A leader should be able to count, among their people, the privileged and the less privileged…
…that that person can see two sides to an argument.
And someone who must be truly willing to genuinely feel others.
We ask three traditional elders from around the world
to give Donald Trump and Joe Biden advice… on how to be a wise leader.
Narok, Kenya
Leadership is easy to attain Getting the position though is not what is important.
What you do as leader is what matters. A leader should be calm.
They should not be in a rush to attack those that approach them with a different view.
It was during the 1982 Kenyan coup attempt to overthrow
the then-President Daniel arap Moi’s government. I was the chief back then. I had to urge my
community to stay calm and wait for the truth. Eventually, the president was reinstated without
bloodshed in my community. Tibet
As a human being, we [Tibetans] definitely have a valid story
to make us feel completely angry and mad and hateful – of course.
Historically speaking, we have gone through the worst time of our recent history
but at the same time, we have learnt to understand that that generation,
which may have done something terrible, is no longer there any more.
We are a new generation, it’s better to move forward
than to live on something that has passed. By never being able to come out of that, you
miss the whole opportunity of what lies ahead. It’s our natural responsibility [as a leader]
to think of an inclusive sense of belonging and not [to think] individually.
Wasauksing First Nation, Canada
When you’re a chief, your family and you come last – you put the people ahead of you.
If we’re talking about resources, if someone harvested a moose,
and the way they would divide that up amongst the families and the village
(the – needs taking out) chief would be involved in that, but he would do it in such
a way that brought fairness.
Because he had to think of his family too,
a lot of his decision making was very egalitarian. Everything needed to be spread, but at the
back of his mind If he didn’t do it properly it would be
his family who might starve. This concept, our women carry it, thinking
seven generations into the future. Every decision we make, even us men and women,
we sit down and think, ‘How’s this going to impact my grandson?’
It changes what we’re thinking about doing. We don’t get caught up in immediate thinking.
We can think longer term, and that’s a strong principle too …
Thinking about how your decisions are going to effect [should if be ‘affect’?] seven
generations into the future. Wherever you live on this earth, become aware
of the indigenous world view there, honouring among the Earth and the understanding
of the Earth, looking after her.
That’s a very powerful way to become a leader.