The leadership challenge in Africa

I am using this month’s communication to advertise my book The leadership challenge in Africa. If you haven’t done so yet, you are welcome to order the book from me directly – just send me an email. The book is also now avaliable at Exclusive Books, Van Schaik and other bookshops. Any bookshop will order it from ‘On the Dot’ if they don’t have it on their shelves.  Since my idea behind the book is to stimulate the debate about how we as South Africans are going to respond to the challenges we experience at the different levels of society, it is my sincere hope that many people would read it and that leaders would use the information, insights and questions for discussion to develop the leadership thinking in their organisations. Will you consider buying books for your people in leadership positions as a development initiative? I can come and do an hour’s introductory talk for any group of people.

 

To give you a taste of the book, the following is a quotation from it:              

 

“…Working in small groups, I began to understand the differences between European and African cultures. I discovered that a broader and more differentiated view of human intelligence than traditional Western thought was more appropriate and valid. I also experienced the opportunity of bringing the worlds of Western and African thinking and culture together in the broader context of globalisation.

 

At the same time, I experienced the frustration of white people who, in the new South African society, struggled to come to terms with the changes. There were the fears of the early nineties of nationalised mines, a socialist economy and revenge in some or other form by blacks against whites. These fears later made way for growing concerns about job security in the light of affirmative action policies, and rising crime statistics. Most white people would admit, however, that in terms of their daily lives, not much had changed. They still enjoyed privileged lives, indeed good lives, compared to the majority of black South Africans However, it was left to the individual to work through or ignore the psychological effects of weakened belief systems and threatened ideological convictions. A substantial part of Afrikaner identity was previously dominated by the vision of a white South Africa overcoming a hostile world and black revolution. That vision suddenly evaporated  which explained the frustration and confusion amongst many white South Africans. It  was now left to the individual to determine how he or she wanted to find new meaning and a new orientation for the future. For many, it became a purely materialistic matter: the accumulation and protection of material possessions, and the escapism that international travel provided.

 

However, without a vision that gives meaning to the past and inspiration for the future, negativity easily sets in – particularly in times of turbulence. It feeds upon itself as more and more people accept and propagate the negative aspects of change and in doing so undermine the psyche of society. The little islands of materialistic fortune that some have created for themselves are not sustainable and, in any event,  provide no refuge from the mood of general negativity. People brought up with a deeply concealed but real fear of losing what is precious when they open themselves to others, require great courage to break those patterns of thinking and behaviour. One does not easily adapt to seeing the world differently. 

 

These experiences of South Africa’s transformation, which coincided with my own search for personal identity, inspired much of my research journey in preparation for this book. South Africa’s transformation to a full democracy and the rise of a new nation, awakened my need to know more about Africa’s history, her culture, and the leadership that is needed for Africa to fulfil its enormous potential on the world stage. Many South African leaders are predominantly influenced by a Western worldview, education and cultural orientation. I am convinced they need to realign themselves with the realities of Africa’s history and culture. Furthermore, I asked myself, what is the nature of the vision that would inspire all the people of Africa to build a continent everyone can be proud of and that will command the respect of the rest of the world?

 

As I explore these issues in the book, it is my hope to reveal perspectives and deepen the insights of those who want to be empowered and who want to contribute to a better Africa. I hope this book will be a valuable resource in developing leadership potential and vibrant organisational rebirth to effectively take Africa from where it is to where it has the potential to be. My aim with this book is to provide a framework that can assist any leader or future leader to exercise influence in Africa in a meaningful and effective way.”

 

The chapters of the book are the following:

 

Preface

1. The Essence of Leadership 

2. Leadership and Vision – A Dream for Africa 

3. Leadership and Context - Africa’s Current Reality 

4. Leadership and Culture - Building on African Culture in a Global Context

5. Leadership and Transformation – Developing Leaders in Africa 

6. Perspectives on South Africa’s Transformation 

Epilogue 

Key Questions for Reflection and Discussion 

 

Lastly I give you an example of a discussion question: “On a scale of 1 to 10, how cynical are the majority of people in your organisation about South African society? How does it influence the climate in the organisation and what is the role of leaders in this respect? How would you describe the top three needs of South African society where anyone can make a difference? What are practical ways to involve people in social responsibility and how will that influence the work environment?”  

