A Dissection of the Popular Buzzword "Leadership Skills/Qualities"
"Leadership Skills/Qualities" is the buzzword persistently dished out to our Youth in all circles and at all levels. What does it mean? Is it a call for power and wealth? Is it a drive for status or a training for service? Is the captain of a soccer team, depending on strict team work as much a leader as the CEO of a corporation? Must a "leader" have a penchant and opportunity for authority and dominance as in politics and business or the front runners in other fields like science and arts should also be garlanded as "leaders". This insistence and craze for "leadership" has a great potential to dampen and deflect the efforts and personality of our adolescents. It prevents them from exploring their natural intuitions and inclinations which in fact are the basic drivers for getting ahead. History is full of glorious examples where individuals have achieved great heights in various fields by their personal ideas and skills; they did not aim for the spotlight which they ultimately received. This problem has been dealt with very efficiently, comprehensively and logically supported by facts by Susan Cain, author and founder of Quiet Revolution in an article: Not Leadership Material? Good. The World Needs Followers. She has tried to prove that "The glorification of leadership skills, especially in college admissions, has emptied leadership of its meaning". I found it very informative and educational. See, what you make of it.
