What is a Leader?
Leaders have to learn to stand alone, but can never do so if they don’t love enough.
So, you want the prestige of being a leader? Let’s define the concept, shall we? The first lesson is the lesson of vision. What are your goals? What is your spiritual incentive? Is that incentive strong enough to the purpose and true to the objective? This self-formulated incentive is dependent on the vision and the beauty you paint in your imagination. This determines what type of leader you will become.
The second lesson is the development of a right sense of proportion. This will enable you to walk humbly along “the way.” No true leader can be anything but humble. Leaders realize the magnitude of the task, appreciate the limitations of their contributions, and recognize that leaders must be constantly cultivating the spirit if they are to make a balanced contribution. Keep learning. Stay dissatisfied with your level of attainment so that the principle of growth may be fostered in you. We help others through our own effort to attain. Couple this with clear thinking, humility, and constant adjustment.
The third lesson is the spirit of synthesis. This enables you to include all within the range of your influence, while also being included within the range of influence of those greater than yourself!
Lesson four: avoidance of criticism. Learn to distinguish criticism from one’s ability to analyze. Analyze life, circumstances, and people from the angle of work, not from the angle of your personal point of view. Criticism leads to barriers and loss of time.
Can you imagine your reaction to any situation as a leader? You have to shoulder all the blame for any failure, even when you are not personally responsible. You have to do so without retaliation. Can you stand being attacked by the very ones that you are trying to help, or expect too much from you, or force you to live in the blaze of public opinion? What will you do when your chosen workers fail to understand, or prove themselves disloyal?
What will you do when they pit their ambition against you and willfully refuse to see your point of view while talking about you to other people in order to whip up resentment towards you? That resentment is probably without foundation. These are not the kinds of things the ego personality easily accepts.
So you want to be a leader, eh? In your mind, you must rehearse. You must begin dealing with these kinds of problems and settle the conflict in your heart before you embark on such a noble endeavor. First you must ask yourself, “Do I have the inner grace and heart to admit error and weakness, or say I made a mistake in technique or method of approach, in judgment or in speech? Could I handle the situation should the need arise to heal a breach in the interest of the work, or to stand fast against all odds?”
Tae Kwon Do Moo Duk Kwan USA is a fraternal organization dedicated to the enrichment, upliftment, and development of those that come under our influence. One day I will have to pick my successor as the Grand Master Instructor when I, as we say, fold my hands. Every day I watch the Black Belts and students in search of a leader.
Humility be thy Goal,
Master F. G. Blair
