TWO KEY LEADERSHIP OUTCOME DETERMINANTS

INTRODUCTION

Leadership is one of the very important responsibilities in any society or organization. Any organization or institution rises and falls around the kind of leadership at the helm or centre of that particular organization. In this article I will discuss two key leadership outcome determinants in any organization. Leadership begins with the individual being able to lead himself or herself before extending his/her influence upon others.

RATIONALE
There are so many aspiring leaders emerging in our time  who through needs and challenges of some sort find themselves in the position of leadership for which they are ill prepared. It is therefore important to share some thoughts around the key  outcome determinants of leadership in the twenty first century in order to avoid common  leadership pitfalls.

TERM:
Determinant - a factor which decisively affects the nature or outcome of something.(Dictionary)

OBSERVATION
 Leadership is  one of the most important soon becoming a scarce commodity in the arena of socio-economic and political space.
 This is true even in religious circles especially in the Christian faith.

This affects adversely any gains of the past which have been delivered by those who have led with integrity and sense of responsibility. The attitude of being a steward in leadership is soon disappearing and is being replaced by those who selfishly  want to take ownership  of what has been entrusted to them in trust as stewards. This is a common trend in our modern world.

KEY LEADERSHIP OUTCOME DETERMINANTS

A. Selfish-ness
B. Selfless-ness

A.SELFISH-NESS

 Selfishness is being excessively or exclusively concerned about oneself. It is seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others.
Selfishness is a concern with one's own welfare or advantage in disregard of others.

Ivette K Cabarello gives a list of seven ways to spot selfish leaders.( LinkedIn ) I will write them as he listed them. I fully subscribe to his reasoning on  these.

1. THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT RELATIONSHIPS:

Selfish leaders put themselves first and are only concerned with self-advancement by using what you know and what you possess. They are rarely interested in building a relationship with you.

2. THEY PROMISE AND THEY DO NOT DELIVER:

Selfish leaders speak eloquently to make you feel important, and also tell you how they can be of help to you. They use this deceptive tactic to get you to help them and trust them, not the other way around.

3. THEY DO NOT SHARE:

Selfish leaders are not generous with their knowledge, time, support, resources, and in general. They idolize their position and material possessions and always think about how to get more things for them, not for you.

4. THEY ACT COWARDLY:

 Selfish leaders lack the courage to face and rectify the negative consequences of their actions. They know when they have done something wrong to you and opt to disrespect you by pretending that nothing happened.

5. THEY DO NOT ASK FOR FORGIVENESS:

 Selfish leaders are arrogant and give little or no importance to the way you feel as a result of how they have hurt you. They resort to lies and think that you are inferior to even consider apologizing to you.

6. THEY GO AROUND THE BUSH:
 
Selfish leaders do not give you straight answers when they are questioned about something. They usually don't look you in the eye and alter the information they share with you or keep changing the subject.

7. THEY DON'T COMMIT TO ANYTHING:

 Selfish leaders always think in terms of "What is it in for me?" and how they can benefit from you and others. They have minimal intentions in doing anything for you without having ulterior motives.

In conclusion, words and actions matter. When a leader's words are not aligned with his actions, you must be careful. Remember to practice observation. The truth always comes to light and selfish leaders fall into their own trap because they can't keep good memory about everything they've said and done.

Ivette K Cabarello
( seven ways to identify selfish leaders)

Selfish leaders are not generous with their knowledge, time, support, resources, and in general. They idolize their position and material possessions and always think about how to get more things for them, not for you, concludes Cabarello.

It is obvious that with such a calibre of leaders the outcome will be disastrous. Leadership is not just ambition and aspiration, nor an opportunity for the opportunist but a responsibility to serve and deliver self-lessly. In your own personal analysis you can draw a conclusion  and predict the outcome of this kind of leadership. When  " self" is suffixed with "centred" Then your leadership is obviously a " Self-centred leadership which disregard the interest of others, but its a self seeking leadership.
Leadership aspirants always promise to be and to do better than their predecessors only to find that their performance is worse than their predecessors. Having selfish interests makes one a failure before he attempts or assumes his or her position.
It's easy to predict the leadership outcome of a selfish leader. He has himself at the centre for self benefit.