BUDDHIST LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21st CENTURY

Abstract

Leadership development is a process that one or more persons try to use influence of their own or their groups for encouraging, guiding and pushing other person or group who had their willingness and enthusiasm to do everything as they want with success of group or organization as their goal. Buddhism places importance on concept of leadership by considering that all societies had persons who were born to serve or to be leaders for others, they should have their leadership and being persons who come to solve all problems. Considering evidence from Buddhist scriptures found in Aggañña Sutta (scripture on the beginning and evolution of world and human society) stated that in the first period that world and human society had been happened already. Human had not any defilement (Kilesa) and morality as a basic ethical rule of the society and causes taking advantage each other. Then human began to search some proper persons for being their leaders and solving such problem. This indicated that leadership had been appeared in Buddhist contents by Buddhist leadership development in the 21 st century. Leaders who will be able to develop their leaderships efficiently shall have following characteristics: - mastery, ideology, up to date, decisiveness, strategic vision, teamwork, service mind and integration of Buddhist principles for leadership development. If leaders can develop themselves as mentioned above, they would be able to be leaders with desirable characteristics in the 21st century.