Issue160【0806G-Sunbird小组】第8次作业

toumingsenlinUID: 2344846

TOPIC: ISSUE160 - "The most essential quality of an effective leader is the ability to remain consistently committed to particular principles and objectives. Any leader who is quickly and easily influenced by shifts in popular opinion will accomplish little."
WORDS: 548          TIME: 01:00:00          DATE: 2007-11-1 18:13:33

The voice from the public has not been commonly regarded as a subject of any great moment. How to carry out our own goals and objectives we feel to be uniquely worthy of investigation. As a matter of fact, it is the other way around. A successful leader, taken the world over, is a combination of both sticking to principles and focusing on public concerns.

Strict adhere to principles and objectives is a prerequisite for effective leaders. The part played by principles in directing the behavior of the individuals in a group or society is precisely the same with the role of direction for a boat in the sea. A boat will be cast about in the sea without a clear direction. By contrast, the obligation of complying with the principles in a community is binding to all if set by a leader. Otherwise, people without a principle can not act in a loyal and responsible manner towards their works. Consider Gandhi and Martin Luther king, without their idealism of building an ideal society, India might still be British colony and African Americans might still be relegated to the backs of the buses. Without their non-violent ideas, Indians and African Americans might be victims of violent conflictions. In short, sticking to own ideas and objectives is the first step to be a leader.

However, if a leader completely ignores popular opinions, he or she will lose the public support. There is an old saying in China: a leader is a boat, the people is the water. The boat can run smoothly when the waters flow quietly. It can also be submerged by the rapids. The first emperor of Qin Dynasty who unified China at the first time kept his principle which prohibited any opposed ideas and books against his government by retreating behind an unreasoning authoritarian attitude. He commanded to build the Great Wall without any idea of the true nature of the human beings who worked on it. The people at the time were too cowed to let him know what they really felt. At the beginning, the opposing power was the trickle then the trickle became a stream. In the end, the stream became a torrent and destroyed the Qin dynasty. In other words, losing public amounts to losing the world.

Moreover, principles and objectives should be subject to modification according to the dictations of circumstances. All things in the world must be in the nature of things wear-out such as trees or even the sun. It is something self-evident like the cooling of a hot kettle or the wearing out of a pair of shoes. An outdated idea and principle became so worn that it is not eventually worth relying on. What is going to be done with this wear-out principle? The only way is to modify it according to the current circumstances, much the way rewinding a run-down watch. Franklin Roosevelt began a long series of reformation after realizing the needs of public in great depression. This change gave the US a new life. Adjusting goals with the changing of times results in great success.

To sum up, a successful leader must learn to seek a balance between sticking to principles and paying attention to voice of public. Without any of them, a leader will be knocked out.