Modern Leadership Practices

Leaders are not born, they are made. There are many types of leadership styles. The best leadership style I prefer is the transformational leadership style. Transformational leaders are significantly more innovative than transactional leaders. Transactional leaders are those leaders who clarify tasks while at the same guiding and motivating those under their authority. Most politicians play this kind of leadership style. In contrast, Contingency leadership is not efficient in atmospheres of accelerated change because leaders place themselves into positions matching their leadership style.

Furthermore, leaders need to recognize how knowledge is valued so they will be acquainted with how the learners will react to a variety of learning opportunities. Being intentional and goal-oriented leads to planned change and this is what many organizations perceive as an accidental occurrence. Given the right tools and techniques, anyone with the right intentions can be a change agent. A change agent can be a manager or non-manager. On the contrary, an organization may be resistant to change due to chaotic randomness.

By building support and commitment, fear and anxiety will diminish. It will be a solid requirement to initiate emotional commitment to change so that inconsistencies may pave way for positive efforts. One thing that is of paramount importance is to undertake full-scale negotiation to lessen the level of resistance by addressing core individual and collective needs.

To avoid potentially high costs, negotiating with all concerned parties could herald an ever-lasting negotiated settlement. Another easy method of overcoming resistance will be the use of cooptation which usually leads to endorsement from those resisting change. Giving key roles to those resisting changes may be defined as a ‘buy off”. Unfortunately, coercion may be on the last of the list of overcoming resistance to change.

To better understand the true meaning of motivation, Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs best hypothesizes its definition when he categorized the well-known theory of motivation into five components:
1. Psychological: It includes hunger, thirst, shelter, sex, and other bodily needs.
2. Safety: Includes security and protection from physical and emotional harm.
3. Social: Includes affection, belongingness, acceptance, and friendship.
4. Esteem: Includes internal esteem factors such as self-respect, autonomy, and achievement; and external esteem factors such as status, recognition, and attention.
5. Self-actualization: The drive to become what one is capable of becoming; includes growth, achieving one’s potential, and self-fulfillment.

Experts in the field of Organizational Behavior often use different power tactics to achieve their objectives. The use of upward influence, downward influence, and lateral influence is used in different parts of the world depending on the culture of the organization. The collection of power tactics that work best for many include rational persuasion, inspirational appeals, and consultation as they tend to be more effective to influence people in the top management level and their subordinates. However, if the use of “softer” tactics fails, one will have no other option but to apply the “harder” stand which involves the use of formal power regardless of the costs and risks incurred. The use of ingratiation helps to better define a problem. We can draw from these statements and conditions, some drawbacks of the rational decision-making model:
1. It entails a great deal of time.
2. It requires a great deal of information.
3. It presupposes that considerable conditions exist to be agreed upon.
4. It assumes precise, unwavering, and absolute knowledge of alternatives, preferences, objectives, and outcomes.
5. It assumes a rational, reasonable, non-political world.

The Cure for Racism and Discrimination is Education

Race and race relations have been debated in the west for a long time. In the United States, Hispanics and Blacks have higher crime rates than whites; Hispanics and Blacks have higher high school and college dropouts than Whites and Asians; Hispanics and Blacks bear the most illegitimate children than Asians and Whites. Research has shown that good education and nutrition tend to raise the level of human productivity. In countries where food is scarce, the level of malnutrition and death among children is greater than in countries that have strong economies. Also, research has found good nutrition increases human height and growth while at the same nourishing the human faculty of thinking. Asian-Americans have the highest level of professionals despite their smaller population. Asian-Americans tend to stay in school longer than any other race in America.

When a nation’s human capital is strong, there will be increased productivity. Western nations tower above other nations in aging because they have the technological expertise to fight diseases of all kinds. Through medical and scientific research, western countries tend to come up with new remedies for newly-discovered diseases like the deadly HIV/AIDS and the killer malaria that is wrecking havoc in Africa. The discovery of retro-viral medications has enabled to boost the immune systems of AIDS sufferers in the west. These medications, even if available in Africa, tend to be out of reach of the AIDS sufferer or are too costly for the under-served.

Nutrition, hygiene, and good education fulfill human desire for a better life. A nation that has no tangible educated workforce will lag behind other nations in all aspects. Maladministration, autocracy, and lack of respect for human rights have retarded Latin American, African, and a handful of Asian countries.

