Editor's Choice -- NanoWisdoms - Extend. Quotes -- Mawlana Hazar Imam's advice to community and state leaders for sound progress

Without doubt, leadership is one of the most important topics Mawlana Hazar Imam has spoken about because the negative consequences of poor decisions ripple across time and harm communities for years or decades. Moreover, those poor decisions make it harder for communities to recover and move forward and, in the meantime, he says "you damage a generation."

Time and time again, since 1957, he has outlined the essential qualities and expectations necessary for competent, courageous and visionary leadership necessary to ensure sound progress of a community or nation. These qualities include, among others:

The confidence to delegate power and authority

• moving "from top-down systems of command and control" towards "dispersing" power,

• delegating decision making authority to a community's membership or nation's citizens,

• creating partnerships built on a "spirit of mutual trust",

• bridging divisions rather than widening them, which he calls "one of the most important tests of moral leadership"

• having "an agile and adaptable mind, a pragmatic and cooperative temperament, and a strong ethical orientation."

The courage to be bold

• having a "spirit of adventure": the courage and confidence to be creative and try new approaches, new ideas,

• ensuring intellectual pluralism and view point diversity: a "spirit of openness to new expression and fresh insights",

• "opening our minds to what others can teach us",

• abandoning "professional or ideological" dogmas,

• ensuring creativity is encouraged and promoted, which he says "is the most productive thing an institution can do",

• "harnessing the very best contributions from whomever and wherever they come",

• "seeking always to think creatively, innovate and to improve."

The vision to anticipate the future and humility be held accountable

• "looking forward across time": being in "anticipatory mode" because "reactive mode is a tremendous liability"

• able to make "competent, intelligent, nuances and sophisticated analysis [of complex issues], free from dogmatism,"

• accountability and performance, which he calls "the most important" words for him.

The NanoWisdoms Extended Quotes below highlight over 50 pages of Hazar Imam's quotes on all of the above and more. We hope the collection will help those in leadership positions -- inside or outside the community -- to become more familiar with Hazar Imam's vision and expectations of leaders and, thereby, become more effective leaders.

Even if you are not in a position of leadership, we still recommend you familiarize yourself with Hazar Imam's vision of competent leadership.

Warm regards
NanoWisdoms Archive of Imamat Speeches, Interviews and Writings