Just visualise a room with a very beautiful
flower-vase. Now, imagine two little
children playing, running around the table where the vase is and then, crash!
The beautiful vase is now part of history… But, wait, their mother comes to the room and
first thing she asks is: Who did this? Now, can you see both children pointing at
each other?
Blaming turns part of our general culture: you do it
wrongly and you look for someone to get the blame for it…
However, a leader lives in a different way, by taking
over responsibility as those who are responsible have the duty to correct their
mistakes; instead, those who are guilty are excluded from our society.
As an example, Claudia Palacios[1],
a Colombian journalist, quoted a very interesting statistics during a panel
organised by Images and Voices of Hope (IVOH) in Bogota[2]:
70% of prisoners in the jails of Colombia continue on their same criminal path
after leaving the institution, while only 30% are able to rehabilitate.
Mrs Palacios went on to compare these statistics with
those of another organisation[3]
that helps people from guerrilla and other illegal groups to come back to
society, without the use of imprisonment.
They consistently achieve rehabilitation levels of 70% where one main
element is to inculcate in those people a sense of responsibility.
Leaders encourage a responsible awareness, so, no
matter how serious the error is, they will uphold the person’s dignity, by
helping them to be responsible instead of punishable.
(Excerpt from the book 82 Reasons
to be a Leader)
[1] Claudia Palacios works actively in
journalism. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Palacios
[2] The panel was related to the
present situation of the media in the country.
Besides Claudia Palacios, IVOH
founder Judy Rodgers and publicist Ricardo Leyva were also present. For
more on Images and Voices of Hope:
http://ivoh.org/
[3] Agencia Colombiana para la
Reintegración works with people from a variety of illegal backgrounds. They serve more than 50,000 people, helping
them to rebuild their lives. http://www.reintegracion.gov.co/en
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