The Failed Turkey Coup and Lessons Learnt for Leadership

I watched with keen interest on an international news channel, the military coup in Turkey on the night of 15^th July.  At some point, the news channel was reporting that they were not sure which government was in power. If it was President Recep Tayyip Edrogan or the military because the reports they were getting were either saying the Military were in Power or the current elected government was still in charge. While all these were going on, the President called on the citizens to go all out to the streets to protest and reject the military. 

Turkish soldiers being trampled upon & humiliated by civilians

By the next morning, I woke up to see new reports that the citizens were successful in

countering the military and defeated them. The military coup failed. I watched on the news channel, how some military men were beaten, stoned, and more than a hundred soldiers killed during the clash. Close to 50 civilians lost their lives in the process. This is an unfortunate event and will be seen as the price for democracy.

Well, my intention is not to really analyze the Turkish government, the people and the coup but the lessons learnt for Leadership from this failed coup.

• Coup is never an option to usurp power – especially when the leader is democratically elected. They might end up like the Turkish military men who were humiliated.
• As a Leader, you are expected to lead right - Leadership is not for the purpose of exercising power, authority and control, but for the purpose of service. This is majorly the purpose. Service to the people that have elected you to serve them and help improve the economic, social and political lot of the Country. A leader that leads right will be appreciated by the people or citizens or as the case maybe.
• A leader needs to be open-minded and receptive – it is important for a leader to be conscious and not get carried away when in power, taking cognizance that s/he was elected by the people. The people can choose to support you when in power, protect you, like the ‘Turks’ did for their President or neglect you.
• Leadership is not selective – Do not choose which constituent to favour or neglect because you are counting people and geographical areas were you were given higher number of votes. Leadership, and for a position like the Presidency, it is for ALL. You lead a whole nation and the citizens not a selected group.
• LEAD and serve the people that elected you right. Citizens have POWER.

         +Chinwe Oguamanam is a Development Practitioner. Follow on Twitter @chinweogu