IMPACT OF LEADERSHIP ON SOCIO- ECONOMIC GROWTH

IMPACT OF LEADERSHIP ON SOCIO- ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GEORGE MWANGI Leadership is the ability to demonstrate authority, capacity, influence, vision, direction, focus, integrity in an institution. Effective leadership is evident in what people see in their leaders. Leaders are the vision bearer in their organizations. The success or failure of any institution is determined by the leadership that is in place. Leadership is about authority that is bestowed on a leader, that is, the ability to rule and govern; leaders who do not exercise their authority cannot be effective in their ruler ship. One mark of true leaders is their ability to demonstrate ruler ship. It is important to note that there is a difference between ruler ship and dictatorship; a ruler involves people in decision making but a dictator decides what to do without involving others. Capacity is an evident aspect that is notable in effective leadership. Capacity is the ability or potential to articulate issues involving leadership. People who lack capacity find it hard to deal with issues in their leadership. It is important to understand that leadership is about governance and a lot of decision making; when leaders lack capacity; it becomes almost impossible to be effective in leadership. Influence is another vital aspect of effective leadership; this is the ability to cause people to follow your ideologies. People who lack the ability to influence others struggle in their leadership; influence makes people to follow your point of view and support you in your leadership. Vision is another important feature that is evident in good leadership; vision is a true mark of an effective leader; people who do not have a clear vision of where they want to see their people in terms of growth and development, cannot become effective leaders. It is important to understand that, people elect leaders because they think that they have a vision for their well being. People who have no vision to transform the lives of their followers cannot be effective leaders. It is vital to note that, leaders must have the dream to see the lives of people change. Leaders who lack vision are retrogressive and not progressive; this is because they cause people to stagnate and live a mediocre life. One person said that, people who have no vision are employed to propagate the vision of others. Direction is a vital aspect that every leader must pursue to have. This is the mission statement in life; people who have no direction in life cannot become effective leaders. People who are not going anywhere cannot show you the way; as a leader you must convince people that you know where you are going so that they can be motivated to follow you. Many leaders lack following because they are heading nowhere; people ought to know your mission statement for them to trust and follow you; leaders who cannot convince people to follow them, lack direction and are just making a walk in the park; a notable mark of an effective leader is direction. People ought to understand your direction before they decide to follow you. Many leaders want people to follow them yet they are heading nowhere. Focus and integrity are key pillars in any leadership; leaders who have no focus in life struggle a lot in their leadership. Focus entails keeping an eye to where you are heading; people who are not focused find it hard to find following. Integrity is a vital aspect of effective leadership; leaders who lack integrity become a stumbling block to success of any institution. Integrity entails always doing the right things; notable aspects of integrity are responsibility, respect, honesty, trust etc. Leadership is very important in socio economic development of any organization. Effective leadership brings economic growth in an institution. Leaders are either elected or appointed to bring growth and development in their organizations; any leadership that does not bring change cannot be said to be effective leadership. Leaders who do not bring growth in their leadership cannot boast of being efficient leaders; growth and development are key pillars of good leadership. Leaders are game changers in that when they enter an institution, they must leave a legacy. Effective leadership is remembered because of the change and impact it leaves. When people cannot remember what you did during your tenure, in leadership, then you cannot count yourself to be an effective leader. Leaders are supposed to be impactful, that is they must leave a good mark after their departure. One way of evaluating true leadership is through the change of the living standard of people they lead they leave when they exit; for instance, in political leadership, when people continue to suffer before and after a particular leadership; then we can say that this is a failed leadership. Leadership is evident in many areas this includes; family, religion, politics, private companies, public institutions etc. As a family leader, religious leader, corporate leader, or political leader what would you want to be remembered for after you are gone? Many leaders’ scores less in the area of growth and development, this is because they leave no impact; one way of becoming an effective leader is by identifying problems affecting your people and coming up with a long lasting solution; for instance as a corporate leader you can be remembered for changing the working conditions of workers; as a family leader you can be remembered for uniting your family members. When people are elected in political leadership and there is a decrease in poverty level; then we can say that the elected leaders are an effective leader; but when people continue to struggle in poverty; we can say that is a failed leadership. As a religious leader when people continue to struggle in spiritual matters in your tenure; then we can say that you are not an impactful leader. As family a leader; when people are not progressive in your tenure, then you cannot boast of being an effective leader. Leaders are either appointed or elected to transform the lives of their followers. When people who work for you are struggling to make their ends meet, then we can say that you are not an impactful leader. Many people are struggling as a result of poor leadership. One aspect of poor leadership is misplaced priority; that is doing the right thing at the wrong time or place. We have seen many nations coming to an economic standstill as a result of misplaced priorities by the elected leaders. Misuse of resource is another aspect of poor leadership; leaders who misuse funds cannot be effective leaders; they are retrogressive rather than being progressive in their leadership. Misuse of resources goes hand in hand with wastage of resource; for instance buying items at over exaggerated prices is a notable form of wastage and misuse of resources. Autocratic form of leadership is an evident demonstration of poor leadership; when people are not allowed to express their views autocracy becomes the order of the day. Autocracy is a true demonstration of poor governance; which is a major stumbling block to good leadership. Lack oversight is a notable impact of poor leadership; when there is no room for oversight people are no longer accountable. It is normal for people to misbehave when there is no oversight. Where there is no oversight, people become irresponsible and ignore accountability. There ought to be checks and balances in leadership.