Solitude, Humility, and Hope
Leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards a certain common goal. Leaders require different qualities to lead others in a certain direction. Among these qualities, scholars have found that solitude is one of the most important necessities for true leadership. Leaders are trained to excel in their work but actually what helps them to excel is the talent for maneuvering. The ability to please your superiors and get along with those who you are leading is an important aspect for any leader who wants to prosper. A leader should be able to be whatever other people want them to be, avoiding taking risky moves and following the daily routine makes a leader effective.
However, a leader should have the ability to think for themselves and make new but sure moves. According to Deresiewicz (2010), most intellectuals fail to become leaders because they cannot think Leaders are supposed to be thinkers. They should be able to formulate their strategies, invent new ways of doing things, and create a new perspective. More than ever, leaders are supposed to think autonomously, amenably, and resourcefully. This means they should be able to apply their skills in different ways rather than executing the daily routines. A thinker and a leader are made by their ability to think through different situations with sureness, bravery, and defend their ideas even when they are not popular. This is the courage to stand up for what they believe in. The ability to think freely and acting on your principles makes true leadership. The big problem that faces leaders is how to learn to think.
Thinking means concentrating on one thing for a long time such that you can develop an idea concerning the issue. This means that as a leader you should not follow ideas from other people or memorize some information, although these are also useful sometimes. Developing individual ideas means thinking for yourself and it calls for personal time. Therefore, to be able to think for yourself you should call yourself to a certain point other than allowing social inputs and ask yourself hard questions that most people overlook. You should develop doubts, and formulate questions. You should approach these questions with the hope that you will develop quality answers. With hope, you expect to get answers and it is possible to find satisfying solutions. Answers can only be found without distractions, without social influence, mainly in solitude (Deresiewicz, 2010).
Collins (2006), asserts that a leader can only find themselves by being humble, having hope, and working in solitary. Thinking for yourself is finding yourself and your reality. Leadership is getting a new direction. Therefore, solitude, hope, and humility are the essence of leadership. A leadership position is generally solitary and intensively lonely, therefore hope and humility are essential.
References
Collins, J. (2006). Level 5 leadership: The triumph of humility and fierce resolve. Managing Innovation and Change, 234.
Deresiewicz, W. (2010). Solitude and Leadership: If you want others to follow, learn to be alone with your thoughts. The American Scholar, 79(2), 20-31.