Nine Marks of Genuine Leadership

The country is alive with social conversations and movements as the May 9 national and local elections near.

Conversations and movements online are stronger than ever during this year’s electionseason. Social media platforms have become the conversation space of choice for many Filipinos. In recent news releases, Facebook reports that a “total of 12 million people around the world participated in conversations about the Philippine elections from November 20, 2015 to March 8, 2016, resulting in more than 81 million interactions.” 

Notably, out of 49 million Facebook users in the country, “20 percent are actively engaged and are sharing their opinions on key election issues.” 

While conversations are alive online, offline movements have likewise taken off. This time, there are strong volunteer movements all over the country, with volunteers having taken an active role in campaigning for their chosen candidates. 

As the day when wecast our votes gets closer, movementsonline and offline have become very influential in selecting whom to vote for. With the winning candidates set to inherit a slew of social, economic, and environmental challenges, our duty of making informed and deliberate choices consonant with this country’s needs are of utmost importance. 

However, with a myriad of candidates on the table, deafening campaign jingles and advertisements, and accusations, black propaganda, and mudslinging found in reports and online movements, how does one now separate fact from fiction? How does one now make informed, conscious, and meaningful choices? 

More importantly, how does one now discern which candidate truly encompasses the attributes and abilities needed to successfully lead our country – or locally, our towns and cities? How does one decide? 

To assist voters in making thoughtful, discerned choices this election day, the Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center (EADSC) of the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc. (RAFI) has developed “The Nine Marks of Genuine Leadership”, a  framework for evaluating candidates based on parameters that EADSC believes are crucial for good governance.

The “Nine Marks of Genuine Leadership” was introduced in 2010 in time for the 2010 presidential and localelections. Considering the universality of this framework, EADSC reintroduces this guide in 2016to help the public make informed and deliberate choices for their local and national candidates. 

The “Nine Marks of Genuine Leadership” are anchored on EADSC’s 3Cs framework of Character, Competence, and Citizenship. Below are the Nine Marks of Genuine Leadership, use this as a guide in coming up with your choice of who to vote: 

• People and Service Oriented: engages people as stakeholders and partners, and serves them, primarily and their needs.
• Accountable: upholds principles and agreements, establishes management measures, and promotes respect for the rule of law.
• Open and Transparent: develops and implements mechanisms and processes to declare, manifest, and promote shared information and decisions.
• Responsive and Decisive: formulates policies, organizes programs, provides services that meet stakeholder needs and respond to the uniqueness of assets.
• Fair and Impartial: ensures that everyone is heard and that no one is left behind.
• Competent and Effective: ensures that resources are managed well and that policies, programs, and services are achieving desired results and outcomes.
• A Model of Integrity and Spirituality: integrates outward action and inner values.
• Consensus Builder: forges agreements to sustain relationships, initiatives, and efforts.
• Has Strategic Vision and Creativity: holds a long term perspective on governance and development, examines performance, learns from the best, and pioneers efforts.

To help voters in their discernment process, the “Nine Marks of Genuine Leadership” draws inspiration from numerous sources including biblical references, the United Nations’ good governance criteria, the theories of leadership expert John Maxwell, and Cebu’s Dilaab Foundation’s Circles of Discernment for the Elections. 

“The guide can be used as a tool for analysis and decision-making by voters in the current elections,” said Evelyn Nacario-Castro, executive director of EADSC. While preferences may vary, an individual may value one mark far more than others and thus give it more weight when examining candidates, or alternatively, they may decide to disregard a mark if they believe a candidate’s strengths or weaknesses in that particular area have little bearing on their future leadership performance. 

“The goal is not to lead voters to a particular decision. But with today’s abundance of information on each candidate, which are either fact or fiction, we would like to engage and challenge voters to really think through and think deliberately about their voting decisions,” said Castro. 

The Nine Marks of Genuine Leadership helps voters shift from decision-making based on popularity,winnability, outward appearance, campaign slogans, and even trending borne out of survey results towards thinking critically and deliberately about candidates’ qualification, character, and platform in light of the country’s or communities’ challenges and potentials for development.

The guide and discussion will be put into practice once more during the Local Candidates Fora organized by Mega Cebu and the Commission on Elections. As conversations have started on online platforms, the Local Candidates Fora from April 13 to 20, 2015 at the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, Inc.  – Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center will provide a space for interaction and discussion between local candidates and constituents. 

Through the Nine Marks of Genuine Leadership framework and the Local Candidates Fora, EADSC hopes to actively engage and inspire voters to think critically and discern about the candidates. It is hoped that this framework inspires conversations and facilitates discernment helping voters make the right choices. 

Before we cast our votes on May 9, let us all ask and seek answers to a very basic question: Does the candidate have the 3Cs of Competence, Character and Citizenship to lead and shepherd the development of the country or communities and address the needs of their constituents? 

Join the conversation. To follow the conversation and for live updates on the Local Candidates Fora, visit the Facebook page of the RAFI Eduardo Aboitiz Development Studies Center.