There is no future in the past

by Isqil Najim

The most dangerous feeling you can have as a former leader is the feeling that follows thus: "I have played my part, whatever they do next is up to them," and then you disengage from the association that gave you the name, fame, and credibility you are reaping from.

This is not only dangerous, but it also makes you a selfish and opportunistic leader who rode on the back of others to achieve personal goals.

Think of it as a man who was hungry, walked into a kitchen that already had ingredients.

Because he was a good cook, he was called to lead in preparing the meal. He rode on the collective efforts and resources of other people who trusted him to become more visible. From a nobody, he became somebody.

You dined, wined, got paid, and earned a lot of goodwill.

And when your belly was full, you chose to depart for whatever reason and cared not what happened after that.

Worse still, you feel a sense of achievement when the entire place breaks down, just so you can say, "In my tenure, things were working," feeling proud of a past where nobody is able to make things work again aside from you.

Yours is a toxic legacy! You are dangerous not because you walk away, but because your actions, feelings, and thoughts do not wish the association well.

Will you as a father wish your child failure and destruction simply because they did not listen to you and wanted the world to know they were better off on their own?

A leader whose mindset is to have the best legacy in the past while the current struggles is not a leader.

A leader who thinks of himself as so accomplished that the past was better than the present and therefore feels he was right to have left the association that gave him a name is not a responsible leader.

A good leader must crave, pray, and dream that the organization is better after they leave. When this happens, you have indeed accomplished so much; otherwise, you are a failure regardless of what you did in the past.

You are an extractive leader who extracted legitimacy and capital from a platform that made you and left behind a weak institution incapable of self-sustenance.

There is no future in the past. Any past that becomes the sole reference of success is a failed past. It simply means the leaders back then did not lead; they did not serve the association. They only used the association for personal gain and prestige.

Those past leaders who root for the failure of the present, or celebrate the failure of the present out of ego are nothing but narcissistic leaders.

I get a bit turned off when I hear elders who openly come forward on social media and say, "Our time was better than this!" or "In our time, we were enjoying..." blah, blah, blah.

Each time I hear such people, I see the reason the system failed; these are failures disguised as successes.

If your time was better, what legacy did you leave to make today's generation proudly look back to appreciate you? If there is none, it is far better to shut up than announce your failure in order to gaslight the present generation!

Followers should start treating such leaders with disdain and erase their toxic legacies that were disguised as success.

This is the only way to send a strong message to future leaders that they want someone who builds for sustainability and not one who walks in, uses them to achieve personal goals, runs away when needed, scatters the place to ensconce himself in a safer environment, and romanticizes a past where only he was a success!

If fate made you a leader in an organisation, it is a lifetime contract. After your tenure, you must hang around to make your experience available.

You must contribute to the association's growth and continue to mobilize for its progress.

You must never wish or pray that its best years are behind it, for doing so means the association has regressed and is dying because of your shortsightedness.

True success should be measured by continuity and progressive evolution.

While holding an office has a term limit, a leader's ethical duty is to mentor and ensure the institutional ecosystem persists.

There is a reason emeritus structures, advisory boards, and alumni networks exist: a former leader's network and experience are vital goods for the association they represent.

#echoofmymind @highlight