A call from Filipino professionals: We need leaders with empathy
They say government officials and leaders reflect the kind of leaders people have in their organizations. That may be true to some extent, but if we are truly choosing a leadership grounded in excellence and empathy, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto and Naga City Mayor Leni Robredo exemplify it.
They have the right to speak on value-based leadership, lead with kindness to serve the marginalized, and improve the quality of life and services for the people that they truly serve.
We should also train professionals in the practice of empathy, not to tolerate bad actions, but to understand situations in a kinder way. Instead of instigating judgment, we choose to understand and take actions that safeguard the mental and emotional well-being of a person.
This is necessary nowadays, as Filipino professionals are already burned out, and no spiritual talk can mend it if we continue tolerating the malpractices integrated within our systems. We need leaders whose hearts are not after the money, position, and power that they can get from it, but on how much they can influence the practice of being kind and helping one another to achieve certain goals and values in their institutions.
Filipino professionals are already deprived of their rights to receive a high income and a safe working environment. A kinder way to handle them is to give them what they truly need, so they can have a reason to stay. We should choose a leader in our organizations who ensures a healthy work-life environment for their people, as they are the resources we need to achieve our institutional goals. Without them, it would be impossible to achieve what we are adhering to.
Let us not adopt a mentality of people coming and going, and we should easily discard people without valuing their contributions. We should have taken proper ways to handle them and ensured that they would stay, no matter what happens. We should ensure that they cannot bring their work-induced stress into the confines of their home, affecting the relationship they have with their family. I think, with these small steps, this could have a ripple effect on how we are going to choose our national leaders. The world is already cruel, and we always have a choice not to be one, and I hope that it will start from us and influence the whole community and the organizations that we serve.
When we are kind, we tend to see injustices around us, and recognize inequalities, bullying, and abuse, and act on them. Sometimes, power means having enough to give and protect everyone under your wings, not pushing them and letting them drown when they are asking to be saved.
Robinson Valenzona,
robinson.valenzona@gmail.com
