leveraging leadership on social media

Your Twitter, Facebook jottings reflect your real potential Covid-19 continues its tantrums. Protective lockdown is in force. We sit huddled in our homes, wary and scared. Normal communication is conspicuous by its absence. Social media has replaced it with new vigour. With so much time at hand, I manage to comb through social media platforms rather earnestly. What have I discovered? Everyone is suffering tremendous pain and believes that someone else is responsible for the torment. Therefore, there is extraordinary venting of spleen. Among those being blamed for the misery are the people at the top, beginning from heads-of-states to politicos to government administration bosses to captains of industry to those running any organisation which has anything to do with the public. These days, the higher you are in the government, political or social pecking order the greater is the probability of you being trolled to death in the social media. Blame is the name of the game we are seemingly surviving by. Apparently, yes! For which sane creature would spend all time and energy haranguing others for its misery instead of devising ways to make this protective imprisonment or shall we say, preventive detention shorter and more bearable? It is appalling to find the social media so utterly bereft of concrete suggestions to fight the situation unleashed by the deadly virus at various levels. On the contrary, we are busy concocting conspiracy theories around Covid, creating fresh causes to squabble over by the minute. Leaving apart God who is supposedly beyond reproach, why is it that we only look upwards for succor and guidance? We will swear at the prime minister, the managing director, the vice-chancellor, the police chief, the medical superintendent, et al and yet expect only them to resolve our problems. Such venomously ironical behaviour is perhaps the fallout of a long-practised paternalistic system. All this might have begun with a benign ruler taking care of his people like a benevolent father. But things change with time. One is not sure how and when the ruler became the all-powerful State and the people turned fist into subjects and then into serfs. The business of thinking and making decisions became the State’s prerogative. This made it one job less for the common man, till it started hurting. But the time people woke up, it was too late, and like Rip Van Winkle, they found themselves in a new world. Now, they find it too hard to think on their own in real life. They are constrained to accepting intellectual handouts from people above. But nothing comes free. The benefactor doles away only what might fetch him good returns. This is the story of each and every aspect of life. In business too, those who dare to dream and have the guts to share their ideas rise to become leaders. Obedient and loyal executives remain followers. Have you ever wondered why most promoters prefer lapdogs? Because there is scant space at the top. Yet the real leader knows no stopping. He quickly learns to marshal the infinite capability of his mind and air his thoughts even at the risk of being ridiculed. He suggests solutions and explanations. He is not into trading barbs; he is into sharing knowledge and ideas. This takes him and his trade to new heights. He becomes the go-to guy when crisis strike. You too can seek and bring out the leader hidden inside you. Raise the bar for yourself. Search for obstacles proactively. Activate your neurons to discover solutions not excuses. You will soon find yourself changing into a sought after leader.