Will your captain abandon ship?
The challenge for any leader is not simply to run our country, but to guarantee that we are heading in the right direction.
Iam one of the 101 million ordinary Filipinos going through a normal life and work routine. I experience and endure the changes, both good and bad, that happen around us. Who am I to say what kind of a leader I want for our country? If I were to air my thoughts, my pint-sized voice would be drowned out by influential personalities who drive our day-to-day events. They have the power to manipulate the direction of our society. Thus, when we choose our country’s leader, we give him or her legitimacy to be the captain of our ship. As we drift through turbulent seas, our captain should be able to bring us safely to where we want to go.
But do we all know where we are going?
Aspiring leaders talk about where they will take us. The direction though remains unclear, as the platforms they convey do not include their strategies, policies, and plans that will benefit us all. The challenge for any leader is to achieve conformance and performance responsibilities and accountabilities while they take us to greatness. It is not simply to run our country, but to guarantee that we are heading in the right direction and in the right way.
Can our leader make sound decisions, have an innovative perspective, and engage in opportunities to improve our country? Would he or she have the skills, experience, and cour-
age to challenge other government officials? Does he or she have a sound understanding and knowledge of risk governance to run our country? The decisions he or she makes can be truly unfavorable to us. Thus, would he or she continuously listen and talk to us? Would he or she consider the consequences of decisions and actions on those affected? Does he or she have the integrity to protect us against selfish manipulators? Would he or she forgo generating self-wealth for the fair distribution of wealth beneficial to all? Most importantly, does he or she have a deep sense of values and ethics that we would be proud to own?
We have questioned our leaders about their motivations, rationality, fairness, intent, and integrity. Scholars Joanne Ciulla and Donelson Forsyth from the University of Richmond write that the more powerful leaders are, the greater their responsibility for what they do and do not do. They also mention that Niccolò Machiavelli, the founder of modern political science, observed that when a leader encounters high risk, he or she tends to believe that the end, from time to time, excuses the means. Leaders then prioritize expediency over morality.
However, our leader has economical, legal, social, and ethical duties. Our leader should base his or her highest principles not on rewards and punishments. The rule of law should not be the sole basis of his or her principles. Neither should he or she simply do what he or she believes society expects of him or her. Lawrence Kohlberg, a psychologist and professor at the University of Chicago and Harvard University, explains that the moral cognitive development of a person realizes a conscious thought of associations of justice, care, and respect through social relations. The highest moral level of development is based on respect and demands of individual conscience.
And so I ask, will your captain abandon ship or go down with the ship? Maritime law holds that a sea captain has ultimate responsibility for both his ship and everyone on it and will die trying to save either of them.
When we sail on a ship, we entrust our life to our captain. Let us therefore choose a captain who will protect us and say, “I will stay with my ship; I am responsible for it.”