Leadership…
Aha today i had the great honour of a certain campmate telling me about what he felt was effective leadership.According to this person, the SAF is riddled with incompetent leaders who have no respect whatsoever for their men and are only intent on achieving personal glory. For the record, this guy is a private(boys and girls thats the lowest lifeforms in our army) and has gone to DB( army’s equivalent of school- to the muggers just ignore this) twice for AWOL. So I can’t exactly base alot upon his views cause basically he’s the sort of person you blame everything on. If the camp burnt down and ma man wasn’t even in camp, he would have still been blamed for the fire. Thats the level of responsibility he has carefully nurtured in the minds of his friends. Basically I feel that leadership is something that cannot be defined. There are so many variants in the methods but it still achieve the intended outcomes. As such I have no issue with the good men. But recently what I have come to realise is this new injection of wayang into leadership. It really helps alot when people lead with major eye power. "Come on men! lets move the tables to the dining hall. Ooh ah. We shall embrace the work we do for our nation" Right. Pretty nice way to embrace it by making groups of men carry tables while you ’supervise’ them. Does it mean that with seniority you suffer muscle wastage in your limbs so those below you have to do work while you scream at them and urge them on. Sorry. The Americans would be more familiar with such people as cheerleaders. And sorry they are hot. Not some balding old man with his huge beer belly hanging over his belt(It is questionable if it indeed is a belt or another fold of fat). Really, Leadership is not about who makes the most noise. Its about how much you can influence and inspire your fellow comrades into completing a unified goal. Putting you in charge means that you are accountable for the end product. Not that you have weights attached to each ball so the most you can do is sit and curse. Oh and making noise standing arond does not help. Unless you intend to irritate other. Then your help is doing much good. And remember that when you lead that there are always others who can think of something you have not. You ain’t Socrates(Not the footballer) for sure so don’t givr yourself too much credit. It does not mean you have to be smart to teach something. Experience is something which knowledge has its foundations is. People who have experience much more then your sore ass will definately be in a better position to do the job so give them a chance and open your damn ears. Also, to all those ‘leaders’ out there, don’t take credit for something that your tiny brain would have never been able to generate. Its really the best way to make sure your followers spit into your food before giving it to you" ). Lead with your heart. And lead with style.
Till next time. Prophesized at 8:30pm.
June 21st, 2006 at 6:09 am
It is very necessary to split the officers from the men. Your subordinate you can be “friendly” with, but shouldn’t be your FRIEND. This you should understand, knowing how “friends” themselves give us our greatest stress.
Alas, there are many complaints about the way the force is run. This is only cos sweethearts, all of you are having your virgin experience at full blown office politicking. Women see this at 24, we see it at 18.
But, I speak as an officer who asks men to grab the tables and also grab one of my own. Not cos, I’ve thought bout the need to not use “eye power” but just cos I’d like to get it done faster.
A bit long. But yeah. If leadership and responsibility is all the rage, one wouldnt AWOL would they? It’s just not the responsible thing to do, your fellow man now grabs 2 tables each. your share and theirs.
June 21st, 2006 at 7:45 am
Sentiments exactly; just do your bloody bit for this country la.. its 2 damn years, to all those chow keng men out there.. and as i said leadership is diverse. Just get the damn job done and earn the respect of your men, not your man having to respect you cause of your rank. The salute is something that should come from the heart- its a sign of respect. Make sure your man salutes you for the right reasons.
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:27 am
And don’t take long MC cos your leg pain backside pain back pain and then go dance dance on stage all. You never know who hates you enough and is in the Provost. =)
June 23rd, 2006 at 7:21 am
Hey bro,
I totally agree with you. Having been with 2 batches of OCC, I can testify that many guys who commission do not and never will deserve the rank they are wearing on their shoulders. Hope u don’t mind, but lets give credit to a few…just a few of those officers who do what they make their men do. Also not fair to say all gals only encounter office politics in 24…yours truly here is dying of disgust here. haha…we still have many gals who don’t go uni and who start work young. Take care k? and all the best till you ORD!
June 23rd, 2006 at 12:39 pm
ah yes, the select few who enter the workforce young get to handle it young too.
Might I suggest you read this author: Stanley Bing. Especially this book of his “Sun Tzu was a Sissy”.
in afs now? don’t tell me C3?
cheers
June 23rd, 2006 at 11:04 pm
Eh th mc point is extemely valid.. haha.. i can name a couple of scenarios where its been curiusly accurate.. anyway Li Hui i’m not tkain any credit from those who did commission.. I was from the cadet course too and some guys and gals out ther will put even the seasoned officers to shame.. Its not about over generalising. Just an effort to impede a growing trend of over- arrongant officers and sadly i have witnessed that most of these sentiments have been develpoed during their cadet times.. something has to be done to inculcate a more positive mindset on collective responsibility.. Oh ya and Li Hui.. kudos to you to achieving what many of our own guys even failed too.. 08/03 is proud of ya..
June 24th, 2006 at 9:51 pm
sigh. reading all dis jus makes me wonder if im in a totally wrong unit. u guys get to speak ur mind abt leadership n officers n all. i envy u guys. NOT. at my place DO AND DIE DUN ASK WHY is wat we go by. even if an officer tells u to do somethin ridiculous u do it 1st question/complain later. i jus see it this way… i dunno if its ok with u guys if ur oc or csm carries tables with u but e way we’ve been brought something must be damn wrong if they do.
June 24th, 2006 at 11:06 pm
ahh my hot uniformed men… i like.