True leaders inspire followers

Editor,In response to Nathalie Munyampenda’s article, 21st Century Leadership”, (The New Times, February 4, 2013), everything Nathalie says about leadership is true enough, but another and most critical quality of all is the ability to inspire. To get others to not only want to make your vision their very own, but also to go beyond a vague inclination to help make it happen and be prepared to invest totally of themselves to ensure it indeed does. Inspirational leadership differs from the common garden variety associated with management in that followers are ready to give their all even without the usual material incentives managers need to purchase the buy-in and associated performance from their subordinates. True leaders inspire their followers to join in achieving the shared goal because they believe in it and not because they might personally profit materially from joining in the leaders’ quest. It is this factor that disposes the followers of inspirational leaders to be ready to lay down their very lives for the cause should even that become necessary in order to achieve the objective that far transcends mere personal gain.Mwene Kalinda, Kigali

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True leaders inspire followers