Failures to solidify the agricultural and educational sectors of these nations have been cause for their people’s plunge in their level education, health, and hygiene. Massive brain-drain has been another factor that has tremendously altered these nations capacity to maintain a strong workforce. Doctors, engineers, and professionals, lured by the lucrative wages offered by western countries, have opened vacuums in these nations’ healthy work sectors. These massive brain-drains increase the level of political instability.

Often, migrant parents come to the west with little or no education. The children of these migrant parents find themselves without role models. Instead, they resort to violence and other unholy activities. Exposure to violent media, pornography, drug peddling, and gangs eventually open the doors for convictions. The rate of school drops-outs skyrocket; drug addiction proliferates; and in the end crime rates catapult.

Wherefore, as discovered by researchers and as recorded by the media, racism can only be overcome when those who are discriminated against find solace in education. Hispanics and Blacks have no other alternative but to seek better educational opportunities in order to get out of the current social quagmire.

Somalia: No Man's Land

“In a learning organization, leaders are designers, stewards, and teachers. They are responsible for building organizations where people continually expand their capabilities to understand complexity, clarify vision, and improve shared mental models-that is, they are responsible for learning”-Peter Senge, Fifth Discipline, 340.

Basic economics teaches us that when people associate no cost to something, they will abuse it. Whereas, rational people think at the margin, irrational people tend to think otherwise. Somalia has been a stable nation since 1960 until it descended into chaos when the military junta that came to power in 1969 was toppled in 1991 by a ragtag militia headed by General Aidid. Somalia lacks effective leaders who would put national interests above anything else. A leader is the one who understands all the underlying forces at play; he or she has the courage to initiate action to make things better; a leader sees what needs to be done; leaders have strategic thinking and have a sense of belonging.

Effective leaders resort to reconciliations and negotiations when there is a conflict in their midst. Leaders have the power to get others to do what they want them to do. In formulaic fashion, leadership entails planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling (POMC). Leadership is about influencing people through legitimate authority, coercion, reward, expertise, and personal reference. Naturally, in effective leadership, leader-follower relationships are reciprocal and voluntary. All humans have a set of values, assumptions, beliefs, and expectations (VABEs) about the way the world is or should be. These VABEs are either semiconscious or partially conscious collections of what we have come to think of as the way the world is or ought to be.

Now, let’s turn back to the issue of Somalia being no man’s land. After the fall of the military government in 1991, the men who engineered the coup d’état resorted to the elimination of some select tribes and their sympathizers. Perhaps, they intended to weaken their enemies or totally erase their footprints from Somalia. This did not materialize. Because what goes around comes around, the hunter became the hunted. The humanitarian disaster that afflicted the entire nation forced the United Nations and western powers to act with speed. The best the coup plotters would have done was to pacify the country and convene an all-inclusive reconciliation conference that would save the nation from further destruction. Because Aidid led an undisciplined militia that killed by impulse anyone perceived to be an enemy, trust and confidentiality got out of hand. Somali in-fighting opened a can of worms by allowing wild and undocumented fanatics pour into Somali borders like hungry vultures fighting over carrion. This led to the creation of factions driven by greed, theocratic ideals, and vengeance.

When the entire structures of a nation collapses, when the hale and healthy leave the country creating massive brain-drain, when the civilian population vacates residential buildings for fear of reprisals, there ought to be a psychological warfare in the making. Men who were wanted in the west found the chance to manipulate and make drastic gains from Somalia’s civil disorder. In order to expand their militaristic activities, foreign fanatics established bases in Somalia with help from local lunatics who were devoid of any form of leadership traits except war.

Stabilizing Somalia requires international involvement to root out those who are behind the chaos. In leadership theories, “buy-off” can be used as a deterrent to antagonism. Buying off all tribal leaders and creating a tough spy force from all Somali tribes and clans that will serve as the “eyes and ears” of the newly-created government could be used as detriment to overcome dissent until such a time when the nation can stand on its feet unaided. The use of spies who serve as “eyes and ears” of a nation’s sovereignty has been in existence since classical times.

Anyone who is found guilty of violating the constitution will have to be dealt with severely. All those scalawags who wrecked havoc, those who took part in any form of genocide or human rights abuses will have to be dealt with severely without remorse. The most important job of any president is the security of the state. Somalia will need to establish a strong and well-equipped force that will serve as deterrence to any form of opposition. "The proper use of the imagination is to give beauty to the world…to cast over the commonplace workaday world a veil of beauty and make it throb with our aesthetic enjoyment”.-Lin Yutang

Yaa, salaad badanaa, ma dad bey soo dishay!

