Good Leader, Great Leader

"A great leader may not be a good leader but a good leader is a great leader"

Quoted from: Hari Ramulu

This quote really got me thinking harder. One of the classic examples cited by my Professional Ethics lecturer is Adolf Hitler. Well, coming to think about it, I started thinking of the other side of the coin instead of the side of the coin that he was referring to.

Let's take Adolf Hitler for example. Adolf Hitler as we know him is painted as a very cruel German leader who wanted to conquer the entire world. As someone who has killed so many people throughout the entire duration of World War II (WWII), this guy will most definitely be the bad guy.

But then, think again! Despite his notorious reputation, Hitler is a highly reveled figure in the Nazi Germany back in the 1930s. His leadership has brought Nazi Germany to become a very developed nation after all the destruction that Germany suffered after its loss in World War I (WWI). Germany even organized an Olympic Games in the 1930s and won many medals during the Games. In the eyes of his supporters, he is a great and good leader.

Let's take an example that is simpler, Dol Said of Naning who fought the British during the imperialist period. Our history books have told us that Dol Said is one of the first few freedom fighters and risked their lives to obtain freedom for not only themselves but also for the country. Hence, he is portrayed as a good leader in our history books (written by the Malaysian government). However, just look deeper and you will find that in the eyes of the British, Dol Said is just another terrorist, a ancient-day Osama bin Laden to the United States.

There are other examples where there are two sides of the coin in what constitutes the term that we usually use, GOOD. An analogy can be used by looking at cylinder from the top and from the front. From the front, the cylinder is a rectangular while from the top, the cylinder is a circle. We only need to change our perspective and many things will change dramatically.

Moral of the story: try to have a 3-dimensional (3D) perspective to life :D

*This blog posting is not to show my support for figures like Adolf Hitler. It is only intended to show the different kinds of stories that you will hear when two opposing sides tell their stories*