 

I don’t know about you, but I am really looking forward to warmer and longer days -  global warming doesn’t seem to have reached South Africa yet.

 

I wish you all the best for July. Continue with the good things you are doing, influencing others in a positive way!  

 

Best regard

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated - William James

It was true when we were children, when we were teenagers, in our twenties, thirties and forties … and it is still true today: Whatever our age, we want to feel appreciated – it will be so until the day we die. There is nothing that can give us back that spark and energy to face the rest of the day or week, like a sincere word of appreciation. There is nothing that can change our attitude in an instant, like a surprising word of appreciation. There is nothing that can calm us down when we are on the attack, like a word of appreciation. There is nothing that can help us to appreciate other people, like when we receive a word of appreciation ourselves. Appreciation comes in all kinds: ‘Thank you for helping me out when I was in trouble’; ‘Thank you for being there for me’; ‘Thank you for understanding’; ‘Thank you for letting me feel valued’; ‘Thank you for your cooperation’; ‘Thank you for being the person you are’; ‘You made a difference to my life’; ‘You’ve done a great job here’.

The fact that we all have this ‘craving to be appreciated’, leads to potentially two different outcomes in the workplace. If the general feeling is that we are not appreciated at work, we tend to become more and more self centered. Whether you are the boss or a subordinate, if you don’t feel appreciated for your efforts, contributions, hard work and commitment, your thoughts begin to centre around yourself rather than the vision or purpose of the organisation, the role you can play, and other people’s needs. Your thoughts probably go in the direction of ‘what is it that keeps me here’. In the false hope that financial compensation will make up for the lack of people’s appreciation you try to motivate yourself with the security argument or thoughts of financial reward that still might come your way. In the meantime, you will simply go through the motions and try to keep your expectations of work enjoyment and sense of significance as low as possible.

The other possibility is that the work environment is one where in general people do feel appreciated - for their work as well as for the value of the relationships that they have with each other. People in such an environment snowball in a different direction - away from self centeredness to other centeredness: ‘What can I do to make the new member of our organisation feel more welcome?’; ‘What can I do to assist an overstressed colleague?’; ‘What can I do to improve our work processes?’; What can I do to let those who feel marginalised feel valued and appreciated?

We all know which of the two environments we would like to work in. What is the key to a positive work environment of appreciation? Leadership behaviour and leadership attitude. In simple terms it is to take the lead in showing appreciation rather than waiting for it. Our biggest obstacle in doing so is when we find it hard to appreciate ourselves. Hand in hand with appreciating ourselves is the ability to forgive ourselves and to get rid of the false belief that successful people never fail.

The following words of guidance (taken from The Seasoned Campaigner) can help you develop the right perspective on your own disappointments and sense of failure and put you in the positive frame of mind that will make you appreciate other people:

