Do the Fieldwork

On 31 August 2019, Saturday, the Arab world celebrated the Islamic New Year.  His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, had a very good message to the officials, ministers and leaders for the new season.  I love the first of six points in his message, as published by the Gulf News.

The right place for officials, ministers and leaders, is the field.

He said, "We need to see them amongst students and teachers; in the markets among traders and investors. We want to hear they are among farmers and at the ports of fishermen, with widows and mothers, senior citizens and with patients, in hospitals and among doctors and staff."

He simply wants the officials, ministers and leaders of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) particularly in Dubai, to have a process of immersion or deep mental involvement in something in the field. This way they have a first-hand experience of what is really going on with the common people especially the needy ones so they can be of better service to them.

There is really a big difference when you are just reading a report or watching a TV to monitor the news and having actual human interactions with people in the field. You feel their pulses, you hear their voices, you know their needs and dreams, you become one of them.

When you hear something through channels, sometimes there are differences in opinions, evaluations, and judgment as there are biases due to individual emotions and reasoning. If you tell ten men to fall in line and tell a story to the first man, most probably the story will change when it reaches the last one. So if you are a leader desiring to effect a change, at least one significant change, go outside and do the fieldwork through an immersion process.

This message must reach not only the government officials but also those who want to live meaningfully by making a difference in the lives of many people, by being humble servant leaders in their own ways.

The world is very noisy already so the first thing to do in the field is to listen to people.

According to Nick Fewings,

Often poor leadership is masked by those with the loudest voices and strongest opinions.

I subscribe to the same idea in the same way that noisy coins have lesser value than silent currency notes.

The highly respected Ruler of Dubai also said in his 'The Letter of the New Season' that "We want to see them there (field) and hear them from there (field), not in the conference rooms or forums that have increased and consumed resources and energies."

According to research compiled by online meeting service provider Fuze, more than US$37M is spent on unproductive meetings per year. The DigitalSynopsis.com wrote that "in the United States alone, there are 25 million meetings per day and executives consider more than 67% to be failures".  (Read more here.)

When one goes outside his comfort zone, he sees reality and in doing so he can define reality from his own deep understanding.

Max De Pree, author of 'Leadership is an Art', former CEO, founder of the Max De Pree Center for Leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary, said --

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say 'thank you'. In between, the leader is a servant.

Think of many great leaders who are well remembered. They did the fieldwork as servant leaders.

Ken Blanchard, a management expert and author, wrote, "Servant leadership is all about making the goal clear and then rolling your sleeves up and doing whatever it takes to help people win. In that situation, they don't work for you, you work for them."

Very well said -- Servant leaders do whatever it takes to help people win.

Each man fights his own battle/s which the world knows not, day in, day out. The will to win is there for most, but for many in the dark, it is fading and they are hopeless. The will to win is there most of the times, but not at all times.

Leaders can be heroes if they do the fieldwork, and help people win their battles.

US Army General Norman Schwarzkopf said, "It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one of those men who goes into battle."

What is the difference in saving a life in a war zone and a life in a peaceful environment? There is a big difference but there is one big similarity, too. Life, both God-given, both with a purpose.  One life saved matters.

We hear it loud and clear. Passionately move out to the right place, do the fieldwork and do whatever it takes to help people win.

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Related Story:

After I inserted a photo (lifted from Pixabay images gallery, 'free for commercial use, no attribution required' on 01 September 2019) showing ordinary men on the boat with the UAE flag,  I saw this news article with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and his entourage taking an abra ride to the Gold Souq to check abra services, on 3 September 2019. (Read more here.) I feel happy and somehow connected. It reminds me of good old days when I took some abra rides just for the experience of it. Living in Dubai will not be complete without it.

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Photo credits:  Pixabay