My last entry for leadership laws. Finally finishing reading my 21 laws.
16) Law of The Big Mo – Momentum is a Leader’s Best Friend
Even a sail needs to catch the wind to carry on the sailing. I remembered my recruit days. From the beginning, I told myself that either I be the best, or be the worst. Therefore, I pushed myself to be the best. Weekends are the most precious moments, even though I sometimes have less than 24hours book out time. When book in on Sunday, you can see trainers tekaning recruits already. Well, my unit gives us hell. I must admit that I have thought of giving up because I have thoughts of being the worst. Everything that you do constitutes a performance factor towards being an officer. I feel good after each week and eventually I ride on a momentum to becoming a leader. I was the Song IC, I volunteered myself to do shit work, I do a lot of jobs behind the scenes which gain a high score for peer appraisal. It may be hard when your sail is not moving. But it gets easy after that. Get on the ride!
17) Law of Priorities – Leaders Understand that Activity is Not Necessary Accomplishment
Stephen Covey says “A leader is one who climbs the tallest tree, surveys the entire situation and yells, “Wrong jungle!”” If you are at the wrong track, then it’s time to re-look at your priority. Evaluation is always my priority. Almost everyday I will ask myself “What have I achieve today?” If I have not taken a step towards my goal, I will work harder the next day. If I have not spent time with my family, I will do it the following day. If I overspend, I will make sure I spend lesser the following day. If I didn’t exercise, I will make sure I compensate back somehow. My example here is of course life balance. I’m still short of social life though. But it’s ok because it is not one of my main priorities. Do not keep doing things that are not towards your objectives.
18) Law of Sacrifice – A Leader must Give Up to Go Up
This is one of my hated laws because it takes so much of one person to develop himself. One of the classic examples is Lee Iacocca when he was employed to salvage a company facing liquidation. He drew a little over half of what he earns at his previous company. He spend most of his time at work, despite he has a family. He fired 33 VP out of 35 VP within the 3years period. He swallowed his pride and approached the government for help. After that he reduced his salary to a dollar a year to cut cost. He also asked his executives to take a pay cut. Years later he doubled the market share of what the company used to earn. So when others say NEVER GIVE UP, tell them that you have to GIVE UP in order to GO UP. J
19) Law of Timing – When to Lead is as Important as What to Do and Where to Go
A classic example is during war time. How many times have you heard of stories when signallers call for an arty fire to be bombed at a wrong spot just because they reported on a wrong location? I’m sure the guys must have heard this numerous times. John says timing is everything. Wrong action at the wrong time leads to disaster. Right action at the wrong time brings resistance. Wrong action at the right time is a mistake. Right action at the right time results in success. It applies at critical moments in life. Conclusion – do the right thing at the right time.
20) Law of Explosive Growth – To add Growth, Lead Followers. To Multiply, Lead Leaders
From my perception is, to lead followers is to be in a team. To lead leaders is to mentor and bring followers up to become a leader. I, as a scout, must admit that they fail to grow because they lack the ability to train leaders. Scouts Association differentiates us as boy scouts and leaders. My question is, “Why are boy scouts boy scouts and why are leaders leaders?” Those people at the top are not developing leaders. Still many leaders are behaving like boy scouts. I bet those scouts reading this must have mixed feelings about this. In my opinion, if scouting in Singapore wants to take off, it must develop more leaders. If not, no matter how many Jamboree Singapore organizes will still be a flop.
21) Law of Legacy – A Leader’s lasting value is Measured by Succession
This batch of SP Rovers is living by the law of legacy as what I have painted for them. I’ve once asked one of them does she know why I’m doing so much for SP Rovers. She replied that it’s because I have love for SP Rovers. Well, that is just one of it because this reason is not strong enough for me. My reason is simple yet powerful. I want to leave behind a legacy as well. Every batch come and goes. What stays is the culture and systems. I want to make SP Rovers a better place so that before I go, everything is autopilot. It’s the same for SP Rovers, as well as CCI. I want to make sure that things happened because of me, and these things makes a difference for others even though I’m not present in the future.
