What does the community need most today? After all, any leader who wishes to occupy the World Federation presidency must tell the community what it is that he thinks ought to be done. For if this is not the case, then we may lose more time in speculating the needs of community members in our respective boardrooms while losing touch with the realities on the ground.
I, therefore, reckon that this is the first question I must be able to answer to myself, before venturing out to seek your support. And inshallah, even if members of the community, through their traditional compassion and lenience towards aspiring candidates do not ask this question to any of the candidates, as a leader I must be able to rationalise what my service delivery plan is going to look like, or what factors are currently shaping my thinking, or how is my track record as a leader any reflection of my future endeavours. A leader, at the end, must be able to live his values - values that are enshrined in his or her actions and policies, in his style of management and in his handling of both regular and crises matters.
Very shortly, I will be revealing my manifesto for the close scrutiny of brothers and sisters across the globe. In my mind, I am rather sure that although we do live in an era of effective marketing, and that the best marketeer may just end up basking in the glory of service, I still hold close to my heart my direct answrability to ordinary members of the community who essentially breathe and bleed the energy required for the running of such an enormous institution. The manifesto will inshallah cover various aspects, but to highlight the ethos surrounding my campaign - "A Time for Action, not Words...", I want to categorically say that I am indeed looking at a total overhaul of management and policy systems within our organisation and establishment. Alhamdulillah, the community has been blessed with several leaders who have proved their mettle in one area or another, but the fact that we still have a lot of ground to cover in the main areas of focus by all the other candidates - tabligh, education, medical and health, marriage, youth, women and economic upliftment, is testimony that somewhere along the lines, a change is needed...nay, a change is paramount.
I say this with confidence, having literally globe-trotted around the world in the last 5-6 months and spoken to, not only leaders, but to the general body and those holding various alternative views vis-a-vis our current position. It is quite clearly obvious to many members that leadership within the community has at times taken the form of political mileage over the intended objective of social responsibility, and as much as modern management methods are effective and efficient, they cannot entirely replace the human touch, which members yearn for from their elected leaders. This, a reality of our time, where the power distance index (PDI) between those in leadership and those who are represented, is proportionally increasing with our accelerated involvement in matters outside the community.
The ethos of my tenure must then be aligned with a shift in policy - a policy if reinvesting inwards the common and essential resources that community members are in dire need of. If in the 1960s, we were discussing about a certain socio-economic challenge, and in the 2000s, we are still grappling with the same issue except in improved surroundings of the larger society, that to me, is indicative of a degree of failed leadership in those areas, or if that is untrue, then it has to be our clear inability to utilise our resources for the change in our circumstances.
A leader has to be close at hand with issues related to the WF and its members - physically rather than through use of virtual technology, for feelings, in my view, can only be experienced in their real form through the sense of touch and not through well-managed relay systems. At times, I do question myself whether the community spends a large chunk of its time in reliving its past glory days. I also wonder at other times if we are indeed moving at the same pace as the changing environments of our diverse and difficult societies.
While paying tribute to those other members of the community who have. like me, volunteered to serve the community, I do want to think that they are not carrying with them the baggage of some past leaders sponsoring them and ensuring their perennial hold on "power" as in that case, we cannot anticipate or expect change. I also want to think that we are not going to be further expanding into the philosophy of remote and virtual leadership simply because in real terms it does not work. If that happens, then we cannot embrace or expect any metamorphosis. Change today represents a leap inwards, to first strengthen our own members, who in many parts of the world are hard at hand with adverse social, economic and educational challenges native to their own regions and areas. Our immense focus on the outside world is inflating our "bible" leadership so much so that it sometimes feel empty at the core when I traverse the map and am confronted with adversities faced by our brothers and sisters in this day and age, which while quite normal in older centuries, are surprisingly still part of our social make up today.
Words are not my forte, so I will pass that out. I recognise members' desire to have leaders address pertinent issues and provide lasting and dignified solutions; to have leaders work with the people for a common cause and who are ready to invest in them and not just their surroundings. This acceptance and recognition propels my enthusiasm to extend my learnt experiences in benefitting such curiousities. I know that all other contestants mean well too, but additionally, I want to think that I mean change. A shift in policies, a shift in management practices,geared towards the reinvestment of monetary and other resources inwards.