He who has never learnt to obey cannot be a good leader
He who has never learnt to obey cannot be a good leader
Essay 1:
"He who has never learnt to obey cannot be a commander." These words
uttered by Aristotle over 2000 years ago seem to be very contradictary. We
often see obedience and authority as opposites, but according to many great
leaders, they are both two sides of the same coin.
To understand them better, let us look at
armies. Every general who has commanded other soldiers was once a soldier
themself. It is this experience that they gained by obeying their superiors
that allowed them to gain the post of leadership.
Without knowing what it feels like to be on
the other end, that is, if one doesn't know how it feels to receive orders and
act on them, that person cannot issues orders properly. They often end up
becoming tyrants who place unrealistic on their followers. Eventually this can
lead to disharmony or even mutiny.
Leadership requires one to have a certain
level of empathy which can only be gained from experience. Leaders also need to
display other traits like self-discipline, punctuality, level headed, and so on.
These are all traits that obedience instills in people.
Hence to be a great commander, one must know
how and when to obey others.
Essay 2: The
world around us functions like a big machine, wherein all parts work coherently
at their own time, fulfilling their own purpose. To take care of the smooth
working of this busy world, we need leaders. Leaders are whom we look upto,
they guide the path after trailing that path themselves, learning through
experiences and taking decisions every now and then. A person who has learnt
from someone else, knows how the journey goes. Having the humility to know that
one needs to learn before teaching is a virtue.
Good leaders aren't born that way. They learn through real time experiences
and they too look upto someone they called a leader once. It's an inherited
quality . When we listen to others we understand things from a broader
perspective. Most of us don't see eye to eye on things, and that's why we know
there is a scope of improvement. When there is an acceptance to the need of
being better, a person grows. Only a well learned person who has the ability to
forsee different ways that an event might go wrong, and has the intuition out
of experience on how to make things right, can be a good leader. And
nevertheless any good leader we find around us would've been a patient learner
once. That is exactly what one must believe in and pursue.
Essay 3:
"He who has never learnt to obey cannot be a commander."
These words were uttered by Aristotle over
2000 years ago. However, one should know when and how to obey.
Someone who spends their entire life obeying
others (superiors or peers) might not develop the skills it takes to make
decisions, especially tough decisions. They might lack the presence of mind in
high pressure situations and become paralyzed with indecision during crucial
moments. Hence one should ensure that they don't end up subservient in an
attempt to obey orders. Having the independence to make their own choices and
the courage to act on them is very vital to any good leader.
On the other hand they should not be dictators
who issue orders to show off their power over their juniors. They must have the
empathy and be aware of the ground reality of the situation. If they demand too
much or exert too much authority without sufficiently awarding compliance and
obedience, then there is a chance that they lose control of the situation which
is never a good thing. Hence a leader must also know to obey.
The key is maintaining moderation to be as
effective as possible.
Essay 4:
"He who has never learnt to obey cannot be a commander."
These words were uttered by Aristotle over
2000 years ago. However, there are many counter arguments that suggest that
obedience is not always a good thing for a commander.
Obedience is the trait of listening to the
commands of others. This is certainly a useful habit to have, but it is
difficult to imagine that someone who spends their life listening to others and
following their words can somehow inspire other people.
A leader needs to original in their thoughts
in order to be inspiring to others. Nobody follows the words of someone who
parrots what they hear from others. Furthermore they have to be authoritative
to assert their opinions and ensure their orders are followed. Anyone who gets
used to listening all the time doesn't have the mind-set to think for their own
selves and make decisions.
There is also another thing which is that
leaders are responsible for the well-being of their followers. If a leader is
told by his higher-ups to take a decision that will harm his followers, he
should be able to say no and save those who believe in him.
Essay 5: To
become a great leader one must also be a great learner. A great leader was once
a great student, to become a great leader it is important to obey your
superiors and role models. Great leaders have become successful due to the
intervention of their mentors. A good leader must understand and obey the rules
and regulations set by their teachers. The experience and techniques can be of
great help to shape into a great leader. An example of the statement can be
Chandragupta maurya and chankya, Chandragupta mourya was a great Kind and a
fantastic leader, but as many appreciate his leadership qualities, a lot of his
conquests and victories have been attributed to chanakya for his great
statistic brain. It is important to note that leaders are influenced by their
mentors and to go down in history as one of the greatest leaders in the history
one must obey their mentors. Good leaders aren’t just born, they are made. They
are made by the teachings, experiences, wisdom of their teachers. Being a
leader is a constant learning process, to become a good leader one must
continuously keep up with the trends and keep on learning about changing public
opinion.
