the leadership perspective of Dr Muhammad Yunus

When I made my decision to join Grameen Bank as intern, I have never pictured any leadership learning. I just asked to be a silent follower so that I could learn about microcredit. Little did I know that this investigation on Grameen Bank as well as Muhammad Yunus would turn out to be a leadership bonanza that made me no longer a silent follower.

During the first semester of Asia Pacific Leadership Program, we took time investigating the context of leadership. We have come across with a number of concepts regarding to leadership, and I always thought these concepts are nothing but fancy jargons. Therefore, it is indeed to my surprise to see how Dr Yunus’s amazing work in eliminating poor echoes these fancy jargons.

A leader is in no lack of vision. I still recall the future scenario methodology we learnt from classes. The core spirit of this methodology is to make the leader envision future. And Prof Muhammad Yunus clearly have a vision, that is, to put poverty into museums. Dr Yunus envisions a world which poverty is only found in the museums that reminds future generations the mistakes we have made in the past. This is such a simplistic yet powerful message to others: he encourages people to think about something a lot of people dare not to even dream about it.

He is not just a day-dreamer. As a leader, Dr Yunus initiates changes, and even challenged people to leave their comfort zones. In 1980’s, women in the country were told not to go anywhere beyond their houses. They were told to be absolutely obedient to their husbands, even if their husbands abuse them. They were not even supposed to touch money. But Dr Yunus went against these traditional taboos upheld by Bangladesh culture and told women to go out from their houses, unite together and become the financial minister of the family. And now Bangladesh became the most women-right-conscious countries among Islamic countries.

And a leader should have the most compassion to achieve the vision among he and his followers. Unlike a lot of empty propagandas theorists made, Dr Yunus is definitely a man of his word. He was an economics professor himself, enjoying good salary and above-average life. However, he chose to forgo the easy life as well as elegant economic theories and go deep into the villages. He also chose not to stay in neat offices like government officials and cry foul for the desperate poor people. Instead, he went door by door, village to village to help poor people for two years before finding out the root of poverty in Bangladesh.

Having said that,  a leader is not about incinerating his compassion without making things sustainable. Dr Yunus is no philanthropist (although most of the people think he is.) He is not simply handing money or resources to poor people, like what the majority of NGOs do. He did not wait other philanthropists to trickle down their wealth before he can continue his help to poor people. Instead he chose to give out loans and make Grameen Bank self-sustainable. He encouraged self-employment among poor people that freed a lot of them from the exploitation of loan-sharks. He made his passion in eliminating poor into a workable model that everyone now advocates.

More importantly, a leader navigates changes. Dr Yunus is not trying to stay satisfied because of the success of Grameen Bank. Instead, he spotted the insufficiency of microcredit as the only weapon against poverty. The poor people didn’t have good health, good education to place themselves in the same starting line as non-poor. Therefore, Dr Yunus came up with the concept of social business which extends the help to different fields. As of now Grameen families is working with water company, healthcare company, yogurt factory and even garment brands to bring solid changes to poor people’s life.

Let's not forget the fact that leader is charismatic. This requires no lengthy explanation. Just look at Grameen Check, a clothing brand under Grameen Family, which turns Dr Yunus’ personal clothing taste into fashion. Let’s not mention the numerous speeches Dr Yunus made throughout the world as well as the three famous books he wrote.

And finally, a leader steps down. From Hawaii we have seen leaders being torn down because of their toxic leadership. In the case of Dr Yunus he stepped down in 2011 from the managing director of Grameen Bank not because of toxic leadership, but a political disfavor from the current government. It is certainly surprising to see that even with Dr Yunus stepped down, people are still very optimistic about Grameen Bank’s future. This is because, unlike a lot of toxic leaders, Dr Yunus didn’t make Grameen Bank to be dependent of his power. Instead, he inspires his subordinates and the borrowers to continue the work on microcredit. Despite Dr Yunus’s departure, the bank is still flourishing as usual.


And that’s why there is no reason Dr Yunus is not included in any textbooks of leadership. I encourage every leader and leader-to-be to come to Bangladesh and witness the greatness of a giant in our generation.