‘The vast majority of highly successful people didn’t just fail once; they failed countless times before they achieved success. Where they differ from everyone else is that after every failure they sit back and asked themselves what they needed to adjust/tweak/change with the next attempt – they know that, in order to develop, grow, and become successful, they have to experience failure.
No matter how many mistakes they make, high achievers never let their mistakes devalue their worth as a person because they recognise the fact that God uses people who fail – there just isn’t any other kind of person around! In their walk through the difficulties they encountered on their road to success every high achiever cultivated seven abilities that were responsible for giving them the ability to stand up, dust themselves off, and keep on running. These are the seven:
1. Reject Rejection: They never berate themselves for failure. They keep their self-worth intact because they don’t base their self-worth on any one performance in isolation. Their internal system never allows them to say “I’m a failure” – it only permits them to say “I missed that one” or “I made a mistake”. If you blame yourself when you fail you condition yourself into believing that you are worthless or talentless. Yes, you have to take responsibility for your actions and failures but you don’t have to take failure personally.
2. See Adversity as a Valuable Teacher: Successful people see any predicament as merely a temporary condition and not as a hole in which they are stuck forever. They have the confidence in themselves and in their abilities to know that setbacks happen and that their response to any setback is far more important than the setback itself. They are on the constant lookout for knowledge and know that this is often buried in adversity, so they are not afraid to confront adversity because they discard the baggage adversity brings and carry the diamonds they found buried under it in their pockets – and just keep on walking.
3. See Failures as Isolated Incidents: When high achievers fail they see the failure as a momentary event, not as a lifelong epidemic – it’s not personal – just the wrong move at the wrong time. They never let any single incident colour the view they hold of themselves.
4. Keep Expectations Realistic: The greater the objective you want to achieve, the greater the mental preparation required for overcoming the obstacles that you will encounter. You have to develop a dogged determination to “stay the course until the race is finished”. It takes time, effort, and ability to overcome setbacks, so why set yourself up for a painful experience with unrealistic expectations. High achievers approach each day with reasonable expectations in the knowledge that they can only take one step at a time. In this way they prevent their feelings getting hurt when things don’t turn out perfectly, and they are also able to take corrective action with the next small step they are about to take.
5. Focus on Strengths: High achievers always focus on their strengths. There are just a few things they do extraordinary well, so well in fact that they would never dream of hiring anyone to do them. There are many things that they do better than most – so they keep on doing them. Everything else – things they are not good at doing, or even hopeless at doing – they get other people to do for them. Winners concentrate at all times on what they can do, not on what they can’t do. If a weakness is a matter of character you need to devote a lot of attention to fixing it but if not, there are many people who have as strengths precisely those aspects you are weak in – find those people and team up with them!
6. Vary Approaches to Achievement: High achievers keep trying and changing until they find something that works for them. They are not afraid to push themselves to the limit because they have conditioned themselves into being highly adaptable to any set of circumstance. They vary their approaches to problems merely to find out what works best. They treat every setback as an opportunity to discover something new about themselves and about the environment in which they operate.
7. Bounce Back: All successful people have one thing in common – the ability to bounce back after an error, mistake, or failure. They view life as a series of outcomes. When the outcome was what they wanted, they figured out what they did right. When the outcome was not what they wanted, they figured out what they did so that they could avoid making the same move into the future. The ability to bounce back lives in your attitude towards the outcome.
High achievers are able to keep moving forward no matter what happens because they know that failure does not make them a failure. They know that the only time they fail as a person is when they give up and walk away.
Each of the above techniques is embodied in the attitudes of highly effective people – people who are simultaneously high achievers. This was not some special gift they were born with because no amount of talent will equip you with the ability to just shrug off abject disappointment, frustration and loss. Every one of these people learned how to fail forward and formed habits of effectiveness in the process.’

I wish you warm feelings of appreciation and warm feelings of showing others your appreciation for the cold month of June.

Best regards

We don’t see things the way they are, we see them the way we are – Anais Nin It is never too late to give up your prejudices - Henry David Thoreau

This is such a profound truth! The power of transformation, a better society and a better life is not external to us, but is in our minds. It is also in a way disturbing because if our thoughts about people, work and life in general are mostly negative, it is because we are mostly negative. We live with a negative attitude and outlook. Once we accept the statement by Anais Nin as true, and we keep it in mind, it suddenly becomes a lot more difficult to join the ‘they’ choir. Those who are used to singing the ‘they’ song fill their thoughts with all the reasons why other people are responsible for what is bad in society. They get used to judge people and they constantly feed their negative views with more and more examples. Let’s be honest, we all fall into this trap from time to time. It is a trap because we unknowingly impede our own development and growth. Instead of focusing on things we can do we focus on things others should do.

While disappointment is human and an acceptable emotion, the thought of judgment we tend to couple with the emotion obscures our view of what a constructive response could be: for example to encourage or offer support.

So, I offer you and those you can influence with it, the following as food for positive thought:

• Our happiness has nothing to do with what we have achieved, what we have acquired, where we are, or where we are going. It has everything to do with the thoughts we feed our mind. Can we be happy and suffer at the same time? I believe so. Not by trying to be superficial or super human. But if we choose to see our blessings and put our trust in God for what we cannot control, we can find contentment and happiness (at a deeper level) even in times of distress or pain. Point is, our thoughts can remain positive.

• Remember that you are what you think! If you radically change your thoughts for the better, you will radically change your life for the better. The situations and material conditions you attract in life are a result of the thoughts you harbour. Choose to think only positive thoughts and in so doing promote a positive state of mind. Choose also to banish negative thoughts and states of fear, depression and worry, which can only limit your life.

