There is this interesting phenomenon in my area. The attention has been on the two girls who are contesting in my GRC. Yes, my area falls within the Marine Parade GRC. When my friends and colleagues ask me which GRC my area belongs to and I tell them it is Marine Parade GRC, they tease me about the Kate Spade issue. Sigh! I almost faint and feel embarrassed. It is as if I were carrying the Kate Spade bag to support Singapore when I can’t even be bothered about politics. Well, to me, it does not matter who wins as long as I can eat and sleep well. Ultimately, no matter who wins, there is only one control. So, why bother to argue and discuss?
Personally, I prefer Nichole Seah. I like the way she talks and carries herself. The way she speaks seems to carry the weight of a leader. I am not sure if she wins the vote. Somehow, through her interview, she gives mature answers with confidence and concern for the people. Sometimes, it does not matter how young a person may be. I have come across people who are in their mid life and yet the way they speak and behave are like spoilt kids. No matter what, sometimes, it is not about what I like and I choose my preference. It is about looking at a situation as a whole package which may link to any other matters. Whether I like it or not, I will just choose to ‘obey’ to live in peace.
Before I even obey a leader, I will have to respect that person as a person. I do not look for leaders who groom themselves well with branded stuffs from head to toe and promote themselves well through their eloquence. For me, I look more into the silent strength and care for people in the leaders. These leaders often earn my admiration and I will respect and obey them out of my free will. In my workplace, I have two leaders. I shall call the first one a monster and the other a silent angel. I work closely with the both of them.
The monster dresses herself very well with branded stuffs from head to toe. She is capable and talks very well. She is a staunch Christian and seems confident. When she went through my review with me, she claimed that she would run with the team. However, she could say what she wanted but her behaviour and interaction with the others from my observation so far told me otherwise. She can be a nice person but somehow, she is a monster as a leader. I am not sure what happens to her along the way. When she claimed that she would run with the team, I just looked at her silently and smirked as we do not feel the support from her and we are all suffering under her. She may look confident but when things go wrong or happen not according to her ways, instead of supporting or helping us as a leader, she would throw the blame on us and her tantrums at anytime. Even staff from other departments notice that and asked us how we could work under her. We would just smile and do not know what to say. Whenever we go near her, we always feel the tension within us. I was taken aback when she told me at her level, she did not have to stay back late into the night with us, supporting us. By saying that, she thought that I would be impressed by her. However, I did not feel that way as I thought she was pretty self centered to think that way as to me, a leader should stay back with the team to fight the battle and give moral encouragement. If she thought that at her level, she should not do that, it really tells a lot about her attitude towards her leadership. She is really so high up there that none of us can reach her or get support from her. The worst thing is she micromanages us. I was very shocked when she came up with one of the house rules we have to report to our team leaders whenever we go down to buy tea or coffee from the coffeeshop downstairs which takes only less than 10 minutes. We all know that she would look over our shoulders to see what we are doing at our computers. For God’s sake, why is she such a control freak controlling us like she is a disciplinary mistress controlling the primary school kids? Can’t she see that we are all working very hard beyond our job scopes? She continues to throw all of us with more work without caring if we can cope or not. She just wants her way changing directions which contradict one another at times. She tends to charge ahead without caring if all of us as a team can catch up. All of us are burning out. When she judges, she judges harshly and is too rigid in her perception that even if a person changes, she is too blind to see. To aggravate the situations, she jumps into conclusions too quickly and they are always the wrong conclusions. All of us have been suffering from her accusations. Whenever she is not around, we can feel the gloom dispersing and the atmosphere is friendlier to work in.
Whereas, the silent angel dresses very simple, nothing fanciful or branded. She has a lot more to cope with than the monster as she is married with a family. She works part time and yet she will come in as if she were a full time staff, especially during peak period. Her workload is very heavy and has to deal with the monster directly most of the time. The monster is not any more merciful on her. But, I have never seen her lose her cool. She is very efficient and fast in her work. Whenever I have problems, I feel comfortable approaching her. Under her leadership, she allows us to make mistakes and learn from them. When she needs to correct us, she does not put us down but to tell us about her concern for our well being. She has never told us how much she has done to support all of us as a leader but all of us are happy with her as our leader. We obey her without any ill feelings. She has this silent strength and care for people in her. Her behaviour in daily life towards us tells it all. She is not a staunch Christian and yet I can feel the Christ in her as our humble leader. She does not put on the air of a leader so high up there that we cannot reach her. Rather, she comes down to us and mingles like a friend with us. She will listen patiently to our issues and concerns. We respect her and work closely with her to get the projects completed with as high quality as possible. She will go through the ups and downs with us. I do not feel I am working under her but with her. I get the support from her so far. When things are too stressful, especially dealing with the erratic moods of the monster more than us, she still keeps her cool and supports us at the same. The silent strength and care for people in her stand out prominently during such times. I really kowtow to her calm and strong demeanour at all times.
Appearance may be important. But, what I often look for in a leader or even a spouse who is supposed to be the leader at home in the future, is often that silent strength and care for people within. Leaders or people who are popular or talented or good looking or well groomed do not draw my attention. Somehow, I am blind to those traits until people come to me and tell me how eloquent or popular or good looking they are. Since young, those people who draw me to them are the ones with such silent strength and care for people within. I find such people rare gems. They are normally sincere people who really care. If they are my leaders, I will obey them with respect within as I know I can shine under their leadership with my talents and personality. They will groom me not just in my roles under them but also as who I am so that my quality of life will improve as a whole. They often care for other people’s well being more than bringing glory to themselves or boasting about themselves. These are the traits that I see in Jesus. Like him, they are the humble leaders who put others’ well being above themselves. Sometimes, they suffer silently but people under them will know and appreciate their sacrifices.
I do not care what the leaders or people say to promote themselves. Their behaviour and interaction with people in daily lives tells it all. The polling day is coming soon. Who will you vote for? For me, I rather spend my time catching up with my sleep. Whoever wins, it does not matter as long as their humble hearts are truly serving people and to be serving leaders but not to be served and glorified.
Ok, back to my work now. Have been thrown with three major projects with a few other tasks going on. Really need a few brains and hands to work, man...
With Love,
Elena
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