PORTRAIT OF ACONSCIENTIOUS LEADER

An Authentic Leader
Merriam Webster defines the adjective authentic as being “worthy of acceptance or belief; conforming to an original; made or done the same way as an original; true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character and not false or imitation.”
Koehn said, “Authentic leaders begin with the will and commitment to work on themselves. They’re not trying to be perfect or to somehow spring from the rib of Zeus into an iconic individual, but rather, they say, ‘Day by day and week by week, I’m going to work on myself.’”

Pastor Umo Eno is one leader who believed in self- development and taught this principle through numerous platforms to youths and women especially. He has become more and more excellent leader each day, week and month; giving out fresh words from the oven of revelation received in his personal devotion and communion with God.
His authenticity reflected in all his programmes, designed either for the building of youths and giving solace to the elderly or targeting entrepreneurs and helping students with bursary, the scripts are always fresh and original, and that’s why all his programmes have been running successfully, following the master plan; the ARISE Agenda that he received from God.

Resilience
Resilience is the capacity to withstand adversity. The staying power to bounce up in the face of opposing current in the seas of life. In the course of your surfing the waves, opposition will rise to drown you but resilient spirit will help to keep your head above troubled waters of life. Resilience will also aid your quick recovery from setbacks.

Resilience is viewed as“the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape – elasticity.” American Psychological Association says that, “Resilience is the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioural flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.” Steve Maraboli said: “Life doesn’t get easier or more forgiving, we get stronger and more resilient.”

Pastor Umo Eno is a leader with a strong resilient spirit, who has stood firm in seasons and out of seasons, serving the Akwa Ibom people with enthusiasm. This is why you will never hear him complaining of any impossibility in carrying out his numerous programmes. He pursues his goals with such strong guts and convictions that “if you can believe it, then you can have it. He is not the type of leaders who give up easily. This virtue is helping his appointees adjust to his fast pace of work; as he strives to catch up with his schedules.
He is the real essence of what Henry Ward Beecher said. “‎Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you. Never excuse yourself. Never pity yourself. Be a hard master to yourself – and be lenient to everybody else.”

It takes a resilient spirit to stay strong in the face of opposition, and keep improving by the day – offering your services to the society. Koehn added: “Each time we navigate through a crisis and find a little strength in it, we’re able to pick out an insight we can learn from; at the same time, we resolve not to get bitter, weaker, smaller, or more frightened, but, rather, to get the tiniest bit braver. A leader’s ability to do this is profound, not only for him or herself, but for the impact it exerts on others and the larger mission.”

Emotional Intelligence
A conscientious leader is a master in emotional intelligence, for it is all about balance and control even in most provocative situation. A school of thought observes that, “Emotional intelligence (otherwise known as emotional quotient or EQ) is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.”

A conscientious leader must have the ability to manage both his own personal emotions and understand the emotions of people around him. Marshall B. Rosenberg says, “We are dangerous when we are not conscious of our responsibility for how we behave, think, and feel.”

Self-discipline
Another distinguishing trait of a conscientious leader is self-discipline – your ability to stay focused on the principles that guide and guard you as you strive towards achieving your goals. Myles Munroe says that a leader must have purpose, potential and principles. Of these three, principles are what protect you as you leverage potential to fulfill your purpose in life, career and pursuit.

Leadership school defines self-discipline as, “the ability to push yourself forward, stay motivated, and take action, regardless of how you’re feeling, physically or emotionally.”
Self discipline helps an athletic closes his ears off the cheers of spectators as he aims vigorously towards the finishing line for the prize (to be cont’d in next edition).