I will start this post with the full acknowledgement that I should be and am grateful for all the blessings I have, but seeing is the post is not an ode to my lack of gratitude I will say the thing I complain most about is work. I am an advocate of the labor movement and am of the belief that “the labor movement is in shambles” so I find myself often complaining about different elements of work.
My favorite and timely complaint is the mandatory return to office. Wait hear me out. I know this is somewhat of a first world and white collar worker problem to have but still its emblematic of a larger problem between workers and employees. The issue is never if the work is done because when work is isn’t done there are many different metrics that employers have figured out to calculate efficiency. In fact if you fall below an adequate level of efficiency I believe they do something they call “firing you”. No the problem is not that work will not be done. The problem is trying to control employees time so if they are able to complete the required tasks in an adequate manner you figure out a way to pile more tasks on without paying them anymore. God forbid they use the extra time to spend with their family, friends or figuring out how to make additional income.
That brings us to the second thing I like to complain about. Much like what we keep hearing about inflation “it’s going down”, “we have brought it to an adequate level”, we should be really happy we are paying $20 for cooking oil our wages may be “up” but it seems like we still can’t afford rent, houses or the $20 cooking oil yet at every turn we are told wages are higher than ever and we should be happy and grateful. So we may not be the greatest mathematician but we can do the maths and see that the amount that we are getting paid and the profits we are helping make don’t add up.
To conclude, I like to complain about the state of employee rights in this current economic climate
I read this book a while ago and have been waiting for the right time to review its contents and 5 a.m. for bloguary seems like the perfect time.
I spend a lot of time wondering about what makes a good leader at work, within a family and especially a political leader. I came across this book in a used book store and I was immediately drawn to the title because I thought it was talking about servants as leader but it was actually talking about the need for leader to be servants in order to be successful leaders. That was a little surprising to me but I read on and the following quotes summarize the elements of a good political leader.
The servant-leader is servant first — as Leo was portrayed. It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then the conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. He is sharply different from the person who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such it will be a later choice to serve – after leadership is established.”
Page 7
My mind immediately runs to African politics where the goal of the politician is to make as much money as possible and helping people becomes secondary. I think this mindset became more prevalent for African leaders post independence because they now had access to resources and figured why not fill our pockets. Maybe one day we’ll help our people maybe we will just keep helping ourselves and keep criticizing western systems. I don’t believe this was the case pre-independence. Most leader were concerned with the well being of their people but I guess something changes in you when you control the purse strings.
The next quote that stood out to me felt more inward facing. Before the leader can rob the servant they need to be accepted as a leader. This is accomplished
By clearly stating and restating the goal the leader gives certainty and purpose to others who may have difficulty in achieving it for themselves”
Page 9
Political leaders in particular are required to inspire the masses into voting, paying more taxes, agreeing to start or end wars and this all requires a leader that gives them purpose as a nation. They need the ability to sell a dream which is why propaganda can be so effective. It easily sways the often vulnerable citizens by evoking strong emotions.
The next quality that makes a good leader is knowing and being able to read the room. I think about Donald Trump and how so many people were surprised at him winning in 2016 US presidential election, but I wasn’t surprised because I could see that the mood in the US had shifted. I read one of his books and while it wasn’t Pulitzer Prize literature he was accurately reading the room and the public sentiment. Not only was he correct about the US sentiment but we saw many leader like him get elected across the globe following his win. Many people looked at Trump as being beneath them an error I hope won’t be made in 2024 because
“The requirements of leadership impose some intellectual demands that are not measured by academic intelligence ratings. The leader needs two intellectual abilities that are usually not formally assessed in an academic way: he needs to have a sense for the unknowable and be able to foresee the unforeseeable………Others will depend on him to go out ahead and show the way because his judgement will be better than most”
Page 14-15
I want to emphasize the point that it is better than most not necessarily the best. This brings us to what I think is the most important quality of a leader the ability to persuade their followers. I think some people erroneously believe that force is enough to be a good leader but
“The trouble with coercive power is that it only strengthens resistance. And, if successful, its controlling effects only last as long as the force is strong. It is not organic. Only persuasion and the consequent voluntary acceptance are organic.”
Page 32
No one feels like they have to persuade anyone anymore. Engaging in discourse often lands people being categorized as spreading hate and our leaders have become fearful to persuade those that are not already on their side. I think the best leaders should be able to persuade not only those that have already accepted their leadership but the ones still in doubt.
If you could un-invent something, what would it be?
If I could un-invent something it would be the false social construct of race. A couple of years ago I was attending a seminar organized by Patricia O’Campo I was surprised to learn that
For some context the seminars were organized to educate clinicians and other interested parties about ending something called “race correction” in clinical care. The definition given of race correction is
We can discuss the inadequate care black people often recieve in the healthcare system at a different time but the adjustments made in treatments have no scientific basis. I don’t consider my self ignorant and I’ve always know that everyone is equal but even I was surprised to learn that there is no significant biological difference between people that would require medical adjustments because of race.
I’m still batting with this idea because even knowing that there is no truth to the lie of race it is hard to think we are all the same. If I as a black person can have some reservations about our sameness imagine how easy it is for a racist mind to convince themselves of the inferiority of others. We may wonder why does this really matter but
I also started wondering about conditions that primarily affect black people such as sickle cell anemia but that could be attributed to environmental conditions and not race. Then I thought about the advice I got to start taking more vitamin D and wondered is that also race correcting? I’m not sure but what I do know is biologically we are all the same and if I could un-invent something it would be race and when that was gone I would swiftly move to class but that’s for a different post.
My biggest challenge is consistency in blogging and podcasting. I have been a lot better at releasing the podcast but I am still not where I should be with preparation of the material I discuss.
When I’m reading I’m always looking for content that may be interesting but it takes the fun out of reading because it feels like everything thing is work.
With blogging I have many ideas but the time to put them down, edit and finalize just always seems to evade me.
With video content I have soo much content recorded, which I will periodically watch but I never do anything with it. I don’t know if it’s that I need better tools or maybe in this new year I need to actively set aside time for blogging, video creation and podcast ideation sessions.
I think another challenge is constantly being told or wondering am I creating good content or would my time be better spent binge watching something that someone else created.
I wouldn’t say that my political views have changed but I would say that my defence of political leaders has shifted. As a young Black African I used to give our politicians a lot of grace. They are leaders of new states so they are bound to mess up and the world is against them so how can they succeed but as I get older I am starting to question the grace that I have given them. It is true that the are so many things stacked against African nations but there are also some problems that we face as Africans that are a direct result of the incompetence and selfishness of our leaders.
As I get older I am starting to wonder what is the cost for supporting certain ideological beliefs? How much incompetence is allowable simply because a party has the “right ideas”? I have never had a hard time understanding one issue voters but I can’t help but think that holding on to certain ideologies makes you prey to bad leaders, but that is not really a change in in political views, it is more of a greater understanding of the inadequate politics systems that we have.
TIGERE.CA 