The Important Role of Experience in Leadership Development

Leadership demands an acumen for solving real-world problems by taking decisive action. At every crucial step, a leader needs to sort out the best possible way to direct those reliant on him/her. In accessing the present, a leader must have a stove of experiences and knowledge which help him to generate a creative solution. Experience if bad or good always helps in understanding oneself more and making a wise decision. Failure may be demoralizing but, it always shows a path for future success. Understanding the past is a crucial part of the leadership that guides him/her in many challenging situations.

Human society has been in constant evolution from the time of its inception and, the aspect of human preferences and issues are changing. To accomplish and solve, the leader must look at the past for getting an answer. For example, racism has been a social concern for a very long time. In mitigating this problem, leaders have come up with solutions that often reshaped society and changed our outlook. Any current leader trying to exploit racism and trying to impose racial segregation law need not look far behind the protestation of Nelson Mandela. He fought for equality and ultimately helped topple South Africa's racist system of apartheid. So knowing that segregation laws were eventually nullified, the current leader will refrain from imposing them.

Likely in the field of technology and science experience, play a vital role. Technological advance has molded our species and presented us many novel solutions. However, exploiting technology to gain dominance is still a matter of concern. Past gave us numerous examples of destruction from misuse of this. For instance, world war II  has shown us an example of destruction from misusing of technology. That terrifying consequence of the atomic bomb explosion sent an alarming message to human society.

After the war, leaders of different nations decided to restrict the anuclear weapon and signed several treaties surrounding it. If the leaders in current positions at that time had not taken into consideration the past incidents related to these weapons, the human race would have been on the verge of extinction. 

Furthermore, our political systems are part of a gradual evolutionary process happening over centuries. The barter system in place during the early days is today replaced by the market economy. The imperialism celebrated around the globe in the past is replaced by democracy. These changes were possible due to the steps taken by maverick leaders, who dreamt about a change and galvanized society to take action. Mahatma Gandhi, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln are all examples of leaders who remodeled the world for the better. It is undeniable that they did not take the lessons of the past and understood the fallacies and follies of society and took bold steps to fix them.

A successful leader does not only know about contemporary issues but also possesses an acumen for extracting valuable lessons from past incidents. A leader who does take into consideration the teachings of history is less likely to devise pragmatic solutions. Since, his/her solutions would be largely disconnected from our human beings respond to certain situations, which can only be understood by assessing the past.