The Gullas Institute of Leadership

Last Saturday, the 28th of January, the first leadership lecture series of the Gullas Institute of Leadership was held with Senator Juan Ponce Enrile as speaker. The target audience was a multi-sectoral group composed of educators, business leaders, local government officials and college students.

The speaker, being the president of the Senate, and the presiding officer of the ongoing impeachment trial, was expected to say something about this happening. But true to the subject of his talk, leadership, the Senator chose to dwell on the topic without digressing even briefly to other issues.

One of the points he stressed about leadership was the courage to follow one’s conviction of what is right and to stand for it no matter what happens. In the process, he said, the leader could be like a voice in the wilderness. He could be alone against the whole world. But he should persevere.

Reminiscent of Shakespeare’s “like a strong and virtuous soul, a seasoned timber never gives. . .” But this thing is not a mere theoretical statement. For Enrile, who hails from a humble family, had to work his way to college. Against seemingly insurmountable odds he struggled until he realized his ambition: to became a successful lawyer.

The Gullas lecture series on leadership, a component of the Gullas Institute of Leadeship, was conceptualized to accentuate the personal traits of the country’s outstanding leaders in government, business, and in other fields of endeavor with the hope that such traits could be emulated by the current and incoming crop of leaders, thus ensuring a healthy supply of these people for the good of the country.

In the words of its proponent, Congressman Eduardo R. Gullas, these lectures will “showcase leaders of national prominence to give a lecture on their own leadership principles and precepts” to people who have the seed of leadership in their hearts. Precepts and principles, values and morality – these constitute the major themes of this series. Of course there would also be the so-called “knowledge” component, for a leader needs to know also the ropes of his trade, but this will only be peripheral in focus to the internalization of time-honored values.

And what are these values? In the curriculum framework of these talks, the following values have been identified: integrity, honesty, humility, courage, commitment, sincere, compassion, sensitivity, and determination. Quite a mouthful, yet without these qualities absorbed in the mind and heart of a leader he would not succeed. Wanting in these qualities a pretender would perhaps ride high in his domain, but only for a time because events will inevitably unmask him for what he is and he will end up abandoned and rejected.

This happened to dictators and despots in the past right here in our country. This is happening in the “Arab Spring” countries in the Middle East. What you sow you reap, says the Scripture. Karma could claim even the high and mighty.

For the off-and-on participants, lecturing will have only a minimal impact as far as learning the leadership values is concerned. But for the leadership fellows, who will be required to attend every lecture as part of their training, the effect is expected to be far-reading. These fellows, by the way, will be the scholars of the Institute. Classes will be conducted for them for three hours every Saturday for 8 months or the equivalent of 96 hours of lecture, discussion, and on-the-job mentoring.

Initially 30 fellows will compose the first batch, then another 30 will be recruited the following year, and in the third and fourth year to complete a pool of 120 scholars. The first 30 fellows will be chosen from among UV’s academic scholars but in the succeeding years the slots will be open to top performing tertiary students from other colleges and universities. Academic competence plus positive character traits (as revealed in interviews) will be the selection criterion.

It is hoped that with the Institute operating in full swing, the role of the UV as a catalyst for progress will be strengthened.