• Beyond a shadow of a doubt, the power of thoughts can transform and enrich all lives. Just think about the change you experience when a positive person is in your presence. In the same way you can change other people’s emotions by bringing your positive thoughts, attitude and body language to their presence.

• You must believe that there are no limits to your potential other than those you set for yourself. Believe in yourself and you will astound yourself with your capabilities. If you believe you can, you are correct. If you believe you can’t, you are correct. It is a fact that you become like the person you think and believe you are. Remember, “Sooner or later the man that wins is the man that thinks he can.”

• Rediscover the child within you. That child who knows no fear, no worries, no limitations, and has a healthy appetite for life and the challenges it has to offer.

• You must realise that there is only one way to make the best of the future, and that is to put the past behind you – make the best of today. Don’t wait for age, a stage in your life, or a dream to come true to really live – live now and enjoy this moment, this hour, and every day of your life. ‘Today’ will never dawn again. ‘Today’ is a precious gift that can slip away with alarming speed. Wasted, it will eat a chunk out of your life, but lived well, it will fulfill your life and make it whole.

• Know what you want from life. Know what you want to put back into life. Develop your vision for your life and set the goals to achieve that vision. Successful goal setting will help you to design a life of which you have always dreamed. Goal setting programmes can only show you how – the rest is up to you!

A man’s mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must and will bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed-seed will fall therein and will continue to produce its kind - James Lane Allen.

‘They’ – that’s the good use of ‘they’ – say that internal misjudgements are six times more likely to cause business failure than external factors. Focusing on and investing in the development of our minds seems therefore the obvious thing to do. Yet, sadly we tend to value only what we see as tangible and pay the price for poor attitudes and negative or low quality thoughts.

I wish you a month full of positive thoughts and developments. If you think it’s time for us to meet again, please let me know.

Best wishes

I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: The ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve - Albert Schweitzer

Do you agree with Albert Schweitzer? To what extent is this true for you? If you think about it, it is hard to imagine an unhappy person saying he is so unhappy because he can’t serve anyone. When we are unhappy we tend to feel we are deprived in some way or another and deserve more and better. We then feel that we are not served well by life in general, by our family, by our work, our society, our country or even by God. To follow Schweitzer’s advice will be to reverse our thinking about what is needed for happiness: Not how well we are served, but how well we serve. So let’s see what this would mean.

Firstly, I believe Schweitzer is not suggesting that we choose to serve others in order to find happiness. Rather, it is a case of what we see as our destiny. Does our life have a purpose? If so, what is it? Is it fundamentally about what we can do to advance ourselves or is it something else and is service part of it? As you know, the rare experiences we have of another person that truly served us, are marked by the fact that it was authentic. It is hard, if possible at all, to fake service. I think we can sense if people do something in the name of service while they actually feel they don’t have much of an option – it’s their duty or it’s in their own interest. The ‘will’ factor, the main concern, always comes through - even in the business world where we get used to the fact that any form of service usually has a price. The idea that life can be reduced to a series of transactions is a false one. We are intensely aware of the underlying motives in the way we interact and we are intensely aware of it’s meaning or lack of meaning. So, the first point is that serving others implies authenticity and therefore is an outcome of a belief about the purpose of life. It is not about performance and reward.

Secondly, the kind of service that Schweitzer believes brings happiness to the servant, is something unique to the individual. It is like our thumbprint. We do not have the same talents, the same opportunities in life or the same set of life experiences. The combination of these things gives us an ability to serve in a unique way and with a unique quality. The closer we get to our thumbprint service the higher the quality and the satisfaction we get from it. This again means that only I can take responsibility for it and only I can design the nature and way I live as a servant. As I grow in life experience, knowledge and wisdom, the design will change as well. It evolves as my personal vision. But then we also have to add: Schweitzer’s words ‘sought and found how to serve’ include sacrifice, commitment and hard work.

