What is leadership? It is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal. It focuses on building strong relationships with others. A good leader inspires trust and confidence in other members of the group. A good leader gets things under control and guide people. Is this not what we are seeing now from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy?
Volodymyr Zelenskyy was born in 1978 is a Ukrainian politician, a former actor and comedian who is the sixth and current president of Ukraine.Zelenskyy grew up as a native Russian speaker in Kryvyi Rih, a major city in the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast of central Ukraine. Zelenskyy’ s father, Oleksandr Zelenskyy, is a professor and the head of the Department of Cybernetics and Computing Hardware at the Kryvyi Rih State University of Economics and Technology and his mother, Rymma Zelenska, is an engineer. Zelenskyy’s grandfather, Semyon Zelenskyy, served in the Red Army during the Second World War. Zelenskyy graduated in law from the National Economics, University of Kiev. He was an actor until he became the Ukrainian present. His television show “Servant of the People”, in which Zelenskyy played the role of President of Ukraine, takes him in the 2019 presidential election.
As president of Ukraine, he believed in and worked for unity between the Ukrainian and Russian-speaking parts of the country’s people. Zelenskyy’s communication style strongly uses social media, particularly Instagram. During his administration, Zelenskyy oversaw the lifting of legal immunity for members of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, the country’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic recession, and some progress in tackling corruption in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy promised to end the prolonged conflict between Ukraine and Russia as part of his presidential campaign and tried to dialogue with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Zelenskyy administration faced escalating tensions with Russia in 2021, culminating in the launch of a total Russian invasion under way in February 2022. Zelenskyy’s strategy during the Russian military reinforcement was to calm the Ukrainian population and assure the international community that Ukraine was not looking for revenge. He initially distanced himself from the warnings of an impending war, while requesting security guarantees and NATO military support to “resist” the threat. After the start of the invasion, Zelenskyy declared martial law all over Ukraine and general mobilization. His leadership, courage, bravery, and sacrifice in the current crisis against the Russian invasion earned him great international admiration and was described as a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. When asked to help him get out, he said, “I need ammunition, not a ride”. His love and sacrifice for the country, the people, and the nation, which have made him a hero and the number one leader not only for the Ukrainians but for the world. Yes, it is time for the world to stand alongside these leaders to improve the world for the future. We need thousands more leaders like Volodymyr Zelenskyy to bring peace to the world.
