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embodiments of pure compassion and divine love. Their vision was the upliing of all mankind.
General Chibber maintained that in addition to an inspiring vision that had the power to ignite others, a good leader had certain personality characteristics. He specifically named courage, the ability to be self-initiating, and willpower. That is, a leader should have broad vision and selflessness, see what is best for the organization, and have the capacity to initiate behavior. He must have the courage to carry out the mission, and the willpower to follow through. Along with these personality characteristics, a leader also had to have certain skills and knowledge: knowledge about himself, knowledge about the organization, and knowledge about the task at hand. A critical skill was the leader’s ability to communicate well with others.
Our small group took a look at the basic construction of the Sai organization, its main vision and aim, the capacity of its leaders to communicate effectively, how the organization decided on the next step, and whether leaders were properly trained in the skills of how to get to the next step. We saw that in the Sai organization, as in all our organizations, leaders needed to be trained to develop personality strengths, skills, and knowledge. This was not happening formally in the Sai organization. However, by puing Swami’s teachings into practice, we strengthened our personalities and character. Thus, informally we were developing our leadership abilities.
Perhaps the most important quality of a good leader is selflessness. It was our observation that as we engaged in service and dharmic behavior in Sai Baba Centers, the ego was effaced and we had the opportunity to move toward selflessness. Even in this small group, we learned that participation was mostly for our own development. The most serious work had to do with overcoming ego.
In the course of our relating, I became aware of many of my shortcomings. For instance, group members pointed out that I would rather do things myself than do them in unison
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