A PRIZE FOR "STABILITY" IS A FAIRY TALE FOR THE ONE, AND A CRUEL REALITY FOR MANY

Germany Praises Serbia as Source of Stability, Enabling a Fairy Tale for a Good European

By Dragoslav DEDOVIĆ (partly) Source Deutsche Welle

Whether it’s kissing frogs, slaying dragons or battling wits with the wicked witch, fairy tales hold salient leadership lessons for today’s executives.. And fairy tales, with their immediately recognizable dramatics, characters and fundamental moral truths provide universal insights into human behavior, illustrating the dangers of leadership and various ways in which executives can derail. The Emperor is like many leaders we encounter. They can be intimidating, even frightening, but when we study them more carefully, we realize their power and authority have no substance. Fairy tales are written in such a way to make executives aware of the dangers they will encounter on their various quests and the fundamental issues they will confront associated with the leadership mystique. There are five "deadly dangers": • The first danger, one many leaders are prone to, is lack of self-knowledge. Why do some leaders succeed and others derail? What differentiates effective and ineffective leaders? Why do bad things happen? • The second is hubris. Many leaders become too arrogant and lose touch with reality. Why do so many leaders self-destruct in this way? • The third danger is a leader’s inability to get the best out of people. Ineffective leaders fail to stretch the people who work for them. They don’t know how to make people better than who they think they can be. • Linked to this danger is the fourth and greater danger, a leader’s inability to create well-functioning teams. Effective leaders are aware of and accept their personal limitations and surround themselves with people who have the strengths they lack, creating executive role constellations of people with complementary characteristics. • The fifth danger is the creation of an organizational gulag. What is it that prevents leaders building great places to work? And why are there so many workplaces that stifle people?  A leader does not just need the right tools. To be an effective leader, they need to recognize their own unique capabilities and passions.  The model of the hero or heroine, who struggles and eventually succeeds by taking resolute action, may stimulate emerging leaders to do the same. Although fairy tales take us into imaginary realms, peopled with talking animals and monstrous beings. In life, what really matters is that we have the chance to be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming. One of the greatest human fears is that at the end of our life we might discover that we have never really lived. We all have the urge to live fully, to do something significant, and to make a difference. The messages contained in fairy tales can be seen as warnings of what can go wrong for people in a leadership position. However, they are also intended to inspire hope and the belief that something better can be achieved. With this in mind, reading fairy tales with open ears and heart may help leaders understand what they can do better.  [The picture on the top left has no connection with the above text, beside a convenient title. The above text consists of parts recomposed from the larger text entitled "Leadership Lessons From the Brothers Grimm"]

Often a dictator has many followers because of their dynamic and controlling personality.

Opinion: A fairy tale for good Europeans. The "pro-European candidate" has won Serbia's presidential election, Western media are happy to report. Aleksandar Vucic's image affords him a hasty stamp of approval, writes DW's Dragoslav Dedovic.
Why does Aleksandar Vucic (seen above) strike many political observers as a moderate despite his authoritarian tendencies? The general political climate is foremost to blame. With London and Washington giving the EU a cold shoulder, any EU fan is warmly welcomed - including from Belgrade.
Vucic, currently the prime minister, will be able to rule the next five years as president without discernible opposition. A third consecutive victory in last year's parliamentary vote for his populist conservative Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) gave Vucic a strong mandate heading into the election. Now, as party leader and soon-to-be president, he is by far the most powerful political leader in Serbia, even though prime minister is traditionally the office that wields the most authority in the country.
Serbia's head of state may be largely ceremonial, but independence for Serbian institutions remains out of reach. Power is concentrated at the top. Vucic will install a puppet prime minister who can make him look good if the government performs well.
If not, he can distance himself from it or even become a harsh critic of it. He has to do very little but praise or punish his loyal servants propelling his agenda.

An ideal democrat - or not
Western capitals are well aware of Vucic's prevalence for insulting journalists, brushing off opposition and using manipulative control tactics. Off the record, many paint a very different domestic picture of this internationally praised, allegedly ideal democrat - one of a barely democratic politician obsessed with validation. However, he can distract from the pitiful state of the media and legal system by generally towing the pro-Kosovo line and repeating a mantra of stability.
Certainly the situation in Belgrade today is all but idyllic in comparison to its bloody past. Despite tensions with neighboring countries, Vucic is perceived rather well throughout the region and is hardly a problem for the West. At home, he has the freedom to rant and rave, appearing at least 10 times more often across Serbian television channels during the campaign than the opposition and using jobs as a means of blackmailing voters.
The quiet hope is Vucic will moderate in the course of negotiating EU membership for his country. Whether that will actually be the case remains far from certain. Only his next five years of rule will reveal the leader's true self.

Germany's Gabriel praises Serbia as source of stability. Serbia should improve its ties with Kosovo and continue working on reforms, German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in Belgrade. He also described the current wave of anti-goverment rallies as a "part of democracy."
Germany is ready to support Serbia's on its way to joining the EU, Gabriel said after meeting Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic on Wednesday.
"We believe that the path that [Serbia] wants to take is a good one," Gabriel said after kicking off his mini-tour of the Balkans.
At the Belgrade press conference, the German representative warned that "old demons" were waking up in some parts of the Balkans, but praised Serbia as an "anchor of stability" that helps reduce tensions.

Ties with Kosovo 'essential'
Germany's foreign minister is also set to visit Kosovo on Thursday, followed by Albania next week, where he is expected to urge the Balkan states to keep moving towards Brussels. The Balkans are currently facing a fresh rise of nationalism with ruling parties using xenophobic rhetoric to boost their support in the impoverished region. Tensions run especially high between Serbia and the Albanian-majority Kosovo, which Belgrade still regards as a runaway province.
According to Gabriel, Belgrade needs to keep up the reforms and "continue to develop better relations with Kosovo."
"That is an essential precondition for accession to the European Union," he said.
Gabriel also congratulated Prime Minister Vucic for winning the presidential election earlier this month. Vucic, who is set to take over as head of state by the end of May, enjoys Western support despite accusations of growing autocracy and suppressing dissent in Serbia.

Protests 'quite common'
Vucic's recent election victory triggered widespread protests in many Serbian cities, with protesters accusing him of manipulating the media and rigging election results. Commenting on the protests on Wednesday, Gabriel said that they were a "part of democracy."
"If you want to get into the EU, you must know that demonstrations and protests against democratically-elected governments and president are possible, permitted and within the EU, quite common," he said.
The Balkans are still reeling from the aftermath of the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. The religiously and ethnically diverse region has a large strategic importance for Russia, the EU, and Turkey, with each major power trying to project its influence through local players. Despite conflicting interests, the EU remains by far the most important foreign partner for Balkan regimes, providing economic aid, as well as political and infrastructure projects.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, toured the region last month, seeking to reassure those governments that the EU was still willing to accept them as members, despite strife inside the bloc.

[LG doesn't share the "vision" of Serbian pathway to EU, at the expense of humiliation, grabbing territories, and dictatorship in Serbia. The text is translated to Serb's language from English language, as is. However, LG holds as truthful that territories of Autonomic Province of Kosovo and Metohija are the part of the Republic of Serbia, as determined by Kumanovo Agreement, and that these territories are temporarily occupied by the NATO aggressor The quisling para-state named "Kosovo", that the occupier has formed of collaborators, terrorists and Shqiptar ethnic minority armed rebels in Serbia, can not legally exist, according to the international legislative]