On leadership

In my own lifetime, Malta has gone through a lot of change. Over the last decades, our country has been seeking to modernise and shed off many of its insular, colonial and Church-dominated facets. Malta's membership of the EU will give a new impetus to the change process taking place within our society.

Change will inevitably become faster and deeper: bringing new opportunities as well as new challenges. What Maltese society will look like in the next decade is anybody's guess. A new generation, the PlayStation kids, will be at the thresholds of adulthood. What will it mean to be Maltese? What will happen to our identity, language, sense of community, values?

As Maltese society becomes increasingly cosmopolitan, it will need to learn how to better manage its interface with international forces, be they European or global in origin. The final outcome will largely depend on the leadership, be it political or civil, secular or spiritual, that our country will have during this period.

We are living in a period in our history when leadership will need to be different and not less important. A lot is already happening. The contest is open in the main political parties, the GWU and the Church - all key institutions in the running of our society.

Will these institutions get the leaders that will help our society move forward or will they keep it anchored in the past? Indeed, what sort of leaders should we be looking for?

Regretfully there are no blueprints of the ideal candidates. The continued development of our people is leading to greater democratisation challenging hierarchical structures and calling for a redefinition of authority and its dispensing of power. Our country is still trying to come to terms with this new reality trying to move from authority-by-command to authority-through-consensus.

Modern life is too complex for anyone to accomplish anything of significance alone. A leader is only as good as his team. His role is as coach and not as a captain. Each team member has to find his space and role. Every football team would love to have a Zidane; but would fail miserably if it fields 11 like him.

The good leader loves power; but power for a larger purpose. And he has to be prepared to share that power with the rest of the team. Responsive leaders accept that there are many stakeholders, be they the opposition or other competitors, who have a right "to be involved". Only then will our society be able to create the necessary environment - political, social and economic - necessary to meet the competition that can be expected from other countries.

However, leadership goes beyond good management. The leader has to establish direction, align people, motivate and inspire to achieve the desired change.

Management is more about planning and budgeting, organising and staffing, controlling and problem solving to achieve predictability and order.

Our leaders need to be able to develop a new mind-set; to formulate new perspectives. To achieve this they must be flexible, adaptable and creative. Good leaders are likely to emerge from their peers, are chosen and do not impose themselves.

Style is important but is definitely no substitute for substance. Nevertheless, in an age when the mass media have an incisive influence on people, the way that the message is delivered, as well as the identity of the messenger, have their importance too.

Are our institutions prepared and mature enough to ensure that the best candidates get elected as leaders? Time will tell.