Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad on leadership qualities

“How he handles his failure will demonstrate whether he really has the qualities,” Said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad the former prime minister of Malaysia. Dr Mahathir also gave several attributes of a good leader, one of which is that the person should not seek to blame others for failures, but to admit his own culpability. He also added that a leader should be modest and not seek praise and glory.

Dr Mahathir said a leader must have ideas on the direction he wanted to lead, ideas on the things that he and his followers must do or achieve, and ideas on the improvements of their well-being and their surroundings. Equally important, he must know how to turn his ideas into reality. He said the rise and fall of great nations was due to good leadership. Dr Mahathir said no matter how people tried to show the qualities and characters of a good leader, it would still not guarantee that they would not make mistakes.

“When the leaders are incompetent, the countries would fall. The people may be the same, the background and the wealth and resources may be the same, but when leaders are incompetent or just plain bad, then great nations, even great empires, can fall. And, similarly, no matter how much we learn about the qualities which make a good leader, it is still possible for us to choose the wrong one.” said Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.