by Javier Arias I.
What is it, where does it come from and how can we bottle it and give it away?
Coming from a developing Latin American country, I cringe a little at the word “leader”. Where I come from, this usually translates into military dictarorships, political idols and a complete lack of civic participation in the solution. The “Leader†is usually the excuse to leave it in someone elses hands and unfortunately in a trepidating downward spiral of lack of mystique where the responsibility is given to another where this “other†usually is not the best qualified or even adequate for the job.
In Braunwald, during the YES seminar we discussed this topic not only on the floor presenting the product of our workgroups but in informal conversations during dinner or a coffee overlooking the alps. It was easy to be devoted to the cause in such an atmosphere…I mean everybody who attended that seminar is a remarkable individual and that alone made you believe everything was possible because for a period of 2 weeks you only saw and spoke to “leaders†. You could see it in their eyes, in the passion of their words and sometimes in the pain of their individual experiences. Nevertheless although I hadnt noticed it, the questions that are born from the title of this article were burning slowly in my soul as a soft but nudging voice that didnâ€TMt quite let me be.
I took these questions to a tour I made to the rest of Switzerland and Prague in an additional 2 weeks. I later took them with me to the jungle of Darien in my country and its poverty stricken community helped by a canadian priest, then to my school in Costa Rica where the president of the World Bank (amongst other personalities) was giving homage to Schmidheiny for his donation of $2.6 Billion for “walking the talk†, to Washington and the heart of US political machinery and lastly to El Salvador (ES) which, although having finished a 10-year civil war and being on its way towards modernization, was the melting pot of contrasts I had bumped into during my travels.
In ES, I worked with a group of fellow students of INCAE with the international NGO “CARE†in order to construct a resource-mobilization strategy that went from social movilization to fund generation to fund raising strategies. All of this to comply with its new vision: “the elimination of 50% of poverty in the country by 2015†. By this time the soft voice had become a loud screech in the blackboard of my conscience that would not let me sleep at night. Sure I was in all of these “sustainable development†movement experiences and in all of these interesting conversations filled with a list of things I was going to do for my country but in the bottom of my heart I still was more worried about the venture capitalists I needed to tie up and the business plan I had to finish in order to make the “pile of of dough†that would take me to the big leagues.
Frankly, I felt like a hypocrite and although seeking refuge in emails to friends I could not help but hear the nagging claws of my conscience that questioned not only my actions, reasons and my worst fear: “what really could be done and was I really the type of person (“leader†) that could make whatever needed to happen ..happen?†. For a country that has passed so through so many trials, I found Salvadorians to be very hardworking and happy. I mean I would pass the “Pupusa cook†in her outdoor stand (a delicious salvadorian tortilla) at 5:30am when I went to the gym and again at 10:30pm on my way to a restaurant to have dinner. Maybe out of some sort of guilt or admiration I became a regular at their very humble establishment only to find out that her 16 hour day lasted 7 days a week with only 2 days of vacation every month. There was never a day or a moment she and her helper did not serve me my “pupusas†with a smile and a giddy laughter. I could understand this type of attitude in my friendâ€TMs family with whom I passed my weekends with but…they own half of El Salvador, are one of the richest families in Latin America and had “Botero’s†, “Velasquez’s†and “Miro’s†around one of his 14 mansions like they were giving them away. I mean I loved and admired these girls but the truth deep down in my heart was that I liked my friendâ€TMs lifestyle and wanted it for myself too.
I thought of how all of this married with the impulse to change the world and help a country…my country progress… when at the same time, deep down, even after the unique experiences I had, my true desires were not completely selfless or unmaterialistic. How could I join this things into a Frankenstein that would relieve me of my guilt and let me call myself a leader still? Or even more difficult do anything that with this attitude that could possibly contribute to a greater good?
My mind shut down. Everything went silent as when a tidal wave hits you and submerges you in interminable tumbles of ocean currents bashing into each other and you cannot do anything but ride them….to life or to death. Definitions in my mind were changing and although disilusioned that I was not the leader I thought I was or could change or impact in the way I thought I still asked myself the “leadership†question. And when I said “leadership†I always meant the kind that changes things for the best, is responsible for progress and is not filled with the moral comprimises my mind was constantly battling with.
Did it come from the State? Did it come from the Church? Maybe it did come from poticians? Maybe we needed a leader after all ….†I canâ€TMt do it†I said, so maybe give the job to someone else. “YEAH….lets do that!!†. I rather leave this responsibility in the hands of a “leader†…†the saviour†that will rid me of my guilt, my inability to change anything and would take the flag of progress all the way to “CHANGE†.
