A Generation Trapped in a Leadership Crisis

We are at a crisis; just as modern history had witnessed the greatest depression (1929-1939) in human history, the present society is undergoing a crisis of what we can call a 'Leadership Meltdown'. This happens when a generation of leaders betray - forget, ignore, or just plain neglect - the art of leadership. In the resulting leadership vacuum, the social order, aimless and adrift, combusts into a society full of Demagogues. The article argues that the present generation is facing a leadership crisis and the society is filled with occasional headships rather than true leaders.

What is a leader?- A leader is a person we trust with our lives as they enable us to reach and then exceed our fullest human potential. If we can accept this definition of leadership then,-"this generation of leaders has failed us utterly, remarkably and absolutely at leadership". The facts - measurable, quantifiable, visible - are as indisputable as they are stark. They are not Stewards and Shepherds of human potential but are landlords of human potential. We pay them rent merely for existing and surviving. Hence, our human potential goes nowhere. It is sapped by the day, merely by the exigencies of living in the rubble of the dream. And that is why We are Angry, Outraged and Weary.

Moreover, every time they are asked and confronted, they will not admit their failure to practice leadership. Result? No one trusts them or believe them. They have no credibility, and little legitimacy. But still, no one can dislodge them. Hence, this generation of leaders has produced an 'Age of rage and confusion' as they have not enlarge and expanded human potential. Rather, they have, again, in measurable terms, done the very opposite: they have diminished and reduced it, and put the society in a state of rage and weary.

The recent Covid-19 pandemic posed severe challenges to healthcare systems and political leaders in particular across the globe. We witnessed leadership failings at the highest level that contributed to relatively high and escalating death rates during 2020, to some nations more than others. Drawing on an analysis of a large amount of textual documentation taken from mass media reports, we can argue that the coronavirus crisis is also a crisis of leadership failure in theory and in practice. With the failures in the mainstream leadership practice, and the hazardous decision making with poor evidence to guide, the society has to face the unpredictable outcomes causing economic and social disruptions and leading to a dramatic loss of human lives. With the unprecedented intensity of its impact, the panic and strained society now, is finding hard to adjust to the new Normal. As a result, this has become a greater challenge to the present generation.

And when Now is the time for global solidarity and support, especially with the most vulnerable in our societies, particularly in the emerging and developing world with the declaration of war against Ukraine by Russia, and the immediate escalation of conflict between them, the mainstream politics has shifted its attention and focus again to Europe's economy great risks and problems of having another economic recession due to its dependence on energy from Russia. With the U.S central bank expected to raise interest rates it controls and the European Central Bank slowly withdrawing its pandemic aids efforts, inorder to combat inflation, society's return to normalcy could be delay all over the world for another time.

Looking at the societies crawling up into new normalcy, one is often led to wonder where our present generation is headed. Each fighting for the occasional headships leading the masses into haywire. The recent strikes and protests from the different student's body units from various parts of Nagaland, to that at Manipur demanding the educational boards to grant them free pass marks, and on the other to conduct the upcoming board exam in online mode, is the rock bottom of leadership failure, and the crisis at its highest peak. Instead of reviving back the crumbling society and the educational institutions into full fledged functioning institutions, seeking for a silver lining with the stone age mentality is a Shame on us all. In essence, the present generation of our society changed radically, historically, profoundly-and for the worst creating a bitter distrust amongst leaders and people.

The Leadership Crisis' is real, and this leadership vacuums happen because leaders stop practicing leadership. As they forget, ignore, or neglect when they betray the eudaimonic challenges- the fundamental responsibility of leadership, which is neither Conquest nor Victory nor Personal gain - but creating Better lives. And in those leadership vacuums, when leaders leave people not just directionless and rudderless, but fractions, fearful and faithless, arises Demagogues, who prey on people's fear and anxieties.

So long, a mistake cannot be fixed unless it is admitted. Therefore, if this generation of leaders cannot acknowledge their failure to be leaders, they are not going to regain the credibility, legitimacy, and power they have lost. Hence, admission of failures and recognising the opportunity to build back better, committing to the welfare of the society, by working together is the only option - to overcome these interwined social, economic, religious and political impact caused by the Leadership Crisis of the present generation. Rethinking the future and tackling the problems posed, with ambition and urgency is the only solution to restore this degrading society of our present generation.

Pavei Gideon
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
Asufii Christian Institute
Punanamei - Mao