The public face of a leader

A leader is a public figure and necessarily has a visible image.In the high pressure work environment in a global setting driven by technology,appearances and actions of leaders are observed by all,many a times even by those who may be looking for faults in a leader.Besides,the print and electronic media looks for stories with a ‘news”value.It is in this area that many a public figure slip up,either by wrong or inappropriate statements or by incorrect body language or many a times literally “caught napping”.The daily appointments for senior political or business leaders are generally made by secretaries in the overall interest of the public image of the leader.At times,such duties extend beyond the biological comfort zone of a leader.For example ,a seventy plus leader of national stature made to sit through a six hour long awards function without a break or a senior sixty plus business leader as a chief guest in a long winding social function.Many such events do not come in the priority one agenda of the leader but he or she has to go through such onerous duties as part of their job.It is here that the leader has to be very discrete in accepting such engagements as his or her lack of total engagement with the event gives them away either in their body language or irritability publicly displayed for all to observe.The bottom line is the leader should learn to “live in the present”and any occasions where a leader fails to do so invites public wrath and disaster and affects his or her stature and reputation in the long run.It is a good practice to avoid such occasions.