Culture is the best teacher.
Culture is the sum of what we believe in, who we look up to,
what we value and what we do every day.
We can tell a culture’s values by the people and deeds it
honors. That’s why we have busts and monuments. We use actual people to
represent our ideals because it is better to understand the actions of a real
person than the fundamentals of a concept.
History has proven
that ideologies must have a face in order to be relatable. Communism in Asia
had Mao Tse-Tung, African-American Civil Rights had Martin Luther King, Jr., non-violent
protest had Mahatma Gandhi, compassion had Mother Teresa, Catholicism has Pope
Francis. If you believe in the Bible,
even God had to present Himself in the human form of Jesus.
Although some religions think that the Catholic Church’s way
of honoring saints is a form of idolatry, I believe Catholics know how to build
a culture through heroes and stories. (I think, however, that the saints in
their robes look too ancient. I hope there’s a way to “humanize” them some
more. )
A leader should know that there’s something more important
than his competence and managing skills. What really makes a leader are the
vision and the values he champions. Several studies have already shown that
people perform better when they find their work meaningful.
When I was young, I saw an office poster that said “ An
employee works 8 hours for a good pay, 10 hours for a good boss and 24 hours
for a good cause. “ In the book The
Leadership Challenge, James Kouzes and Barry Posner cited studies by McGill
University’s Prof. Henry Mintzberg in which he found that employees want to
feel like they belong to something. They could belong to a good cause.
In a TED talk, author Simon Sinek said that “great leaders
inspire action” when they make us “know why we’re doing what we’re doing.“
The famous Think Different commercial by Apple honored some
of the world’s radical thinkers or whom they called “the crazy ones” who “push
the human race forward.” These became the heroes of people who use Apple and
maybe, Apple employees, too. I read somewhere Steve Jobs described Apple
employees as people excited to get up in the morning because they know they are
helping make the world a better place.
A leader must also remember that he stands on the shoulders
of those who came before him. It is good,
therefore, to respect the virtues and
principles that past leaders have advocated because past generations have
already invested so much in these ideals.
Once in a while from out of the blue, we are given leaders
whose values don’t resonate with ours. When this happens, let us try not to
forget who we really are. A new leader’s beliefs and behavior may set a new
norm. Or they may impose on us morals we can’t agree with. If we are discerning,
a good culture can outlast a bad leader.
Culture is the best teacher. That’s how values are passed
from generation to generation. That’s how our behaviors become instinctive. We
don’t need a policy or a law to know what’s right and what’s wrong, what’s good
and what’s evil.
No comments:
Post a Comment