This Week in Global Leadership: Facing Fears
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Read our series on global leaders who embody "The Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership", of The Leadership Challenge.
This week: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
The story reads like a heroic tale. A powerful figure is locked away, a defender of humanity denied access to her people. And yet, her well-wishers fought tirelessly to see her freed.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, defender of freedom in Burma and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1991, turned 66 last month, just 7 months after being released from house-arrest. She spent 15 of the last 21 years imprisoned but remarkably, over and over again she said that she felt no fear.
Somehow, I’d only heard rumor of Dr. Suu Kyi—until two days ago. Born in Rangoon in 1947, daughter to the founder of the Burmese army, Aung San, who was assassinated the same year she was born, Suu Kyi was raised by her mother. She went to school in India and England, achieving a degree in philosophy, politics and economics at Oxford. She worked for the UN in New York for three years before marrying Dr. Michael Aris, having her two children and raising them in England, where she got her PhD at the University of London. She returned to Burma to help her ailing mother where she was soon put under house arrest for her actions towards achieving democracy.
After spending hours combing through article after article, video after video, I find myself completely enamoured of Aung San Suu Kyi. I see Dr. Suu Kyi as a beacon of hope and a symbol of freedom. In her oft quoted speech from 1990, “Freedom from Fear”, Dr. Suu Kyi states her belief that “Fearlessness may be a gift, but perhaps more precious is the courage acquired through endeavour, courage that comes from cultivating the habit of refusing to let fear dictate one's actions, courage that could be described as 'grace under pressure'—grace which is renewed repeatedly in the face of harsh, unremitting pressure.”
Aung San Suu Kyi embodies leadership and courage. She has been recognized the world over as a leader in non-violent heroism, activism, and in efforts defending human rights. More than anything, I am proud to [finally] know that such an incredible example of human dignity endures today. I hope more leaders and individuals can live up to the standards of grace and courage that Aung San Suu Kyi has symbolized and embodied for decades.
“A leader's dynamic does not come from special powers. It comes from a strong belief in a purpose and a willingness to express that conviction.” Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner, The Leadership Challenge.
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photo courtesy of http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk via creative commons license.