Where does our profession or career fit in to the design of our lives as servants? For many people, the lack of alignment they experience is a huge source of their unhappiness. It can relate to their choice of career or it can get confused with what they experience in a particular environment. There’s no easy answer to what we should do when we cannot see how we can offer our thumbprint service at our work. At least we need to ask ourselves:

• Is what I want to do and see as my best service offering incompatible with my current work?
• Are the obstacles that I see really obstacles or perhaps only my perception and untested views of it?
• How much of my thumbprint service offering can still be realised outside of my formal work - and is therefore not blocked by it?
• Am I overlooking a need at work that I can meet with my capabilities?
• In absence of recognition or reward, do I tend to underestimate the value of my service?

One last aspect of living as a servant – I cannot see that it can lead to hurting those closest to you. Rather, we foster and grow the attitude and behaviour of a servant within our inner circle. As it works with successful relationships, there will be times when we sacrifice some part of our own will for the time being and in the interest of our loved ones. What we can offer the world as servants is not only the making of our own visions, efforts and hard work but includes the roles others, particularly our loved ones, play in our lives. Happiness, after all, is not happiness if we cannot share it with others.

As I’m sure you know already, I firmly believe that good leadership is also servant leadership. I therefore would like to encourage you to find your own answers to the aspects of servanthood that I rose.

Sharing these thoughts with you, is my own attempt to serve you.

Enjoy the month of April. How nice will it be if we can celebrate a World Cup victory!

Best wishes

We lead by being human. We do not lead by being corporate, by being professional or by being institutional - Paul Hawken

Organisations, much like human beings, typically grow from courtship and infancy stages to bureaucracy and later death:

Courtship: Emphasis is on ideas and the possibilities the future offers. The would-be founder is working hardest on trying to convince himself that his idea will be a successful one. He works on building commitment.

Infancy: The focus shifts from ideas and possibilities to the production of results. The company is product orientated and needs to sell, sell, sell. There are few systems, rules or policies.

Child (wild years): the company is not only surviving, it is flourishing. The sales orientation is addictive and more means better. Arrogance and lack of focus is a real possibility.

Adolescence: Conflict and inconsistency become characteristic. Authority has to be delegated. The change is from entrepreneurship to professional management. The challenge is to work smarter.

Prime: The organisation is led by a message – a vision of its reason for being. The people believe that what they are doing is important. They know the what, why and how. Decision-making is not dominated by an individual or a small group. There are institutionalised processes of governance. The danger is complacency, risk avoidance and order for the sake of order.

Aristocracy: People want less conflict and less change. An ‘old buddy’ network emerges. There is a steadily increase in distance between the organisation and its clients. There are reduced expectations of growth. The focus is on past achievements rather than future visions. Formal dress, address and tradition are valued.

Bureaucracy and death: Problems get personalised. Paranoia freezes the organisation. Internal turf wars absorb everyone. Nobody has time to deal with the needs of customers. Many systems serve little functional purpose. Eventually lack of resources to reward members for working means death of the organisation.
(See Managing Corporate Lifecycles by Ichak Adizes)

The different stages in the cycle present leaders with different challenges. As much as we, as leaders, try to influence others, we are also influenced by them and collectively by the organisations we work for. The demands and dynamics of the organisation in various stages can however influence us to adapt a style of behaviour that is inconsistent with who we really are. For instance an aggressive, arrogant and authoritarian person in the adolescent stage of the organisation. Or a formal and withdrawn person in the aristocratic or bureaucratic stages. It is easy to build perceptions about what is required in a corporate culture or what it means to be professional. We form ideas about what the political correct way in those environments is. The question is when do we become inauthentic? When are we led more by our perceptions of the kind of persons we ought to be at work, rather than what we really believe in. At what point do we start behaving in ways that our family members, for instance, would find disconcerting and inconsistent with our character? How much damage do we do to ourselves and others before we reach the point when we might ask ourselves with shock: Was that really me who said that or entertained that thought? How did I become such a person?

It is in this context that I believe that Paul Hawken reminds us of a wonderful truth: We lead by being human. We do not lead by being corporate, by being professional or by being institutional. Being human means that we are imperfect. It means that we often wonder about life … and about death. We often doubt. We get hurt by what others say or do, or didn’t say or do. We need to feel loved and appreciated. We feel alone. We do feel pressure and we can feel lack of meaning or significance. We cannot always explain our feelings. We have personal dreams and desires.

