3 Qualities of a Great Leader

Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad

Tun Dr. Mahathir once said,

"To be a great leader, one needs to have good strategies, be knowledgeable and able to predict the future."

As suggested by Tun, great leaders must have these qualities:
1. Have good strategies
2. Knowledgeable
3. Able to predict the future

Predicting the Future
I have heard of this quote years ago. But at that time I was not sure on the meaning of the ability to predict the future. It came into my mind that there were a crystal ball that a leader might have, or something like the movie Nujum Pak Belalang.

However, keeping this quote in mind and as I move on, I have learn a lot from this quote. Now I understand that by seeing things around on what is happening now, you may be able to predict the outcome. If people are building highways today, so many things will happen. The land price might be increase. There will be more commercial areas to be developed, and so on. This is an example of predicting the future.

Looking into business perspective, if you know what is happening in a company, you might be able to predict the performance of the company. If you are into share trading, you might be able to predict the value of the shares. If you are an employee, you might know whether the company is sustainable, expanding or shrinking. You can make the decision on where you are standing then.

Tun Mahathir has the ability to predict the future. In a talk during Prestige Leadership Programme, Tun mentioned that he decided to build a bridge between  the mainland and Penand Island. At that time, people are criticizing him heavily on the project and label it as a waste for the country. He proved them wrong.  It happened again when he planned to build the KLCC and Putrajaya. The only reason why he stick with his decision is because he see things in the future, and how people will appreciate it. I personally think that the current government motto of "Zaman kerajaan mengetahui segalanya sudah berakhir" is not really a good motto. As a good leader, one must decide on what he think the best for the future. Not now! Yes, we can listen, but we need to decide what is good for the future.

Don't ask average people what they want, because they don't know what they wanted.

Steve Jobs once said,

 "It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them."

and Henry Ford also said,

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Visionary Leadership - the Red Brain

Recently I have a talk with one of my good friend. He is from Indonesia. We talk about the development of our country and how Jakarta is different with Kuala Lumpur in terms of the traffic, facilities etc.

Some of our key-point of discussion is about leadership. Malaysian leadership have a vision which I totally agreed upon. The biggest example of this is the Wawasan 2020 (or Vision 2020). Wawasan 2020 was actually announced by our fourth Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad in 1991 - during the 6th Malaysian Plan. Wawasan 2020 is a 30 years plan, a plan that Tun introduce at the time he is not sure whether he will still be alive when it is achieved.

What makes a person a visionary?
Tun Dr. Mahathir is a red brain person. It is obvious in many ways.
- Red brain is very good at establishing long term planning. In other words, they are visionary.
- Tun is very blunt when addressing specific issue. This is because Tun focus on the objectivity of the issue. Not personal and not because he is insensitive.
- Tun is a very structured person. This is very obvious when you read his blog. Everything is very structured and he puts the clarity in every points he make.