Dishonesty or appearance of dishonesty is
a leadership killer

Author’s note:


They say that perception (at times) is reality!
Are Mr. Siilanyo and his pack dishonest group; or are they victims of appearance of dishonesty? I think they are one or the other! There is a mist of suspicion hanging on Siilanyo and his administration particularly when:

a) Mr. Siilanyo distanced him self from his own base and from his Owen party men and women! When he abandoned the veterans who put him where he is now! The very ones who would have helped him in these times of crises, assuming that he does not want these crises! Strange, not really, because strange things are happening in Somaliland these days for reasons not clear to many of the Somaliland people!
Suspicion goes that Mr. siilanyo doesn’t want a nationalist strong team who have both the gut and the emotional connections with Mother-Somaliland!

b) When he abandoned the strong and the experienced people who would disagree him of any uncalle d-for and deceptive acts from him in one hand but help him in his administration where the country needed help most on the other hand.
Logic dictates that the man wouldn’t leave his men with no reason! Suspicion says, “There must be a serious motive that led him to exchange his party loyalist with a pack of no gut and emotional connect ions with the Mother!

Appearance of dishonesty came up as a result of his strange move upon becoming president! His choi ce of the defence and the interior Ministers, who with no doubt failed Somaliland, reinforced the suspic ion on Siilanyo! His leadership and his honesty became questionable as a result! I think the man must show Somaliland the “Gooder!” to clear the dust!

I think the Siilanyo’s government and the president in person must dispel and settle this suspicion on him once and for all by doing too things.

1) Avoid two “Ms”. that is Misleading and Misrepresentation of the facts and truth of the matter, not only by him but also by his Ministers and others working for him who made these two “Ms” a strategy!
A good leader has a worthy character. It is of paramount importance that a leader is trustworthy to lead those who elected him for that reason. A leader needs to be trusted and be known to live a life with honesty and integrity. A good leader walks the talk and in doing so earns the right to have respo nsibility for others. True authority is born from respect for the moral fiber and trustworthiness of the person who leads.

Leadership foundations
Leadership foundations are:

Trust- Authority- Dependability and Respect Trust being the bigger one!

Leadership killers are:

Unreliability and Disreputability Dishonesty being number one leadership killer
Dishonesty is the killer of trust.
Hypocrisy the killer of authority,
Unreliability the killer of dependability,
Disreputability the killer of respect,
I believe the killers actually reduce once effective or potentially effective leadership I believe the killers not only reduce effectiveness but entirely demolish leadership capacity altogether. Can you see that in Siilanyo’s presidency?

The truth Dishonesty brings:

Can dishonesty bring truth? The truth that dishonesty brings however is never about the lies, big or small! It is not about misappropriation, ill intentions, cover-up etc… it is always about the person choosing to be dishonest or born as such! The plain truth is that a dishonest person is not trustworthy. Thus, dishonesty kills trust and once trust is gone, leadership suffers, and so the society under that leadership goes with it unceremoniously, unless it is stopped on its track!

The value of trust

Can any one put a value on trust? People both need and want to trust those who lead them. While dishonesty and lost trust have been the failing points for many leaders throughout the course of history, it seems that many leaders do not pay attention to lessons learned The most damming of all is that trust is at times sacrificed for the purpose of personal gain, political aspiration and inside agendas developed in darkness both inside and outside of a given leader’s inner circle..

Trust is a leader’s most prized possession:

It is a foundational cornerstone to leadership. It is trust that allows a leader to ask people to follow him toward new ideas and concepts. It is trust that allows that leader to ask people to stick with him during hard, uncertain, uncomfortable, or changing times. It is trust that allows him to break bad news and have it received without a devastating impact on the entire government or establishment. Simply put, honesty and trust must be respected and safeguarded, And that is very often hard to do in some administration!
It is my conviction that trust is achieved - through honesty. Any break in honesty begins to shape at the trust granted the leader by those he leads. Thus trust is achieved through honesty!

The appearance of Dishonesty is Deadly
Perception is Reality! Too often (some) leaders lose sight that perception is very much indeed reality. The appearance of dishonesty is just as deadly as dishonesty. Leaders must make every effort to avoid the appearance of dishonesty. One must work to maintain his honesty and safeguard the trust of those he leads.

The following is a list of behaviors that lead to loss of trust as a result of broken honesty:

Honesty is the foundation stone of trust:

It is honesty that creates trust, a foundational cornerstone of effective leadership. It is this cornerstone that I think creates not only effective leaders, but exceptional ones. Keep in mind that many people who hold leadership positions do not posses these cornerstones. Hence, there are discrepancies amongst marginal, good, great, and exceptional leaders. In my judgment the exceptional leader is the one who has all of the cornerstones serving as a foundation to his philosophy and behavior.

I give surety to any one that, if the cornerstone of trust is compromised, both leadership effectiveness and its exceptionality will be negatively impacted. Precisely that is what seems happening in Siilanyo’s leadership! “Where is his head and heart?” people are wondering!