Self Reliance - Term Paper Example

Self-Reliance – how to get that? The primary necessity for the presence of self-reliance in a leader is to understand what one is capable of doing and believe in the virtues of his/her values. If such belief is created within oneself, then there is every possibility for the emotional quotient of the human brain to generate energy that would motivate the leader to back every decision he makes and subsequently act on those decisions. So, it could be said that behind every successful organization or every successful team activity, there would always be a person who is able to display his motivations, inner self and as a result, will be capable of telling others who they are, why they do such things and what he wants them to do to in order to succeed in that activity.

Any leader who is independent enough to act on his decisions can be considered as self-reliant. Advantage A major advantage of a self-reliant and an independent person is that they would be totally in control of their emotions while taking decisions. As a result, any problem could be dealt by them in a balanced manner and such a person would arrive at any decision only by understanding the pros and cons of that decision and would not allow any emotional leverage to pull them to any side. Also, when such decisions are made, one could easily motivate others in the team to act to their full potential because, they would be clearly aware that true and hard work will turn successful and be rewarded under the self-reliant person’s leadership.

One exemplary example of self-reliance being the primary force of leadership could be the life and struggle of Gandhi, popularly called as the ‘father of India’ (Chadha, 1997). Gandhi brought into a country filled with chaos and fight, a sense of peacefulness and unity only through his self-reliance. He was not a well-built man and he was totally ignorant about the artilleries and nuances of war, but he was completely aware of what he is capable of. He understood his capabilities and fought with that.

He always believed that to free India from the British, it can never be done through violence and action. Only with non-violent movements and consistent protests can there be any sort of positive movement. He stood in front of the British, took their beatings and still continued to fight in a non-violent way. His was a perfect example of how a leader can unite a nation just by his determination and self-reliance. His practices and preaches were clearly a result of understanding of his own true-self and the success that was tasted in the form of India’s freedom was actually a direct result of his self-reliant attitude (Chadha, 1997).

It is evidently clear that from the above example, that unless one understands the true nature of himself, one can never become self-reliant and thus a good leader. It is an age old truth and even Emerson (1967), in his poem “Self-Reliance”, written several years ago has clearly iterated this truth by stating that no man, irrespective of how much ever he tries and copies the attitude, living way or the behavior of other person, can never become another person and can only remain as his true self (Emerson, 1967).

Negative-side There is another issue that could be considered as one of the negative effects of being self-reliant. If a person believes