Ronald M. Quileste Advanced Innovations in EducationPhD in Education 1 Dr. Lourdes Tolod

Reflection PaperDumb Leaders

Context“Dumb Leaders” written by Francis Kong is all about describing people

who act as false leaders. He describes these people overall as selfish individuals and who answer the call of their ego.Experience

When I first met my spiritual master, I acted as if I knew everything. I boldly defended every answer I gave him when he tried to speculate how spiritually mature am I. For instance, he asked me if I am really Ronald Quileste, then I answered a resounding “yes” immediately. He then asked me who I am. I answered him back with all the details in my bio data and thought how stupid his questions were. When he evaluated my answers, he told me I am very immature and incapable of making the right decisions in life. He added that I am very materialistic and I focus on describing what I see rather than what God sees of me. Reflection

The lesson in my experience, though it does not point immediately to leadership, is that most leaders keep on going through life, leading people by only listening to their own ego. They are so materialistic that they become so narrow-minded, too objective and do not anymore let their constituents speak for themselves. What my spiritual master taught me is that I am not the body (ego) but the Spirit (God-soul). He told me that in every critical situation in my life, I must not be moved by any worldly sin such as pride, anger, vengeance but through what my conscience is telling me. I should not be so stuck in protecting my name to the point that I cover my mistakes with huge piles of lies. Leadership I believe is vital in my daily living. Everywhere I go I need to make important decisions. I may not be handling people that much but being with myself in a difficult situation is the best test for leadership. I must take shelter under God’s guidance during those times and ask Him to speak to me through my Spirit.

ActionThe concrete actions that I will be doing to make the best decisions in life

are actually summed up to three: meditate, breathe, humble. With meditation, I will fine tune my communication with the Divine. In times when I will be needing life-changing decisions I know I can hear God talk to me because I sincerely connect with Him every day. I also need to breathe. When I see that I am juggling too much already, I find time to listen to my physical body too. If I feel I am overburdened with too many tasks, I let my mind and my body unwind. The God-soul in me cannot function properly if my body isn’t that physically fit anymore. So I breathe and exercise. Lastly, I think humility is the last step. With every recognition I receive as a leader I make sure that I stay humble and learn to thank the people who have been part of my journey, the blessings received, the love, as well as God. With every mistake, I become humble by admitting my mistakes and take part in finding an immediate solution. No need to play the blame game.Evaluation

Overall, I can say that to become a good leader I should learn how to lead my life and present myself as an example to my future constituents. I will reiterate to myself and to them the importance of following the Spirit.