Copy-paste leadership

Netnet Camomot

THERE’S this Facebook post that says, “Once you feel avoided by someone, never disturb them again.” If only I could do that now but I have to wait for several months. Darn. Patience will have to remain as my most favorite virtue for now.

How does it feel to be, uh, avoided? Well, no replies to texts, calls, Facebook messages. It’s as bad as blocking your number but they don’t, so they simply ignore you, like as if you don’t exist anymore. They’re supposedly too busy to reply and when they finally find the time to reply, they’ve already forgotten about your text, call or PM. If you’re someone important, then of course they’ll reply even if they’re falling off a cliff. My favorite joke now is, Wa man gud koy multi-million deposit sa bank. Then, insert evil laugh. Bwahahaha!

I’m waiting for this one particular day next year. That will be the day. Bwa. Ha. Ha. A political wannabe can’t stop disturbing people, too, no matter how many times they have been avoiding him. He also needs loads of patience to keep those people on his side of the fence until Election Day.

But if his training is more on the corporate arena rather than the political, there’s a possibility for his political minions to feel unwanted and unneeded and will use that as their reason for jumping to another political party. Sounds familiar?

Pinoys are so used to the trapo––traditional politician––that when they do encounter one who’s not a trapo, they complain that he’s not nice, he doesn’t share, he chooses the people he confers with, doesn’t listen to their woes, that he ignores them. Wait, doesn’t share? Doesn’t share what? Hmmm, the loot? Provided there is a loot. What if there’s no loot, no commission, no por-da-boys, what is there to share?

Have these whining and complaining Pinoys ever heard of Steve Jobs? Based on the stories from people he worked with, nice wasn’t the word that could describe him. OK, let’s go local––Antonio Luna was also not nice.

I’m not known to be nice, too. But I guess I’m the one who has no excuse not to be nice––I’m not a city mayor, I’m not the genius behind Apple and its products that start with that little and unassuming “i,” and I’m no Heneral Luna.

There was a time way back in 2013 when some Cagayanons talked about how the new city mayor was avoiding those who expected to have important positions after helping him win in the election. Those talks were not laden with scorn but with praise: wow, finally, a mayor who doesn’t kiss a**!

Two years later and the verdict now is he’s, hmmm, not nice.

Could they hear a pin drop whenever he’s holding meetings? Because that’s the description of a former mayor’s meetings, that you could hear a pin drop––only his voice could be heard, no one else was allowed to talk.

And there’s that one more thing––he didn’t invite his party’s city councilors for coffee during an out-of-town trip. Instead, he left them behind because he had some other appointment to attend to.

People have different leadership styles, you can’t copy one and paste that on another leader. But leaders can’t avoid communicating with their minions who need to be disturbed, er, noticed.

Nice is a subjective word––it’s in the eyes of the beholder. What is nice for one may not be nice for the other. In the movie “Heneral Luna,” when Luna dragged a military official through the latter’s, uh, “instrument,” that official of course thought, Not nice! But to those who knew about the official’s lap-sided, er, lopsided priorities, that was nice. In the end, that official was the one who led soldiers in killing Luna. Payback time.