If we try to hide our human side to our fellow workers or those we lead, it is to the detriment of our leadership effectiveness. By trying to hide it from others we simultaneously send out the message that we expect others to do the same. The implicit message is we do not care about and are not interested in our fellow workers. Our only concern is the work they have or haven’t done. Am I saying that leaders should have a daily session where they inform everyone about their emotions and personal struggles or joys? No. I do say however that to lead and to be human is not a contradiction. Leaders should be comfortable with their own vulnerability and willing to share those feelings in the right context. They also should have and demonstrate a real interest in the fundamental human concerns of other people at work.

African Renaissance

Did you know that …?

In traditional African culture the chief is not untouchable but accountable to his followers? There is an African proverb saying: ‘The boat shows respect for the water, just as the water shows respect for the boat’ This demands that superiors and inferiors display mutual respect. Another proverb says: ‘When the river roars, rocks and stones are hidden in it.’ This means that the chief can be angry only because he has inferiors - without these, he would have no kind of rank and dignity. He in turn must show respect in his dealings with the inferiors who are entrusted to his care; and in fact he can be deposed by them.

Best wishes for the month of March.

Regards

The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands. Robert M. Pirsig

As we progress into the second month of 2007, the terrible crime situation in our wonderful country is on everybody’s mind. The news about more and more killings and violence we hear and read about daily is overwhelming and discouraging, to say the least. How do you process the wave of information and negative experiences when people share stories and views about crime in SA? To what extent does this current situation impact the vision and goals you have for your organisation? And your family?

Our reactions probably vary from feeling aggressive and angry, ready to take matters in our own hands, to feeling disempowered and defeated. What is clear is that the problem we face as a nation is a big one. A problem that exists at various levels of our society and won’t be solved simply by jailing as many criminals as possible in the shortest time possible. I am not going to try and analyse the problem (I do believe there are many signs that point to widespread moral degeneration), but I would like to suggest that if we can only point fingers and join the bandwagon of negativity, things will only get worse. Nothing happens without personal transformation. In this regard I’d like to share with you the ideas of the Seasoned Campaigner about successful people (people who refuse to be intimidated by negative environments):

• Successful People are a little Crazy: The ‘craziness’ doesn’t manifest itself in the form of mental illness, but commonly takes the form of unconventional thinking - a rejection of traditional beliefs, a lack of concern for what others might think, and the confidence to take on ambitious projects from which more ‘sane’ people would shy away. These high achievers are poised between average people and true psychotics, possessing just the right amount of ‘weirdness’. They are strange enough to come up with odd ideas, and then to pursue those ideas no matter what the rest of the world says, yet they are not that outlandish that they lose all contact with reality. Mavericity, the property of making unusual associations in ideas, of doing the unexpected is a hallmark trait of successful people!
Think differently from the crowd!

• Successful People are Overly Optimistic (as seen by others): Highly successful people tend to be less accurate in their perceptions of themselves and the world around them. They tend to disseminate positive information about themselves while suppressing negative information, constantly casting themselves in a positive light.
Have at least twice as many positive thoughts as negative ones!

• Successful People are Flexible Thinkers: Research confirms that flexible thinking is a prerequisite for creative thinking - something our ancestors knew instinctively. In situations requiring group decision-making, flexibility is often induced by assigning one individual to the role of ‘devil’s advocate’, repeatedly questioning the assumptions of the group, and constructively pointing out possibilities contrary to those being considered - the objective is to make more effective decisions. Successful people are on the continual alert to ensure that their self-talk is geared toward constructive settlement of the debates that continuously rage in their heads. They consider various options, always examining both the downside and the upside of every option, whilst never allowing themselves to become ensnared by procrastination. They will always devise three or four strategies to achieve a given objective, with tactics aligned to each, so as to give themselves situational as well as mental flexibility. They never allow themselves to become bored and will always find the opportunity buried within every problem.

Always examine both sides of the coin and don’t restrict yourself to just one option.

