Leadership

taking on their positions. Leaders of this kind are not made. They were prematurely picked. Unprepared as they are, the position of power changes their character. As “power changes a man,” their real nature comes out as a consequence of their positions. In short, their behavior is changed specially with the way they deal with people. These leaders are easily threatened by skilled men under their leadership. Instead of using the latter’s potentials for the advancement of the organization, they seek possible ways to destroy them as they are perceived as threats that could replace them in position.

This type of leadership is embodied by a king named Saul. Threatened by the potentials of David, his subordinate who exceeded his accomplishments inside his own kingdom, he spent most of his years hunting the latter in order to kill him. As a result, his inferior complex ruined him in the process.

In contrast, the second type of leaders is tried, tested, proven and built before rising to power. By going through the processes of maturing their character, the roughness of their attitude has been dealt with. In this type, it could be sure that the position will not ruin the man. As they know their identity, nothing that they receive or no promotion could lift their heads.

David, the epitome of this leadership, has one remarkable trait distinguished him from the rest. Although he knew that he will replace Saul as king someday, he never tried to make it happen by his own method. In fact, he had a chance to kill the latter when he was being pursued by him. However, the purity of his heart protected him from doing so. This showed that he knew how to wait for the perfect timing, and not destroy other people just to get to power.

Considering our lifestyle, which of these types of leader do we manifest- Saul or David?

— Council for the Restoration of Filipino Values