Duq Barreey yaraanteedii waxay soo martay qiso aan weligeed maskaxdeeda katirtirmeyn. Ayadoo shan iyo toban jir ah ayaa aabbaheed kudaray nin ka da’weynaa. Habeenkii ugu horeysay ee ay aqal galeen ayaa waxaa lasoo darsay arrin kayaabshey: ninkii qabay ee ka da’weynaa ayaa bikrajebin waayey. Wuxuu ahaa habeen ay lakulantay xanuun badan. Waxaa dhibkaasi oo dhan ukeenay gudniinkii fircooniga ahaa ee ay ayeydeeda kusameysay mar da’deedu ahaa toban sano. Hase yeeshee, ninkeedii ayaa wuxuu kuyidhi, “waxaa iga ballan ah in habeen dambe dhawaaqaaga laga maqlo xaafadaha oo dhami”. Barreey oo ogeyd xanuunkii iyo dhiigii kabaxay habeenkii hore, ayaa isu diyaarisay sidii ay uga samatabixi lahayd habeenka kusoo aaddan ee ninkeeda uu uqabtay inuu kalatuuri doono.

Gabadhani da’da yar ee daafaha Soomaaliya oo dhan looga yeedhi doono ‘duq Barreey’ waxay dhaafi doontaa wacdaro aan hore loo arag. Maalintii oo dhan ayay murug iyo maaweelo kujoogtey. Mar ay qorraxdu hoobatay oo habeen lagalay ayaa waxaa soo hoyday duqeedii oo aan lahayn dheg laqabto. Sideedaba Soomaalidu ‘nin baa naagtiisa bikra jebin waayey’ waxay ahayd arrin aan sideedaba laqaadin karin oo waxaaba loo arki jidhay ninka noocaasi oo kale mid dhintay ama halaagmay.

Mar allaale markey casheeyeen oo ay isku xaabiyeen wixii cunto ee guriga yiil, ayaa la abbaaray sariirta. Qaddar yar waxay sariirta kujidhaanba, Barreey waxay barkinta hoosteeda kala soo baxday middi afeysan. Odeygeedii bey caloosha dhoowr jeer kaladhacday middidii. Halkii ayuuna ku nafwaayay. Mar uu waaga baryay ayaa deriskoodii soo booqday. Mase, Barreey wey maqantahay odeygeedii oo meyd ahna wuxuu yaallaa sariirta asagoo si xun udhiigbaxay.

Halkii ayaa lagu soo baraarugay loona diyaargaroobay sidii loo aasi lahaa meydka. Muddo yar kadibna meydkii ayaa lagu hubsaday qabdriga. Cidina ma baadigoobin Barreey; sidii ayaana lagu iloobay.

Isla habeenkiiba Barreey waxay ufakay hawdka. Habeenkii ayay dhexseexatay god waraabe. Saqdadhexe ayaa libaax jiidanaya wax uu soo dilay dibdib usoo galay godkii ay Barrey kujidhay. Barreey waxay dareentay cabbur iyo argagax. Inyar bey yara gamacday. Goor dambe mar ay soo baraarugtay, ayay iska soo gooysay tooreey ay sidatay. Ayadoo gacanteeda gariireysa umbay hal mar libaaxii futada kagelisay tooreeydii. Libaaxi intuu argagaxay ayuu intuu kor ubooday ayuu kusoo dul dhacay geed kurtun ah oo meesha kuyiil. Kurtunkii baa libaaxa dilay oo dillaacshay caloosha. Barreey halkii bey kasii wadday safarkeedi ilaa ay kagaadhay tuulo aad uga fog meeshii ay ninkeedii kudishay. Dhowr maalmood kadibna waxay aadday magaalo kale oo ay kutaqiin dad kale oo eheladeeda ah.

Dhowr bilood kadib, Barreey waxaa guursaday nin ay halkaasi isku shukaansadeen. Ninku wuxuu ahaa ragga naagaha aan u ogoleen debedwareeg ama waxa loo yaqaan ‘wareeg iyo waab tiris’. Barreey waxay ninkii udhashay toban carruur ah oo ubadan wiilal. Barreey waxaa ugu horreyay gurigeeda oo ay kasoo baxdo markii dawladdii meleteri la afgembiyay. Waxaa lakulmay jabkii Soomaali oo dhammi aafeeyay. Waxay gashay xero qaxooti oo kuyaal waddan Soomaaliya laderis ah. Caruurteedii oo idil waxay usoo baxeen debedaha ayadiina wey diiday in ay debeda aaddo.

