And dare to sing your song in the language(s) your audience would appreciate. Nelson Mandela averred that when a person speaks in the language of the people, he or she strikes a cord with them, connects with them heart-to-heart.
Inadequate proficiency in a language is not a deficit in quality or a minus in one’s being; it is an inhibition to effective communication, especially if that particular language isn’t understood by majority of the people.
Ezra Pound argued that “the sum of human wisdom is contained in any one language, and no single language is capable of expressing all forms and degrees of human comprehension”.
Effecive communication therefore demands that the communicator talks the audience in a language they can comprehend and appreciate..
Effective communication, accompanied by effective delivery, is a sine qua non for effective leadership. It demands that such communication is regular and uplifting. It is more necessary in times of crisis when the people are desolate, hopeless, anxious and afraid. The leader comes to motivate them, to stir their patriotic and nationalistic fervour, to instil hope, to whip them action, to carry the people behind him.
Lack of effective communication is a leader’s greatest bane. It is the fertile ground for the breeding of rumours, suspicion, distrust, unfounded claims and dissipation of love and admiration. It eventually leads to what they say about love “out of sight, out of mind”. “Absence makes the heart grows fonder” kills the relationship between leader and follower. Mark you.
While it is desirable for a leader to be charismatic or have the gift of oratory, none is the definition of effective leadership. It is qualities of leadership on which high premium is placed. One such quality is to be an effective communicator.
If there is a mantra to keep in mind, it is “communicate, communicate, communicate”. A leader who can’t or doesn’t, might find his or followers demotivated, or jumping ship to another sailor.
“A leader is a dealer in hope.”
