Neatee Koun Khmers: Exploring the concept of leadership

I am very pleased with the responses to our newly launched Neatee Koun Khmers. I enjoyed the discussions and was pleased with the comments the majority of which were very thoughtful. I am also grateful to KI-Media admin team for working vigorously to keep vulgarities and obscene comments that had no social or political values in the forum. This is your forum. Please write.

Last week, together we explored the concept of sovereignty. National sovereignty can be complicated especially when a nation has to respond to situations that have international implications such as global warming issues and the likes. To protect and preserve national sovereignty, a nation needs leaders who are capable of taking appropriate measures responding to changes domestically or and internationally.

This leads us to this week discussion. Let us explore the concept of leadership. What is leadership? What are the qualities, characteristics, or virtues of effective leaders? I am sure that you have plenty of things to say about this topic. You may want to discuss about transitional and charismatic leadership. Transitional leaders could be charismatic who stimulate the followers to change their motives, believes, and values so that their interests and the leaders or the nation’s interest are congruent (Hay & Hodgkinson, 2006).

As an introduction, I wanted you to know that there is plethora of literatures on the subject. Furthermore, experts point out that there are many different definitions of leadership. Since there are as many definitions of leadership as there are many people trying to define it, I hope that we can do justice to the concept by discussing all aspects of leadership here (Denhardt et al. , 2009).

For my part, allow me to focus on a subset of leadership. I am interested in looking into the rethinking or reframing, if you will, of the concept of leadership.

The way in which we think about leadership is changing. According to Denhardt et al. (2009), “For the most part, leaders were people in formal position of power and authority and people who used their power and authority, as well as other forms of influence, to direct others toward goals and objectives that had established in advance” (p. 172).

There are many public figures in our society that fit in this aforementioned traditional leadership role. Without blaming any leader, although progress is noticeable, we have not gone far as a nation since the election of 1993. According to the World Bank, Cambodia’s gross national income per capita in 2009 ranks 185th out of 213 countries. Max Weber explained traditional authority as powers of control have been handed down from the past through family lineage from one generation to the next (Miller, 1963).

Now leadership is no longer solely depending on what these traditional leaders do. Denhardt et al. (2009) are redefining leadership, “Rather it refers to a process by which one individual influences others to pursue a commonly held objective. Where leadership is present, something occurs in the dynamics of a group or organization that result in change” (p. 173).

Instead of looking for leadership from a top down perspective, leadership takes place horizontally in most ordinary circumstances. Reading Lao-tzu’s (circa 600 BC) depiction of leadership reminds me of our many tireless natural Khmer leaders who are working diligently in the backgrounds whether getting the news about political oppression of a certain group of people to the world, working with human rights organizations, fighting for justice, saving young girls from being abused, saving endangered species from being extinct, or finding to ways improve a living standards of a people, they are getting things done quietly. Lao-tzu wrote:

A leader is best when people barely know that he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worst when they despise him. “Fail to honor people, they fail to honor you”; but of a good leader, who talks little, when the work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will all say, “We did this ourselves.” (as cited in Denhardt et al. , 2009 , p. 167)

Imagine the potential of these natural leaders if somehow they can be recognized and further developed. Robert J. Allio (2005) argued that leadership cannot be taught, but leadership can be learned, “Taking a course on wise men may help you learn about them, but it seems unlikely to make you wiser! Leadership is no different” (p. 1072). These leaders can learn and develop themselves to be our national leaders.

Perhaps, instead of looking for the one leader, we may work with leaders who possess peripheral vision. Cameron and Green (2009) suggested, “The notion of peripheral vision is a key one to keep in mind. Leaders need to wake up to what is going on around them. This means noticing more than just the obvious, the loud or the directly visible. It means having an awareness of what is going on at the edges, and being observant about motion and change” (p. 351). Peripheral vision enables leaders to act wisely and proactively.

Above all, the most important quality that a leader should have is vision. Warren Bennis envisioned characterics of visionary leadership, “The first basic ingredient of leadership is a guiding vision. The leader has a clear idea of what he wants to do- professionally and personally- and the strength to persist in the face of setbacks, even failure. Unless you know where you are going, and why, you cannot possibly get there” (as cited in Cameron & Green, 2009, p. 142).

Before we start discussing the leadership concept, I‘d like to leave you with this thought by George Lakoff (2004), a cognitive scientist at UC Berkeley, who reminds us that to change the world we need to reframe. Reframing is changing the way we see our world. He explained, “Framing is about getting language that fit your worldview. It is not just language. The ideas that are primary-and the language carries those ideas, evokes those ideas” (p.4).

I hope that as we discuss this concept we are open to ideas and to different perspectives. I strongly believe that the option is ours and the choices are out there. We can stick to the old way of seeing things and doing things or reform our way. Reform starts with knowing ourselves, knowing where we are, and knowing where we are going.

Again, this is your forum. Without further ado, the floor is yours.

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References

Allio, R. (2005). Leadership development: teaching versus learning. Management Decision; 2005; 43, 7/8; ABI/INFORM Global pg. 1071

Cameron, E., & Green, M. (2009). Making sense of change management. London and Philadelphia: Kogan Page

Denhardt, R., Denhart, J. , &Aristigueta, M. (2009). Managing human behavior in public and nonprofit organization. Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, and Singapore: Sage

Hay, A., &Hodgkinson, M. (2006). Rethinking leadership: a way forward for teaching leadership? Leadership & Organization Development Journal; 2006; 27, 1/2; ABI/INFORM Global

Lakoff, G. (2004). Don’t think of an elephant! Know your values and frame the debate. White River Junction, Vermont: Chelsea Green Publishing

Miller, S. M. (Ed.). (1963). Max Weber. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company