Written by: Wallace Kamau on April 8, 2019

There is more to leadership than the external level or the outward expression as is conventionally know through performance, passion, power, motivation, knowledge, skills and the like. There is something that is more foundational to leadership in ‘the person’ of the leader, leadership is essentially who you are and there is no dichotomy between who you are and what you do. Kevin Cashman says “Leadership is not simply something we do; it comes from a deeper reality within us; it comes from our values, principles, life experiences and essence. Leadership is a process, an intimate expression of who we are.” As I read the book The Righteous Mind , I could not help but remind myself that I can only give what I have and that leadership starts with leading myself before leading others, my leadership is dependent on how much I put in building my inner person that is the foundation of the leader that I become. Haidt explores the source of our morals; whether they are native in our minds (nativist), either preloaded in our God-inscribed hearts ( as the bible says) or in our evolved moral emotions (as Darwin argued); or they are by nurture (empiricist) as coming from observation or experience as we grow as children; or from rationalism where children figure out for themselves as they grow.
It is clear that our morals are a product of our culture and determine who we truly are which, in turn determine what we do. Haidt brings out an important point that we are born with a righteous mind that leads us to self-righteousness and judgmentalism where individuals believe they are self-righteous, especially in contrast with the actions and beliefs of others. This self-righteousness facilitates cooperation among the human race but creates moralistic strive which conflict actually facilitates development of society, guided by our desire for fairness and justice both for individuals and the society. Our morals, guide our intuitions which according to modern psychology goes beyond fairness and justice to include liberty, loyalty, authority and sanctity that essentially are the moral intuitions that are important in how a society holds together. Leadership is about mobilizing and influencing people towards a particular direction in achieving common objectives. The objectives of the group or society is mainly influenced significantly by the moral values of the leader because as much as we are selfish, we are also groupish and have to co-exist with others. Leaders influence these groups and Haidt highlights this as he says that we are divided by politics and religion which, I put across are driven by leaders who mobilize and influence these groupings. The direction that these leaders influence the groups to follow is determined by their morals which are mainly by nurture. The morals of the leader are determined by the culture in which the leader grows in and what he is exposed to and can thus be pre-determined or influenced. As much as Haidt would have us believe that we are made for groupish righteousness, the fact is that this groupish righteousness has a source and is shaped by the people with more influence in the groups who, are the leaders and their morals will thus prevail in determining how the group is governed and the direction they take. As Christian leaders whose morals are/should be mainly based on biblical values, we should position ourselves to positively influence society, by ensuring that we deepen our relationship with God and the knowledge of His word. It’s a great opportunity that we have to influence the morals of others with the Word of God through our leadership.

About the Author

Wallace Kamau

Wallace is a believer in Christ, Married to Mary Kamau (Founder and Executive Director of Missions of Hope International) and father to 3 Wonderful children, Imani Kamau (Graduate student at London School of Economics, UK), Victory Kamau (Undergraduate student at Portland state University, Oregon, USA) and David Kamau ( Grade student at Rosslyn Academy). Founder and Director, Missions of Hope International (www.mohiafrica.org), CPA, BAchelor of Commerce (Accounting) from University of Nairobi, Masters of Arts (Leadership) from Pan African Christian University.

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