In his book ‘ The Wizardry of Leadership,’ Higher Education Commission (HEC) Chairperson Dr Javaid Laghari uses the metaphor of wizardry from the popular Harry Potter (HP) books. Through the series, he discusses the seven main potions that are the traits of leadership: ambition, confidence, charisma, empathy, creativity, valour and honour.
A lecture was held on Tuesday at HEC, where Laghari elaborated on these tenets of leadership and some of the other attributes generated from lectures in the book.
Geared towards the Pakistani youth, the book supplements the metaphor of HP with examples of leaders from Pakistan and around the world making the content of the book more accessible and identifiable.
Mohammad Ali Jinnah, Benazir Bhutto, Abdus Sattar Eidhi, Imran Khan, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, and Sadequain are some of the examples given in the book of role model leaders in their respective fields.
In his lecture, he outlined eleven types of leadership: academic, corporate, social, performing, artistic, scientific, technical, spiritual, bureaucratic, military and political. However, he cautions that being a leader in one type does not bar one from being a leader in another category of leadership. Much like possessing one type of leadership trait does not hinder having another leadership attribute. In fact, it is important to have a mixture of the various leadership traits if one is to succeed.
He was of the opinion that while management is a science, leadership is an art and an adventure, therefore being an abstract form that has no set standards.
Thus, even though the book discusses the necessary traits for leadership, it is not attempting to be a handbook but rather a way to welcome interpretations of leadership amongst youth so that unique ideas and discourse can emerge.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 17th, 2011.
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