The psychology of human leadership
What is a throne? A chair; ornamented but a poisonous chair!
Mehmet Murat ildan
What makes a good leader you may ask yourself? human psychology says that people put into positions of power someone who is like them but who exhibits leadership qualities .
I remember when I first bought my swivel chair ,I sat on it and I felt like I had so much power ,maybe it’s because it was so comfortable and my body had gotten used to sitting on an uncomfortable one seat sofa chair ,I had just started teaching kids how to code and interacting with them made me see how similar human beings are, I could see the faces of my friends in these kids.
I like to think of myself as a leader and hence I see myself in the faces of other leaders too; Tom Mboya ,Benazir Bhutto haha and even Jesus himself, these were all great people who accomplished great things but what else do they have in common ,they were all assassinated by their people !!
I remember watching that scene from The Gladiator (spoiler alert) where Commodus was listing to his father General Maximus Decimus Meridius the four chief virtues that make a leader which he had told him about , 1.Wisdom 2.Justice 3.Fortitude and 4.Temperance but even though he did not possess these qualities he possessed other useful traits like resourcefullness, loyalty to family and courage, even though not on the battlefield courage non the less. He went on to kill his father but his father admitted that his faults as a son were his failure as a father.
Let’s go back to the assassinations and try to understand why Jesus who was a jew was killed by his fellow jews, Tom Mboya who was a Kenyan unionist,educationist,Pan Africanist ,independence activist ,first African on the face of Time Magazine and a down right good person was killed by the people he worked with to free Kenya from colonialism and Benazir Bhutto who was the first Muslim woman to to lead a country was killed by her own people.
Another thing that they have in common is that they lived in tumultuous times, Palestine was under harsh Roman rule, Kenya had just unshackled itself from years of colonialism ,Pakistan under Bhutto was facing sociopolitical problems and the threat of terrorist groups like al qaeda ,and as we know, hard times push people to the edge. A word that I’ve been encountering a lot when reading about human psychology and why people do the evil things they do is CYCLE OF TRAUMA, someone does something bad to you like what white people did to Africans and the affected person feels the need to retaliate which they do even to people who do not mean them any harm. This is what people in the psychology world call PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) ,most people live with it and live normal lives until a trigger happens e.g someone close to them dies or a pandemic strikes and it causes them to get re traumatized making them reactionary and prone to doing stupid shit.
Leaders are also prone to this mental illness and when it happens to them it is even worse since they are in a position of power and can hence cause much more harm. My friend always tells me if you want to change the world start with your self first, is my bed made ,is my house clean and most importantly is my mind right ,if you feel you’re not give yourself time to heal, treat it just like you would treat a body wound.
There is a way to stop the trauma, make sure you develop safe stable and nurturing relationships, we should also introduce psychology to children to help them understand about mental illnesses and how to deal with them . As Africans and black people we have been through a lot of trauma and I think we deserve some time to heal.
Finally If you feel like you are a leader ,you are charismatic and people are drawn to you remember to use that power bestowed upon you responsibly and always examine your mental capacity to lead, take some time to heal if you feel broken.
And for the rest of us ,let us choose leaders who reflect values that we want in our lives, so if you’re wondering why your leaders are so shitty ,look in the mirror.
Kindness and faithfulness keep a king safe, through kindness his throne is made secure.
King Solomon
