Vision of leadership
By: Elie Atme
7/9/2003

Today as I was reading the editorial section in the Nahar newspaper I could not help but stop and read the editorial written by Mr. Edmond Saab entitled, "the clean starter." 
The discussion in his article took place concerning a meeting with our great thinker and philosopher Mr. Saeed Akal, debating leadership and the type of people we desperately need to lead the way to save ourselves as well as our country Lebanon.

"Leader is a dealer in hope" - Napoleon

Leadership is many things; vision, action, conviction, persistence, inspiration and hope is perhaps the common thread. People turn to leaders to transcend their daily lives, to give them a glimpse of their better selves and a belief in the future.

Lincoln, Roosevelt and Bachir are remembered for their leadership in dark days! Their greatness lay in encouraging people to look beyond bleak realities to the promise of better days ahead. But hope is a two-edged sword; dealing in hope but not in action breeds disillusionment, dealing in hope without foresight or confidence is the worst kind of demagoguery.

Hope cannot be true and lasting if leadership is trapped in real purpose or action.  Much of the criticism of leadership seems based on a variation of this theme. Leaders who deal in hope but do not deliver are quickly labeled "style without substance". We have become accustomed to leadership via slogans and sound bytes, and perhaps at no other time has hope been subject to so much analysis or disparagement.

Hope means having a practical focus or vision and a leader's job is to empower others to help achieve it. Bachir's great successes were born from his tactical and strategic approaches to winning conflicts. He was able to achieve through influence, by proclaiming his vision and having the strength of mind to follow through with a supporting strategy, regardless of criticism, constructive or negative.

In similar ways, one can be hopeful about a leader, or a political party, or even the second coming. But for me, hope has credibility only when a tangible vision has been defined and the strategy of how to get there well considered. It is easy for a leader or a political party to saunter along doing enough to survive the game of politics. But to be truly successful it is necessary to take a few steps back and look at the big picture: where do we want to go and how are we going to get there?

Great leaders such as The Bach (Bachir Gemayel), Chamoun (Camille) and Churchill have instilled hope in their people through inspiration, commitment and encouragement. Deal in hope, but don't forget to install and maintain your vision. Unlike some leaders advocating not to harass our enemies while they are weak and vulnerable, a worthy leader is to have the experience of detecting an enemy's weakness and the competence to use the intelligence to win--thereby profiting from the indecision and inadequacies of an opponent. After all, would our enemy pass up an opportunity to knock us down the next time an opportunity arises!

Perhaps we should ask our great's leader what the Syrian occupation has been doing for the last 28 years besides thumping us down!?

If leaders have the strength and veracity to realize a vision, to inspire their people of any composition and to empower and have faith in their people, then there is no need to rely on hope.