The leadership vacuum

On June 01, 2010, in Leadership that lasts, by Neculai Fantanaru

Give life to a useful leadership, which would contain depths, without reproducing the reality of others in your own interest.

I still remember clearly the day when the master took me to a painting exhibition with sales, of some local artists, an exhibition, he said, was worth visiting under all aspects. I even took my camera, hoping that I would see one or more interesting paintings, hoping to make pictures of them and, then, at home, to try to reproduce them in pencil. For, many times, my master warned me: “To become an excellent painter, you must first learn to reproduce in pencil any image. If you cannot draw very well in pencil a sky, a tree, a human face, you will never get to be an exceptional painter.” The master took a severe look at my camera, but he didn't say anything.

We walked about twenty minutes, during which I admired a lot of paintings with great pleasure. However, suddenly, while walking, my eyes stopped on a painting at my right, in a well-lit corner. The painting, very funny, full of color, extraordinarily well shaped and clear as a photo, featured a very young, very beautiful woman, dressed by the Italian fashion. Probably, the painter, whose name I don't remember, took inspiration from the famous work "The woman with the pearl" of the famous French portrait painter Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, but I must confess that I found the young woman in his painting a lot better than the one made by the famous French painter.

As soon as I saw the painting, I fell in love with it. I immediately took out my camera from my dry-bag (I was allowed to take pictures), but just when I wanted to take the first photo, the master stopped me with a flashing gesture: No!

He looked straight into my eyes for a second, then he added with a tone that admitted no reply:

- Nicu, when you draw an object, you can see it become alive, but when you take pictures of it, it dies. Don't take any pictures, try and imprint the image in your memory! Trying to reproduce out of your memory the image you saw and enhancing it, you will have your personal contribution and, at the same time, you will also put your spirit into the work you perform.

When you create something by your hand, you have the feeling that it comes to life

I thank my master for everything he did for me, the lesson he taught me that day. He told me “Whenever you start a painting, start everything from scratch. First, by making contours, hatching, then work at the shadows and only in the end color everything. And as you color, you'll see how the painting comes to life. For when you create something by your own hand, you have the satisfaction of having made it by yourself, that it is part of your soul, while a picture is nothing more than something automatic, reproducing a momentary reality.”

The master was quite right. A picture of the painting would not have been more than a faithful copy of the original, and I would not have had any contribution to making it. I could never have enjoyed a picture, while, if I would have had enough patience, skills and I would have tried to make the painting myself, I would have really treasured it. Taking a picture of it would have meant getting everything done, and if I get everything ready, I would have no satisfaction, the satisfaction of the work I made, that I was able to do something with my own hands.

Someone once remarked: “Worthy is not the man who knows where the treasure lies, but the one who works and brings it to light.” The time spent for your work makes it so precious. Only if you do something with an extraordinary ardor, with a special impetus of the soul, enthusiastically and optimistically, you will be truly pleased by yourself, by the work which came to life from your desire to create something extraordinary. Only a person who, after a lot of searching, a lot of unsuccessful trials, toil and swat, finds the treasure can truly enjoy it, not the one who has not moved any finger, who never made any effort to obtain it.

The unfaithful copy of the leader

What would happen if at the leadership of a company would be appointed, only on the basis of references or recommendations, an ordinary individual that did not ascend all the professional steps, who is not endowed with a great sence of leadership, which has no extensive knowledge of leadership, or who has no inclination for such a qualification?
Well, I doubt that such a man will ever succeed in winning over the people on his side, making a merit in the trust he proves in them. I doubt he will ever start that type of magnetic force to make himself loved and admired by the people around him. I doubt that he will be able to revive in people the spirit of solidarity, and I am almost certain that he will only be an obnoxious man who will ruin everything, who, otherwise, will not even bother to fulfill with a maximum of responsibility and conscientiously all his duties.

Why? Because he lacks the background. Because he has never created something by his hand starting from zero. Because he didn't give life to a useful leadership, which contain depths, to be part of his soul, that would open his horizons, which involved him as much and give a bright sheen of his own model of thought, of attitude and professional conduct.

And such a man, who does not get to surface his true potential, who does not thoroughly understand his mission, it will miss the continuity, it will miss the spirit of good householder, sense of initiative and, most importantly, perseverance - and probably more serious than that, it will reproduce the reality of others in his own interest without building a minimum level of skills and competencies.

A true leader creates something for himself and wants to leave behind him several accomplishments. However, he has the satisfaction of the work he has done, while, if he "passes the baton" the person taking it might not have the same satisfaction as he does because he hasn't made any effort, and he can only have the satisfaction to continue the leader's work. And everything the leader built in years can crumble in a moment if the one following him in the leadership doesn't prove to be at least the same skillful. Because they say that, anything obtained easily is lost. When a man is given significant powers, but doesn't know how to use it, he is not meant to stay a long time on the top.

The vacuum of leadership appears when there is no leader or when the leader's position is taken by a man with no inclination and ability to lead or when, for various reasons, more or less founded, the leaders are changed in a short period of time.

Give life to a useful leadership, which would contain depths, without reproducing the reality of others in your own interest.