My girl, Cristina, (like I said in the very beginning and dedicated Beyoncé's Who Runs the World (Girls) blah blah blah) is still my girl, but she is seeming more and more just a girl. Unfortunately the plastic surgery for her isn't working so well anymore, but she's always well done-up. On top of it all, I rather like her hair.
I've been waiting for about a month to hear from her with regards to the Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week (the first week of April). We already have a national holiday on Monday, and would only have to go to school Tuesday and Wednesday, which as we all know officially stinks. Argentina has this thing with giving feriados, or national holidays, usually resulting in long weekends for Argentines. The purpose really is to promote tourism within the city; a self-boost if you will.
But now it's too close to Holy Week and I need to make vacation plans, so I'm leaving Cristina in the dust and proceeding to Wine Country.
The reason I say all this, is because Cristina is becoming more of a friend.*
Dear LEAD 203,
What do you think about leaders that become friends? Is there a level of respect for expectations that is lost because of familiarity with the superior/inferior? When does talk and hype finally reach the endpoint? If you're among people that love you for your charisma, how can you keep yourself in touch with your goals and what you said you would do to show those that remain strangers to you that you are still thinking about them?
My host family makes it clear to me that Cristina talks and talks and talks (and I see her talk and talk and talk on the tele almost every day somewhere else about something else) and does nothing to uphold her promises.
That's called "False Advertising", and is punishable by law. The law here probably wouldn't do anything, something that is also being made clear to me, but where's the moral law inside each humane human being? Where is the substance behind your words?
I'd like to know.
Angela
Hey Angela!
ReplyDeleteI have loved reading your posts and figured I might as well comment on this one since you are clearly looking for some sort of response...
I would have to say that at least it sounds a lot like what we are learning about. Cristina is caught up on creating and maintaining relationships, just as most reactive cultures, like Argentina. However I can see the disconnect you are talking about between her saying things and her actually following through. I think this is a problem a lot of interactions between different cultures can have, one person looking for more of a relationship and the other looking for the leadership. Since both are needing different things the actual connection is lost in translation and unfortunately neither party gets what they need.
I am not sure if that was helpful at all but I can definitely see the problem that arises.
Feel free to correct me if I am mistaken on any of this.
I hope your trip is going amazingly well!
Hello there, dear!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much - I have been having an awesome time writing. It's becoming quite a part of my daily thoughts, that is, things that I can share with you guys. Sometimes it's draining to write all I have to say, and a lot of the time it's basic philosophy that I start to ask questions around leadership tactics and the like.
It's interesting to me to see the leadership theories in daily life here, what you're talking about thus is entirely relevant, especially with the upcoming presidential election in the States. It returns back to one of my first posts in February where I shared what one of my intensive Spanish teachers said: how can you say you support a candidate or you like a candidate if they haven't done anything yet? This of course takes into consideration the understanding that they haven't had a CHANCE to do anything yet. Banking on their credibility, we say we "support" said person.
What seems to happen now is the people like Cristina because of who she is, instead of what she's done. The problem with that is not that she's focusing on relationships and plessing people, but the pleasing is only superficial: inflation is on the rise, companies are stopping their imports, people are unhappy with the education system, more and more there are clues and expression of corruption in public transportation, in the currency printing, the judicial system, etc etc. Things aren't being fixed by the government or given the time of day. What is government funded though is "Fútbol para todos", so that television service providers provide the soccer games to every house that has a TV.
Following through on what she says she'll aim to do, even if she doesn't get the chance to see "it" through all the way, as we so often know can happen because of the time it takes to get something done (like fix the economy... which can't really be done but by time: aka it's not going to be fixed by a signature and a 2/3 majority vote) is part of the problem, but also I think the focus of the government needs to be readjusted: soccer or education.
They should apply Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. (Sorry for the above run-on)
All in all, I completely agree with you. Instead of it simply being one-person-to-one-person leadership interaction, it's the masses (the people) versus the president and the president's supporters. I think what I conclude is we shouldn't, especially after experience (a person's time in office, in this case) be blinded by charisma.
Thanks for the comment!! Hope all is well with you!