By K.H.M Haladu Muhammad
As I wrote this article from my point of view on leadership, or what leadership is all about, we already know that leadership is a collective responsibility, not a one-person business. Some may think leadership is only one person’s business or responsibility, that’s the one people elected or chosen to be in the mantle of leadership.
A leader is a servant of the people, meaning that leaders serve the interests and affairs of the state, not their personal interests. Some people think that if a leader is done with some developmental projects or programmes, my fellow youth and citizens think that the government or the leader is privileged; they forget that anything the government has done is our right, not a privilege.
In these points, I would like to call our attention to what values and self-leadership are. Let us take a look at what values are: beliefs and principles that guide someone on how they think, how they act, how they treat others, and how they make decisions.
Values enable leaders to earn respect and trust, make the right decisions, stay consistent under pressure, and lead without fear.
My question is whether there are some core values that we all have, these are: Accountability, commitment, discipline, fearlessness, integrity, respect for others, tolerance, hardworking and timeless.
Please, are you accountable, committed, disciplined, hardworking, and respectful of others? I just selected five of the nine to see whether any of us are practising the core values.
Let us take a look at self-leadership, a process of intentional self-influence that fosters motivation, direction, and continuous personal growth. It’s taking ownership of your thoughts, actions, and development without waiting for external directions. Why I say self-leadership matters as a young person: it allows you to build confidence, enhances autonomy, increases adaptability, and sharpens decision-making.
Are we all practising self-leadership? Please, if we are not, let us start not tomorrow or later, the time is ticking, we should start now.
We should start taking care of our little problems, because leadership starts from our home, school, office, and even up to where you think the so-called leaders are based. Because change starts with you, not others, if we do not change ourselves, we can’t have the leaders we aspire to.
And lastly, who are those leaders? Their people, like me, you, and us, are from the society and community; they’re like you, so if we don’t change our values and practice self-leadership. We should start making nonsense all over social media or at gatherings because we’re the ones producing the leaders we have.
Please let us look at these core values and reflect on some of them. Thank you
K.H.M Haladu Muhammad wrote from Maru LG, Zamfara State.