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Safety of a leader

I just heard that the Sri Lankan government officials who are responsible of escorting politicians and other top leaders have been given orders not to stop at any circumstance. I read this from a local car magazine. The editor said he’s seen massive Land Rovers being brought to repair after smashing something heavy on their way, driving at a considerably fast.

Fine, being in general public you should of course know these things. When the police tell you to stop, you stop. But what if there is no police around and you just happen to go on the street with your bicycle, car or whatever it is you’re driving? What if the VIP escort crashes you and just speeds off? Who is responsible? You are. You should have known. You are even expected to bear the costs. They don’t have insurance for something like that. You should have.

Right, so orders are orders. What to do? I’m not blaming the drivers. In the end they are just doing their job. They can’t refuse obeying the orders, otherwise they would be part of the general public avoiding the escorts, without a job.

But how about those highly important people in the vehicle behind them who are being escorted? How do they feel when they see a kid bleeding in the ground that they’ve just ran over? What leaders are so self-righteously important that they can allow something like this to happen? How would you feel being in that car?

Anyhow, physical safety is just one aspect of challenges that contemporary leaders have to deal with. Reputation of a leader, for example, could sometimes use a bodyguard, am I right? And what about mental safety of leaders who are in the spotlight? That extreme pressure can even lead to physical damage. Shouldn’t that be protected somehow?

When I was a teenager, I knew I’d be something big one day. I had ambitions – and still have – that will lead to some amount of public exposure. I thought what would happen if I’m applying for some leadership position later on in my life and the press decides to do a background check? There are more than enough silly pictures of me and there are my writings out there that can be misinterpreted in many ways. Of course all that could be used against me, so why wasn’t I afraid of making it all public?

It’s a choice – a choice to have no fear. It’s also admitting the very fact that I’m just a human being – with all my flaws, errors and imperfect history. That very fact is forgotten by so many people who become leaders. They think they’re above everyone else. They think they can have rights that others don’t have. They think they’re not responsible. What a misconception.

In the meantime, we have a generation of leaders growing up who are so used to whatever Habbo Hotels, Facebooks, IRC galleries, and Blogs that they might not even think how exposed they are to anyone who wants to misuse their conduct in the web.

Even the fact that I've chosen to publicize my contact details in this blog is questionable. I meant them for my friends and acquaintances but in reality any weirdo could pick them up and start harassing me. But that's life of the blue-eyed.

Treat your leaders, team members and peers equally and protect their mental, emotional, physical and spiritual safety. We're all just human beings, with feelings.

PS. There's one more thing that can possibly cause me gray hair with publicity; I just finished the 2nd last version of my book. I don't know if I'm ever willing to publish it, but if you want to read the draft version, you may request it by email.

posted by Tomi Astikainen @ Monday, August 13, 2007