‘Leadership is all about being authentic and genuine’ – Zerafa Advocates Founder Omar Zerafa

Zerafa Advocates Founder and Partner Omar Zerafa on Tuesday (today) shared that leadership is characterised by showing a sense of authenticity and genuineness towards the rest of the team.

Posting on social media, Dr Zerafa, who founded the law firm in 2014, said that being a business leader is not about being greater than others and the achievements the individual in question has achieved.

“It is about rolling up your sleeves and encouraging others to grow, be their best, and shine,” he noted. In doing so, he was referring to the notion of servant leadership.

Servant leadership is a leadership style that centres around the idea that leaders prioritise serving the greater good, focusing on their team and the organisation first and foremost. They do not prioritise their own objectives, aiming to give their employees a voice instead. This enables employees to learn and grow, bringing their own expertise to the table in the process.

Dr Zerafa added that leadership is about making the team feel that there is “someone caring for them” and someone who is “helping them achieve their best in life”.

“It is about creating a vision and exciting others to believe in it for the greater good,” he highlighted.

However, he clarified that it is also about “learning that it is ok to make mistakes”, and that the business leader at times knows less than other people. It is also important to note, he added, that business leaders may sometimes make the wrong decisions, and leadership is characterised by admitting such mistakes, recovering from them, and continuing to power through.

“Leadership is all about being authentic and genuine,” he concluded.

Dr Zerafa is an Advocate that specialises in financial services and Fintech, and aside from being at the helm of Zerafa Advocates, he is also the Owner and Director of its subsidiaries Zerafa Trustees and Zerafa.io Ltd. He is also a Lecturer at IDEA Academy and holds a Doctor of Laws from University of Malta, among other qualifications.