Be mindful of your public utterances. Mind your public utterances. Being mindful of your utterances pays. Why do people make statements that are diametrically opposed in space of time? this can be caused by carelessness or ignorant of the consequence.
Why do people have several versions or editions of themselves? They have a version for jobs, a version for church/mosque, and a version for home! Having more than one version of you makes you a woman/man of no integrity. Integrity is oneness, integral to your beings with your walks, works, words, talks, acts, thoughts, speeches, gestures, sentences, statements, deeds, and actions.
Each man, each woman, is individually one. Each sane or true person oneself has a singular personality, not a dual, multiple, or poly personality. Having multiple persons in you makes you a person of no integrity. A person, not integral (not integrated, not ONE) with his walks, works, words, talks, speeches, acts, thoughts, gestures, acts, and actions, CANNOT BE A TRUE LEADER – and such is dangerous to be trusted with public goods. Everyone is one but can have many sides or folds [manifolds]. Even God! Many sides or folds do not mean many personalities or many persons in one. You can have cloth and shoes for different events or occasions but it does not make you a different person.
Let me Illustrate
My name is Mike Ihezuo [PhD], aka Leader Mike. I have many sides or say, many folds, and so, you have. You can say I’m many-sided or manifold. You’re right. Again, and so you are. I have a side that I’m a/an son to a mother, husband to a spouse, father to children, in-law to in-laws, friend to friends, classmate to classmates, enemy to enemies, leadership expert, public speaker, academician, consultant, opinion molder/shaper, a blogger, entrepreneur and success motivator, etc. There are those roles I may not know unless someone tells me I play it on him/her, including a neighbor to some people, tenant to some landlords, landlord to some tenants, son of the soil to my kinsmen, citizen to Nigeria, etc. Each of these roles is a side, a fold, or a mold I can, and do fit in as the need arises to dispense some functions or roles.
If Mike Ihezuo has to reproduce several personalities to fit into each of these roles, he lacks INTEGRITY – meaning he can’t be integrated as, one person. He can be said to have character inconsistencies to handle life and its appurtenances. Each role (what you play in others’ lives) does not carry a different personality but carries a different heart for each group.
The implication to Leaders.
Implication #1: Character is Leader’s Greatest Test
Leaders’ greatest test is a test in character. It is not vision, not trust, not mission i.e. purpose. The peak or litmus test a leader goes through is the test of his character. When all the leaders’ character elements show consistency, and insistency in the oneness of what the leader stands for [even to his hurt], we say the leader has integrity. This means, he/she walks his works, talks, speeches, gestures, statements, acts, and actions. All his acts, actions, and statements are hereby INTEGRATED [you recall the mathematical process of Integration? That’s what it is. Now you see why true leaders have integrity but politicians don’t.
Implication #2: Political Activities are not for Politicians, but for All
It is hard, extremely hard for true politicians to be integral, or is a person of integrity. If found, such a “politician” is not a true politician, but a leader. You can’t be a true politician and a true leader at the same time. Why? The fundamental principles that make for successful politicians make principles of leadership difficult to be achieved at the same time. That principle is the principle of propaganda.
- A politician grows/spreads/flourishes on the horseback of PROPAGANDA and MANIPULATIONS fueled by INTEREST.
- A military dictator grows/spreads/flourishes on the horseback of FORCE and COERCION fueled by POWER.
- A true leader grows/spreads/flourishes on the horseback of INFLUENCE and CHANGE fueled by his VISION OF FUTURE HE WANTS TO TAKE PEOPLE TO.
This is our bane, challenge, and trouble, expecting politicians or military men to produce leaders. It is like expecting a woman to pregnant a woman, a goat to pregnant with a dog. We need to produce, rather than make for the emergence of leaders to take us to the future. This must of all essence, necessity, and definition should be produced by political activities, BUT not necessarily by a POLITICIAN. We should start stopping politicians to being the only actors in the political space. Everybody is supposed to be an actor in political spaces – and being a political actor doesn’t make one a pure politician. It is a call to service, duty, and leadership. It is necessary because we all are affected by political decisions. From this pedestrian, we can be developing real and true leaders.
Implication #3: Integrity is Not Corruption, Corruption Is Neither Integrity
Our expectations are supposed to be tamed, domesticated, and be educated to temperance to minimize the level of deceptions and “mugu” we fall into in the 21st century. It amazes me how people look for something from nothing – looking for a thing where it does not exist. Integrity is not corruption. Corruption is neither integrity nor a subset of it. Just like blue is different from economics, for instance, integrity is different from corruption. Blue is a colour while economics is a concept, a study, and a practice. Now, integrity is consistency in character while corruption is a vice, a negative one for that matter… nothing positive is in corruption. But integrity can go left or right, negative or positive. A man of integrity can stand against a thing even to his loss, detriment, or advantage JUST because he had taken a stand already and has to be consistent. Corruption is rottenness, benefitting the self at the expense of public goods.
Implication #4: Political Class Has Always Been Smarter Than Others
Many years ago, at the height of corruption impunity in my land, a man branded himself as Mr INTEGRITY and people taught that integrity means anticorruption – fighting the corruption of the day. Some taught that integrity means saving the cost of governance. No! A poorly educated country that doesn’t know that blue and economics are not the same, and integrity and corruption are not the same. It is a long I know education is weak, at a low ebb and pitiable coma in my land despite the number of universities and polytechnics in each state. The populace didn’t know Mr Integrity meant he is consistently consistent with his character – belief, interest, pursuits, and ambition. The political class has always been smarter than other classes… and each time non-political class falls “mugu”. The same story is playing out … to repeat history. God forbids.
Politicians tell us anything without bothering, giving a wink, unperturbed, and not being careful of their utterances.
Recall, I started with a question: why do people make statements that are diametrically opposed in space of time? Please read Part 1 of this topic to refresh.
You might ask;
- is what the lawyer did in taking a sitting governor or House of Assembly to court over the governor’s certificate inconsistency/alleged forgery and his becoming chief salesperson, and chief marketer of the same person 22 years not a different role function?
- is what the senator-to-be in 2015 did in 2014 spiting his former party and later returning in 2022 to be chief spokesman, chief marketer, and chief seller of the same party not a role function?
- Are the two not permitted to change their positions? I mean, Repent?
For question bullets 1 and 2, it is not a role function thing, it is a true self, the true personality of each of them at the times of their statements … meaning that they’re not integral with themselves over time … not in consistency with the beings of 2000, 2014 and 2022.
For question 3, they can change their positions. In this case, before those their earlier postures were publicly said to and captured, they need to make a public denouncement of their former stands … only this, and only this can make their new postures, positions, and products marketable and believably acceptable. It is an onus task to understand how politicians take people for granted as being uneducated, hungry, uninformed, and having low memory. It is imperative they recount their former postures and thread the path of Integrity. Not all citizens have a short memory. I for one, don’t.
Dr Mike Ihezuo is a leading authority. He has handled several eyes opening exposure on Character Development, Integrity, Reputation, and Image Management. He can help your organization. Reach him on.