• Successful People look to Mentors and Role Models: Trial and error is an extremely inefficient way to learn life lessons simply because the learning always precedes the lesson. Successful people prefer to learn from others such as mentors and role models. Successful people are adept at combining unusual ideas in unique ways, and combining several role models can be an effective strategy for ensuring that you become an innovator, not an imitator – creative combinations can lead to new insights. Running with this learning technique, it is important to understand that by having a sophisticated, multi-dimensional self-concept enables people to deal with negative or potentially stressful events more easily.
Identify people (both current and historical) you admire and make it your business to ‘mine’ for their ‘secrets’.

• Successful people Take Risks: Uncommon accomplishment requires uncommon ambition – only those who are prepared to pay the price of failure can expect to enjoy the sweet taste of success. No highly successful person was ever risk averse! In fact, great leaders typically earn greatness by making bold decisions in difficult times – times of great risk. This is not a “throw-caution-to-the-wing” type of risk, which is essentially just foolhardiness, but rather recognition that life often involves a risk-reward tradeoff and a willingness to take high risk for the potential of high rewards. There is a strong correlation between your willingness to take financial risk and your level of wealth – it is less about investing in the stock market and much more about investing in yourself, your career, your professional practice, your business … investments in improving your personal product! In order to accumulate you have to be prepared to speculate!
No risk … no gain! Identify the price you are going to have to pay to achieve what you want to achieve, and if you are prepared to pay that price, commit yourself without compromise!

• Successful People Ask Questions: Socrates, the great Greek philosopher, taught his students not by giving answers, but by asking questions. Rather than categorising their answers as right or wrong, he asked even more questions, continually pushing them to think more deeply and question their own assumptions. This method of teaching is to this day used extensively in law schools, and the most effective salespeople have mastered the technique of asking the right questions in order to uncover the needs and desires of their prospects. The ability to ask the right question is more than half the battle of finding the right answer, and successful people habitually ask questions. These questions are not in any way threatening or directive (“Don’t you agree?”), they are the types of questions that facilitate communication (“What issues do we have to focus on?” or “Can you help me understand?”). Obviously you have to know when to stop asking questions and start taking action!
People always feel compelled to answer questions – always ask questions that will force people to think deeply. Your reward is greater clarity as to your direction, your strategy for getting there, the tactics you need to deploy and, most important of all, your supporters.


African Renaissance

Dr William F. Kumuyi from Lagos, Nigeria wrote an article about leadership in Africa that I agree with wholeheartedly. I only quote his introductory paragraphs:

Just any leader won’t solve Africa’s problems. The leaders that the continent needs are people who understand its problems and will sincerely employ leadership to solve them. The leader and his turf must match. Thus, who is good for Europe may not be so good for Africa.

In my last column, I stressed the dearth of leaders in Africa and argued that the acute shortage is responsible for the continent’s unmitigated misery. I stated that if Africa were furnished with competent leaders, the continent would leap from the depth of despair to the apex of affluence.

Now, granted Africa’s need for leaders, we should characterise the type of leaders that the continent needs. Just any leader won’t solve Africa’s problems. The leaders that the continent needs are people who understand its problems and will sincerely employ leadership to solve them. For leadership is contextual activity; its rules and principles are context-sensitive such that a leader moved from one place to another may not find his bearing on arrival unless he can adjust and fit in.
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So what type of leaders does Africa need? ANSWER: LEADERS WHO UNDERSTAND AFRICA’S PROBLEMS AND CAN APPLY THEIR PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES AND PROFESSIONAL SKILLS TO SOLVE THEM. THEY DON’T HAVE TO BE BLACK, HOME-GROWN, ANTI-WESTERN RADICALS. HUMAN PROBLEMS DON’T RESPOND TO SHEER ETHNIC AND COLOUR BARS. AFRICA’S LEADERS ARE PEOPLE WHO CAN MAKE LEADERSHIP LOCK ON TO THE CONTINENT’S ACHES AND CURE THEM ALL.

Let us apply ourselves to the unlocking of our individual and collective potential as Africans. I would like to be your partner in doing so.

Best wishes for the month of February.

Regards

Defining yourself (South Africa) and staying in touch with others (global community)

Much of life can be described as the challenge to balance the need to be separate with the need to be close. We need to be separate (to be alone, to stand on our own two feet) and to be close (to be together, to stand hand-in-hand). The two forces are in tension and they produce feelings of anxiety. The art of living good, productive and satisfying lives in many ways has to do with the art of facing the two forces and managing the anxiety of being in between well. It is true for individual human beings but it is also true for communities, societies, nations and even regions of the world.