Maadaama Barreey ay xilligani cimri tahay, waxay goosatay in ay iska toobadkeento oo nolosheeda cibaado kudhameysato. Aay Barreey waxay guri ladegtay dhowr gabdhood oo aan laqabin. Habeen walba Duq Barreey waxay soo kici jidhay saqda dhexe sifa ay utukato salaatul leyl. Hablihii ayaa karaahiyeystay qubqacdeeda iyo feynuuska ay kor udheereyneyso. Habeen habeenada kamid ah, mar ay Duq Barreey aadday musqusha ayaa labo sheekeystay. Mid baa midda kale weydiisay, “dee, ina adeer, habartani maxaa haaysta. Ma dhiig Muslim bey soo gashay. Waa maxay habartu, kaseexan waaynaye”? Inantii kale ayaa ugu jawaabtay, “naa sooma ogid nin hore uqabay ayay madaxa masaar kaladhacday oy dishay.”

Ayadoo hablihii wadahaasawaya ayey Duq Barreey dalaq gurigii soo tiri. Markaasey kutidhi gabdhihii, “naa maxaad kuqosleysaan.” Mid baa gabadh kale oo jiifta intay farta kufiiqday ugu jawaabtay Duq Bareey, “taasi jiifta ayaa nagu dhuustay” markaasey Duq Bareeyna intey qosol jabsatay tidhi, “walee maantaan ogaa sidey digir isugu daldaleysay”.

Gebogebo iyo gunaanadkii, Aay Barreey iyo kuwa kale ee gacmaha dhiiga kuleh xalaaeystayna dhiiga aadanaha ha ogaadaan inay jidho maalin loo yaqaan “Yowmul xisaab”.

Somalia's Mass Murderers Must be Stopped

The recent suicide bombing of Mogadishu's Shamo Hotel (picture inset) where hundred's had gathered to celebrate the graduation of students from Banadir University has left multiple scars in the hearts of millions. This despicable act perpetrated by men who have no iota of mercy in their hearts must be stopped at all cost. In the aftermath of this suicide bombing, almost over twenty innocent souls perished including government ministers, doctors, university students, and friends and relatives. Up to sixty peaceful residents of Mogadishu have been reported to have been injured in the melee. A dozen injured have been flown to Kenya for treatment because local hospitals lack the facilities to carry out major operations. To date no one has claimed responsibility. Amazingly, a Danish newspaper has claimed that the suicide bomber was raised in Denmark and that his parents are Dutch citizens. The bomber is said to have moved to Somalia about eighteen months ago accompanied by wife and children. If this claim is to be verified, then there is cause to be cautious and suspicious of homegrown extremists.

Somalia's terrorist group, Al-shabab has refuted allegations that it was behind the deadly attack on Shamo Hotel on the fateful day of Tuesday, the 3rd day of December, 2009. However, sources report that Ayman Al-zawahri, the second-in-command of Al-qaida has been reported to have claimed that his partners who waging proxy war in Somalia were behind the bombing and that it is part of the Jihadi struggle being waged all over the world. Al-shabab has flexed its muscle in the south of the country meaning it has no other entity to challenge it.

Somalia remains ungovernable because those vested with authority have not understood or lack a grasp of the true meaning of responsibility, leadership, and nationalism. The fragile government of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed has been overwhelmed by the enormity of problems in the country. Piracy, insecurity, suicide bombings, political murders, assassinations, drought, disease, and other natural calamities have combined to make the nation beyond anyone's capability.

Somalia has become a safe haven for foreign fighters drawn from all parts of the world. They include men who have been described as international criminals who will do everything possible to evade arrest by internationally-sanctioned manhunts. The number of religious criminal gangs or factions operating in the country give these criminals complete protection from prosecution.

There are many illegal lucrative businesses operating in the country. These businesses are the fibers that feed the gangs and their foreign guests. Arms smuggling, drug dealing, money laundering, piracy, and other hideous or underground activities are the factors behind the survival of Somalia's international criminals. Religious extremism is growing roots everywhere. It's time the world join hands to eliminate this menace from Somalia before it spills over and engulfs the entire region and beyond.