Leadership is all about dealing with people

 I have been involve in so many platform, and one thing that I learn is; everywhere we go it is all about dealing with human. And the best way to learn about leadership is by being involve in different platform.

Most platform that I involved in is not a paid platform. Platform like Toastmasters, BNI, or association like MAPS are platform where it is run by volunteers. And running by volunteers means that they are not being paid, and they are doing it voluntarily. Who would do things not being paid? They are not doing it just voluntarily, bu passionately.

One thing that I observed is, even though people are not being paid, people have different motive of joining, serving and contributing. And I realized that most people wants to contribute, of course based on their personal motive (which most of the time is not monetarily). And because the motives are different, politics will always be part of the game. Understanding how the game is played, to me is all about leadership. Because if you can survive in that kind of environment, means that you can learn much about leadership.

Several thing that I learn:

1. Most problems happens because people have different way of viewing the world, which means people have different motive of achieving what they intend to achieve.

2. The best way to solve any conflict that happens is through conversation.

3. Best conversation only can happen if you are willing to listen. Listening without judgement, because you want to learn their point-of-view.

4. Once you understand their point-of-view, you understand their motive of doing things.

5. The best leader is where someone can align these different point-of-view and make people move towards one unified direction.

6. You cannot avoid conflict, becuase it is part of human nature. It has been there since the first creation of human being. But you can be good at managing the conflict.

7. The best way to understand people is by understanding why they do what they do. Understand the motive behind it.

8. If you can leverage the motive behind them, you can get people who are motivated. And align them with your goal, then your team will be unstoppable.

#johanirwan 8 June 2026