfully handed over my leadership position today. While the newly elected leaders felt weighed down by the burden of leadership, I asked myself if I had done enough while I was the leader. It's easy to accept the leadership position but hard to actually do what's required of one as a leader. The discouragement comes first from the leaders one is working along with, then the people who feel they have free will and do not need any directive.
Image gnerated using Gemini AI
Influence as a leader is a skill one needs to master. It takes more than fluency to convince people to follow your directive and to see you as a leader. People see beyond what you see; they see who you are. Your lifestyle reveals who you are more than what you say you are. While a rigid style of leadership may favor certain cadres, it doesn't apply in all circumstances, especially in a place where freedom matters to them more than other things. In my time of leadership, I'll confidently say I practiced a democratic and flexible system of leadership and to some extent it was effective; while judging from another angle, it wasn't.
But my major concern was what I had done and the legacy I left behind—if it was worth emulating. I can only hope it was and that my impact remains, and someday people could stand boldly to say I gave my best, reserving nothing. I believe the new leaders aren't new to leadership, but mentorship and advice never get old or outdated. For some reason, I didn't feel like the burden of leadership was taken off me; rather, I was more concerned about whether I had made any impact.
