From Light To Light

Connect yourself with the people around you on a deep level, so that to put in value in the best way possible the impeccable approach that defines your leadership.

Lieutenant Waters, from the U.S. Navy, this introverted man, entirely devoted to the mission he had received, decides to ignore the orders of the High Command and accepts, at the insistence of Dr. Lena Kendricks, to evacuate the locals, whom she was responsible of. Together with the other members of the SWAT team, which he led, Waters escorts them to the Alpha retirement area. But things are getting more complicated.

They had to fight for their lives, because the elite troops of General Mustafa Yakubu – whose thirst for power knew no limits, were behind them, only a few kilometers away. The Mazon forest, where they could barely move, could no longer provide safety for them. The chances to reach the border with Cameroon through the Tandjile pass were increasingly low, because "the load was too heavy". All those refugees from St. Michael Mission were too many, too tired, some of them sick and others wounded.

Leadership: Are you called upon to validate your leadership position by belonging to a power group or by belonging to a referential context in which the price of achieving values and their way of manifestation take precedence?

If you watched the movie "Tears of the sun" , you probably remember that, at one point, Waters is forced to make a final decision: either to abandon the refugees and carry out the mission he was entrusted with, safely leading Dr. Kendricks to the Alpha point, or to continue his way full of danger and difficulties with them. Before making the final decision, Waters wants to find out his officers' opinion, encouraging them to speak openly:

- I was suggested to abandon the refugees. I now say to you that I won't do that. I can't. Because I care about them… terrible problems await us. Before going further, I want to hear your opinion, if you will support me. Speak freely.

To complete your character means to boldly present your virtues as the sole content of a life lesson that you will always remember.

If you really want to create a real unity between you and the members of your team, you must sometimes ignore the hierarchy and ranks, consider all of them equals and give everybody the same amount of trust. If you want to give continuity to your leadership, you must prove that you are communicative with your subordinates in all situations, making them understand that they aren't inferior to you and they have the potential and power to turn themselves into key-people, who can make things work.

Showing his true colors, speaking with depth and seriousness, encouraging them to speak freely, without fearing their opinions, Lieutenant Waters gave full value to his true personality, and to his true leadership skills, as well.

The life lesson that the lieutenant has learned from this saving solution with drama and rebellion, without being limited to the nature of his actions or the role of his mission, is the following: there is a more important struggle than the struggle to win the minds of men, namely, the struggle for their souls, hostage in an episode of deception.

Nothing hurts more than asking people to do something without providing them the necessary means, strategies and valid perspectives to achieve that thing. Nobody will follow you to the end if you're conceited, if you don't boldly show off the virtues of your good personality.

Leadership: Do you start the process of resetting the limits imposed upon your power of appreciation of professional valences to make it easier for you to follow if you feel involved in decisive decisions?

Leadership rises from a consensus between your being and the nature of other people. You will be sure of having them all on your side, just like Lieutenant Waters, whose team followed him up to the end of the mission, only if you can connect with them on a deeper level.

A consensus that meets the interests and wishes of those who you lead. They will feel deep inside their being the desire to help you and be with you, if their nature resembles yours. If they have a worthy, clear, strong, winning character, based on values and principles common with yours, then they will accompany you on the road to achieve your purpose.

The limits imposed upon your power of appreciation of professional valences are given not so much by your degree of ambition and credibility, but by the duty of being able to reconcile yourself with the thought that what you have become is a stain on the memory of the people who "followed" you.

Just as life cannot exist without water, water representing up to 99% of the living system, in the same way perfecting your own style of leadership cannot work "in reverse", namely without the involvement of a third party in reaching the proposed goals. Perfection is acquired by the novelty of your own manifestations, by empathy, collaboration and temperance, through resonance with the "waves" of the others’ leadership.

I should mention that this aspect that could be considered necessary, being generated by altruism and the spirit of comradeship, is conclusive for understanding the major aspects of the development of new generations of leaders.

From light to light designates the continuity of your leadership given by that feeling of union and spiritual connection that you induce to other people, that feeling of friendship and solidarity that makes them share their ideas, beliefs and visions with you and follow you in the direction you chose, sincere and determined, as though they would have made a covenant with you to persevere and completely devote to your mission.

For your leadership to keep shinning, give up your pride. Lend your year to the opinions of your other teammates, especially when a huge stake is put at play. Quality leadership involves setting a long-term cooperation with valuable people.