By Sir Fosuaba Mensah Banahene
Leadership is, perhaps, the most written-about topic in the area of social dynamics or psychology and the reason cannot be far-fetched. The lack of Leadership is, perhaps, the most critical problem facing society today and it affects all sectors; Government, Church, Family, Labour, Education, Business, International relations and so on. Without some members playing “leading” roles, a group can scarcely achieve its goal. The role of a leader is key to the life of any group. In 2008, one social scientist stated that there are over 35,000 books and publications on leadership, and yet, in our world today what can be called successful leadership-situations scarcely abound. Obviously, with such a plethora of views from experts, one can only expect an equal enormous outpouring of definitions and meanings to explain the word, “Leadership”.
As a guiding thread to the understanding of how the Social Doctrine of the Church upholds leadership, this writer adopts the following for the meaning of leadership: “an art or process of influencing people so that they strive willingly and enthusiastically towards the achievement of goals of the group he is part”. With this, one can surmise that people who work to assume leadership roles in their organizations aim at applying their talents and knowledge to influence others for the good of the organization. Such persons are not coerced in any way and their motivation stems from their determination to help the organization or society they work or live in to achieve their goal.
