It is has been sometime since I last blogged in June 2008. The schedules I had kept me busy taking through young executives from the industry - both private and public sector - on management and leadership lessons learned. And citing live-examples from the dramatic Malaysian political scenario seemed to create a lot of excitement in our discussions.
I too have the opportunity of sharing "Hang Tuah" the first Malay coloured-movie with our participants. We saw similar characters in today's leadership and management. We saw and learned how history repeated itself in our modern day management and leadership.
Hang Tuah survived the thick and thin of his life, from being praised, admired, condemn and cursed by the people. Tun Ali, Patih Karma Wijaya were colourful characters we can learn from but Hang Jebat remained principle-centred. Each of these characters - good or evil - has their followers.
At the end of the movie, Hang Tuah asked "Am I right or Hang Jebat?"
Right or wrong is a question of perception. It is a question of which side you are on on. As leaders, the reality is whether the people trust you and more importantly whether they accept you - as a person (not your position) and the cause for which you are fighting - to lead them.
