Faithful to my easygoing and down-to-earth nature, I daily interact with people from all walks of life and shades of opinion. In particular, the means of communication are direct personal contacts, the phone, correspondence, my weekly opinion papers or my Facebook page.

True, the last two channels rather resemble a monologue or a one-way street. Whereas the first three mediums are a two-way process: they serve as an instrument to exchange views, to learn new things or still to share information and ideas. Small wonder that the dialogue – human touch – clearly suits the purpose of an opinion poll on key topical issues and other affairs of state. In other words, the interaction can also be termed a thermometer to measure and assess people’s feelings. Thus, I discovered the root cause of some of the ills of the society. One of them is precisely chronic shortage of leadership at all levels.

Surprisingly, the most affected and infected ones are verily those at the topmost rung of the management ladder. They are the rotten fish in the basket. After all, rot starts from the head in all fish! So, if the head is sick, it goes without saying that the entire body will be adversely affected. Definitely, it’s not like the Egyptian pyramid or a multi-storey building where you have to climb up from bottom to top.

In sharp contrast, it’s like the head of a human being or an animal at the upper part of the body: With the brain, the mouth and the sense organs– through which we see, smell, hear, taste or feel – it is indeed the nerve centre that controls the entire body. Simply put, the leadership deficiency at the top is gangrening the entire society from head to toe. It’s very dangerous. Such a management deficit trickles down recklessly and slowly but surely to the lower command and that with a devastating domino effect.

In case of doubts, we should always consult world history. Like the mirror, it never lies: it testifies that when there is such a leadership weakness – call it shortcoming, shortage or absence – at the top command, nothing but disaster awaits a country round the corner. For indeed, poor management percolates down alarmingly through all the rank and fi le of the workforce.

Not only that, it also goes viral: it contaminates families, students, youths and everybody. And of course, the regional countries, too! Make no mistake. The plain but painful truth is that bad leadership leads to a dead end (culde- sac). It’s also the pathway to doom and gloom. If you are still in doubt, just rewind and think of our own history when there was a leadership deficit at different times. The entire society suffered each and every time because of steep rise in criminality.

In those dark hours, amateurish and poor management led to economic crisis as well as crisis of confidence and conscience. And we stumbled from one extreme to another lurched from crisis to crisis and staggered helplessly and hopelessly– like a drunken man– to a point of no return.

All said and done, that sad part of our history is staring us all in the face. Hold on a second! Isn’t it already repeating itself with a vengeance? For our part, there is no ill feeling. No hatred or ill will. We all love our country as much as we love ourselves. It’s all a question of learning how to learn – especially from history.

In truth, we are only stating the obvious in its broad but naked and crude terms. To set off the alarm! And to wake up the decision-makers who are really sleeping. But wait a moment. There is a catch: Who can wake up a man who pretends to be asleep? Who can warn or teach a man who pretends to be the most intelligent one on the planet?

With that post-mortem examination and findings both from history and my personal contacts – as outlined in the opening paragraphs – here comes the medication: there should be good and inspirational leadership at all levels of the society. Starting from the Prime Minister down to the menial worker. It’s possible. The country demands it! Sense of responsibility is the key to unlock it. We should produce forward-looking and open-minded leaders with vision, imagination, strengths, skills, creativity and dreams for a better future: one which can compete successfully with the best in this scientific and technological world of cut-throat competition. More so, the leaders at all levels should be versatile. And learn to adapt themselves to changing circumstances. How? By turning every calamity into an opportunity– to push ahead. There is one today: by learning from one’s own mistakes and bouncing back to recapture lost speed and territory. By being self-educators, self-motivators, innovators, adapters and twenty-first century entrepreneurs: who can achieve their full potential. By investing in hard work. By developing their own hidden resources and talents. And by learning how to be independent and creative thinkers: who can think out of the box. Who can rise above petty things and look beyond the horizon: to constantly reinvent, reform, reconstruct and renovate in this globalized and integrated world of high-tech revolution. All told, believe you me, that’s the only cure to save ourselves from the gnawing leadership crisis.

Let’s summarize now: we should create 21st century good, hard-working and family-oriented and daring leaders at all levels of the society. Leadership training is the mantra. We should learn how to learn to swim against strong river currents of vested interests and all their outdated, old, sterile and non-productive ideas and methods. Remember: Only dead fishes swim with the currents!

Harish Boodhoo