Leading or Slaying Together
When I was younger someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up.
For many years I thought of that. What is a good thing to be as an adult.
I found out when I was an adult when the same question fell in my lap again.
I want to be a doctor. Not the medical kind but the healing kind.
Possibly trying-hard (TH) attempts to heal what is around me for others to have a better life.
Up until the same person who asked me what I want to be as an adult asked me another question.
“Do you want to be a leader?”
Honestly, I don’t think anyone thinks of me as a leader. So I was so into telling him “no”.
Then he showed me that I could if I wanted to.
So it became a decision. A decision to be a leader or not.
Which gave me a topic to write about.
What makes a leader decide to be a leader.
Then when that person becomes a leader, why do they forget why they chose to become a leader and instead busy themselves with “unleaderly” things. I especially observe this when they become overwhelmed with the luxury, privileges, and attention a leader gets.
Why do I write this?
My country has new leaders, put in place by either the people or the computers, whichever truth works for you.
So what?
Well, first and foremost, there would be a lot of things that many people would be saying should be prioritized.
It would range from the ConCon (or Con-Ass, depending on what kind of syllable sounds better with the prefix con), to the smallest issues that should be given attention to like how many new waiting sheds should be put up in the next years, albeit to keep your heads dry but most probably not the knees as they would be easily flooded anyway.
I’d say that it would be great if there was a long list of things to do and a software that could automatically prioritize them but I know there isn’t. I’d also say that it would be great if there was a manual for them to follow on how to prioritize the needs and proposals of projects but I know realistically there isn’t and there would never be one. Primarily because such needs and proposals change every year. And it would be amusing if they would fall in line like the time of Solomon and raise their concerns one at a time.
So I’ll try this approach.
If all of our new leaders were required as part of their job description to present a list of their things to do for their whole term prioritized according to their own preference to the public, would it help?
I’m sure all of them have their own plans. But the bottomline is this. For each plan there is a cost. It may be monetary or in the form of time. Either way, it has a cost. Here is an example.
For the ConCon/ConAss (I’d rather call it ConCon as ConAss seems to me as a plan to con some ass or someone’s ass), there would be a lot of meetings. Meetings where there would be either relevant talk or distracted talk. By distracted talk I mean it has nothing to do with the purpose of the ConCon. How much would it cost per meeting? Where would each meeting be held? How many people are needed? How much time should be allotted per meeting?
These are questions I would like to ask because if each meeting would cost around, let’s say, a hundred thousand, And there are scheduled about 60-70 meetings for the first year, that would cost 6-7 million from the first year’s budget. Do we have that to give?
What if we do it this way?
You want a project funded? Then present how it would make us, i.e. our country, revenues.
Why? Because the expense should be justified by an income. Or at least a source of income.
Otherwise, the priority level of the project would be lower.
Here’s another example.
We want to propose the construction of new roads. Where are these roads going to be built? What are the possible industries of business sectors that we could present these roads to as cost effective for them to use. So that in turn, the construction of these roads would also be attractive to new investors. By prioritizing these roads, when would we be expecting a return of investment on them so that we could make even more roads?
We want to propose the improvement of our and even introduction of new ports. Is there an existing budget for it? Is the budget enough? If we improve the ports like the way the RORO’s were presented and implemented years ago, and offer our existing business sectors a cheaper alternative to importing and exporting goods through the water channels, then this would become attractive to new investors too.
We want to propose the use of cable cars into our country. The cost of this is greater because we are going to start from scratch. How about looking into rehabilitating our existing railroad systems so they could be used in the same way as the MRT and LRT are (including airconditioning) but towards the nearby and far away provinces. This could help decongest the roads of people trying to get into PUV’s that are already full and standing room only at the same time re-train the people to use trains again. The trains could be used to transport produce like fruits and vegetables in a cheaper and faster way, lessening spoilage. That way we would be helping this business sector earn more giving them more take home pay from their investments which we all know are nature dependent. Cheaper food sources would mean lesser expenses for the food business sector, making it more attractive for even more food business investors to come into our country.
We want to propose the construction of a nationwide sewerage system that would minimize flooding even during strong, long and insistent rains. The cost of this would ultimately lead to a lot of savings for both businesses, residences and disaster and rescue budgets. If we could establish that we have flood prevention measures then our country would be so attractive to investors who do not want the inconvenience and expense brought about by flooding.
Why do I suggest that we prioritize these? Because if we want to spend millions in meetings, we have to have a way to generate the money to spend. I know what it is like to just talk and talk and talk and not have anything happen because there isn’t any money to spend on those things we want to happen. So how about making money first so that you would have the money to spend while talking and talking and talking and talking some more. Not that I have anything against talking. If the ConCon would be able to address all the issues that are currently existing as loopholes in our systems and action implemented on them, then that would be one of the better investments of our country. What’s even better is if before the ConCon a draft of all the issues to be addressed is written and presented to the public to justify the need for a ConCon, then it would be easier for the common folk to understand what it is for.
The National Budget is just that. A budget. A list of numbers that everyone would be clamoring to have a piece of in every possible way they can. A list of numbers written on a piece of paper on which to spend on what. How about an upgrade? A National Budget that shows those that we plan to spend on for the first year of the new leaders’ term, along with a projection of National Revenues that we are expecting to receive from existing collections and planned projects. That way we know we would have enough money on the first year to spend on planned first year projects. Then we have timelines when these projects would be completed and become revenue generators too. Then the projected revenues from the completed planned projects would be reflected as the source of funds for the succeeding years’ National Budget. Plus, if the planned projects are not completed in time, then those items that are supposed to receive a piece of the budget for the succeeding years shall also not be given a budget. That way we would be able to motivate those who are in charge of the planned projects to actually make sure the projects get completed as scheduled, minimizing delays and postponements because a sector of the economy is waiting to receive their budget from its revenues. Then we would also be minimizing slaying each others’ projects because of lack of revenues.
And when the leaders get used to such a routine of “make money first so that it would be easier to ask money from the National Budget”. then we would possibly be an example to other developing countries. Then the decision to be a leader indeed was a decision to be a leader.
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