People are different but so are communities, societies, nations and even regions of the world. The way we differentiate ourselves from others is visible (apart from physical features) in our preferred language, our culture, customs and habits. At a deeper and psychological level we find interesting patterns of thought and preferences. Carl Jung developed the theory about four primary modes of experiencing the world (thinking, feeling, sensing and intuiting). Studies of the brain helped us to understand its four-fold nature: the left brain control logical processes (thinking), the right brain is more metaphorical in orientation (intuiting), the cerebral cortex is concept oriented (sensing) and the limbic brain is emotionally centred (feeling).

As we grow up as teenagers and young adults we develop our preferences in terms of experiencing the world and work more consciously on defining our identity. Again, it can also be said of the way nations develop and grow. South Africa, it has to be said, is a young nation. How young? As a democracy we have to say only 12 years. In the mix are the identities of various peoples. But as a new democracy and nation it is early days for the formation of an identity. How will South Africa differentiate herself? One way of doing it is to say we are not from the North, the West or the East. Ronnie Lessem in his book The Four Worlds builds on Jung’s model to show that the world broadly has four cultural forms. It can be described in a number of ways. One is -

The North represents the belief: I am because I think I am (Jung’s thinking)
The East the belief: I am because I renew/recreate (intuiting)
The West the belief: I am because I do (sensing)
The South the belief: I am because we are – ubuntu (feeling)


Clearly, no one value is more important than the other. Rather, in building our organisations, our communities and societies, we look for and learn from the scientific and analytical contributions from the North, the innovation and process perfection from the East, the practicism and value creation from the West and the humanism and sense of community from the South (The contribution from the South can further be described as a powerful sense of the past and a profound feeling for community; organisation is a story involving people and events; a sense of rootedness of belonging to the soil).
If the North values conservation, the East values catalyzation, the West competition and the South co-creation. To quote one more of Lessem’s descriptions of types that fit the cultures of the four regions, the managerial types would be the Herder manager for the North, the Gardener manager for the East, the Hunter manager for the West and the Steward manager for the South.

As South Africans and a very young democracy, we need to both define ourselves and embrace our cultural strength as a Southern region, and stay in touch with others (particularly in the 21st global village) by learning from the strengths of others. While we might be stronger in one particular area of human existence, we latently have the same potential to reason with the North, innovate with the East and compete with the West. In the process of building this new South Africa we clearly experience a lot of anxiety and uncertainty about our future. In leadership I believe that, similar to the way we raise our children, we need to lay strong foundations of identity (as we know and understand it today as Africans – irrespective of race - and not as Europeans) and allow for the evolvement of that identity as we eagerly learn more of the world we live in. As leaders we give direction, not only to be more successful, more competent and more prosperous, but also to build and leave a legacy of civilization, social and spiritual well-being for our children and their children.

African Renaissance

Mo Ibrahim, former CEO of Celtel, offers a $5m prize for Africa's most effective head of state. With over 10 million customers and sold for $3.4 billion last year, Mo (a former Egyptian) said at a World Bank conference earlier this year that Celtel is is living proof that you can do clean business successfully in Africa. The company’s overriding vision is ‘Making Life Better’. The award will go to African heads of state who deliver security, health, education and economic development to their constituents. In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, Mr Ibrahim, 60, said leaders had no life after office.
"Suddenly all the mansions, cars, food, wine is withdrawn. Some find it difficult to rent a house in the capital. That incites corruption; it incites people to cling to power. The prize will offer essentially good people, who may be wavering, the chance to opt for the good life after office," said Mr Ibrahim.

Whether this initiative will improve leadership and governance in Africa is an open question. However, I regard it as a good news African Renaissance story.

I trust you will enjoy a ‘good news’ November. End of November/December is a good time to consider your leadership plan for 2007. Since I’m not going anywhere during this time I would enjoy meeting with you and discuss future plans of development – just send me an email. Take a moment and visit my upgraded website www.neweraleadership.co.za.

Regards