Just as I was about to cringe at the word “leader†but sellout in the same way I always complained everybody in my country did ….I added a prayer to God (as if that would make it better) wishing that this “leader†could do this and be capable and do the right thing and be transparent and be selfless and omnipotent and almost godlike and that he would be running in an election and I could vote for him right now so I could clear my concience…my phone rang. It was Thomas. He had been a professional thug, drug dealer and addict but had now changed his life towards a new direction. He and Hector came to me a year before to organize a vision they had of helping there neighborhood through a sport and culture club for kids. I told them what I knew: how to organize sponsors, get an event going, get positive PR, etc… but everything through a business point of view as always.
He called me to tell me that the first event they organized was a success. It had been absolutely free of political influence and although they couldnâ€TMt get a lot of sponsors the community (the poorest and most dangerous neighborhood in Panamá) was grateful it had a positive example to give the kids that lived there apart from the usual gun slayings, crack houses and drug deals that proliferated. He also told me he had a t-shirt for me of the “movement†and invited me to another event they had organized in a month and a halfâ€TMs time. They were going to give out gifts in a Christmass party right smack in the “hottest†part of Chorrillo. And when I mean “hot†I mean taxi drivers donâ€TMt want to go down there even in the daylight.
The experience was life change changing. I slept at his house since we spent all night giving out tickets for free toys to the families they knew where in a very hard situation and would benefit the most from the gesture. Walking through streets where if I hadnâ€TMt been accompanied by these guys I would have been killed and mugged in less than 5 minutes I heard stories and examples of leadership that left me with the jaw wide open. I met Herminio, a white male with green eyes and a very pleasant smile. He was introduced to me as a young pastor to the community and quickly left his side and good vibe since he was busy with other wives counting tickets and organizing toys.
Thomas is a tough guy but it was amazing to me to hear him tell me that Herminio used to be reffered to as “the devil himself†in the barrio. His description of him as an assasin and hard hearted criminal did not match the selfless man who I had just met. He told me that ironically him and another assasin that would often shoot at each other in hatred now worked together as pastors of the neighborhood after they had a religious experience in jail. He described how Herminio being an ex “baddest of the bad†was able to capitalize on the respect the gangs had of him and united them all in one place for breakfast and peace. Nineteen gangs assisted to his gathering and although they still stared each other down even after the police had taken the guns they had on them at the end of the morning they had signed a peace agreement in hugs, shakes of hand and true brotherhood tears.
I could go on and on with the examples of leadership I found there. I had organized events before in my college as president of the students but was marvelled that they were able to get so many sponsors and things done in such little time. Where they alone in doing so? No. They were helped by other leaders, community members, private companies and media who had no other interest but to help the poorest of the poor help themselves. But nobody else helped them but there will and action. They did not stop to think no one would give an ex convict sponsorship or that no one cared of the poorest and most dangerous or that they were just wishful thinkers and it was impossible…instead they just acted…..and in doing so they didnâ€TMt even think there actions would have a positive result but deeply believed that they needed to do just that: “act†.
Thatâ€TMs when it struck me. The wave had dragged me to shore and lying in the beach with the sun in my face the origin of leadership was explained to me simply as “action†. There is not one event, there is not one person, there is not one institution that can take credit for the tidal wave that brakes the coral and rock into white sand. It could have started with the flap of a tiny fish in the middle of the sea (as the chinese proverb says) that by some strange luck met with currents that multiplied its power that were added to the waves of other bigger fish and sea creatures flapping and moving and currents and winds until what was created was an enormous tidal force that transformed the hard and dangerous reef into the soft and pleasant beach.
It not only dawned on me that the origin of leadership is action but what that simple action does or creates is not your business….because you canâ€TMt control it….so you should stop trying too and worrying if your flap (or movement) is big enough to carry out a change.
Suddenly I understood I wasnâ€TMt or didnâ€TMt need to be a saviour to be a leader, to bring my country to progress or change the unchangeable….I just needed to take action, and do my best and wish for the best …..and do it enough so that one of those tiny actions collides with a multiplying action that makes it grow and transform it into an overwhelming current that keeps growing somehow and in someway towards the direction of another current and actions until that tidal wave that is impossible for you as a little fish to create is created and one day crashes against that which wouldnâ€TMt budge ….and move it.
I learnt this through a couple of personalities that would not come to mind when you first ask the origin of leadership and confirmed it in the smile of a tough street kid smiling and striking a pose to the camera of a stranger. Suddenly and as if it had any relationship with the theory that you cant destroy energy since it only gets transformed into another form of energy I saw in my mind a giant starlight sky of actions that where nothing but energy that once created could not be killed and united in a giant ball of light became a sun that made the crop grow and gave fruit and developed in a sustainable way through multiplied and constant actions that created energy that lead to the transformation of matter, emotions, hearts, perceptions, countries and worlds.
Sat, Mar 13, 2004
Vision Journal