Leads nowhere?

So I took this quiz in order for me to know more about myself, about how good am I of becoming a good leader in every task and assignment I have lead before or was it just leads nowhere? You have to know about yourself first for you to have room for improvements and betterment. You cannot take another step ahead if you don’t know where are you going, right? Same goes to when it comes to analyse your attitude towards anything and your character towards everything, specifically, for this blog post, you can start by analysing your performance in specific areas of leadership.

I have lead so many groups and teams, as early as a baby could talk (Okay, exaggeration to its limit), during my school year; both primary and secondary school, foundation year as well as my bachelor degree for the whole four exhausting years. I find it very annoying if I become a follower because at one point I “think” that I know more than the leader does and I have what it takes to be a great leader (I was eight years old and the leadership skills are in my blood) so I “think” that it’s time for me to step up on becoming a leader.

I still remember my first assignment, back in primary school when I was eight (I think?). There was this group project, consists of five of us and this dude with his ‘songkok’ on, he was very cocky, he thinks that his voice matters and we all gave ideas but he didn’t even considering it. When it is our time to present the cute little project, with colourful chalks in our hands (yup, we used blackboards during that time. Ahh!) So it is time for us to draw the mind map and I still remember it was the shape of a fish bone. The topic was at the head of the fish and all contents were at the end of the bones on the body and the tail would be the conclusion. All four of us were superbly excited to draw the fish, or at least to write something on the blackboard that makes us all happy but this ‘songkok’ little man literally slapped our hands off the board and he said “Let me do it alone. You guys stand at the back.” Pfftt, fine. I still remember his name though! Hahah!

And there goes my childhood not-so-good memories and I positively think that that was the end of the chapter “Malina was a follower once”. But, never again! Not long after that, I have never experienced being a follower or having any unreliable/incompetent leaders anymore because I keep telling myself that I can be a good one and I know I'm a good one, so go ahead, take charge. Take the responsibility, take the risk. It's a good one, gonna be amazing if you put it in the CV in the future. LOL! So yeah. I take the challenge and it challenged me back but I ain't a chicken. I can do it! Hihi

I really hate it when a leader does not take count of his/her team members’ opinions or ideas on something and they don’t even know how to delegate tasks and teamwork doesn’t exist. And also the attitude of the leader really matters. I don’t want someone who is 24/7 being all negative and grumpy and literally is unable to lead, especially a leader who knows nothing at all. For instance, when the topics are open for discussion among the team players and ask for an approval from the leader, and the leader answers, “I don’t know. I’m not really good at this.” How can you lead if you don’t read?

Well, are they born leaders?

I have read several articles and I have asked some of my closest friends and even my family, and they all think they know the correct answer; there are born leaders in this world. Most of articles I have read disagree with this statement because great leaders can be made, every day and in fact, most of successful entrepreneurs or famous artists and leaders are/were not meant to be a leader but look how they are now.

But not many people can be a “made” leader, no matter how hard they try, simply are not ever going to be great leaders. They just don’t have the innate wiring. But as for me, I have exposed to a life where being a leader is not a tough job to do, but it is a character and an attitude that I have learned and owned by heart. Both of my parents are undeniably great leaders and I learned by examples that both of them have showed to my sister and I and all four of us are living under the same roof. Imagine this, four “leaders” are in the same house and when one topic comes up and imagine the noisiness of opinions and ideas and non-stop questions and answers and so on. LOL!

Thanks to both Mommy and Daddy for allowing us to learn on how to be an open-minded person, a leader with positive attitudes and characters that everybody finds it hard to be but we are lucky enough to just brush up the skills a little bit more rather than build it all from scratch.

X.