2055
…what can Leadership in Africa achieve in 50 years?
Food security, A United Africa, Health for all, Elimination of foreign debt…? All these will not be worth the effort if they do not realize social value for all the members of the Africa Corporation. 50 years is not a long time in the life of a nation. We need visionary leadership to realize the benefits of social transformation and leave them as a heritage for generations to come. Nations can mobilize leadership to do this level of thinking and chart out the path of nations away from the political arena.
The management of the vision of 2055 is in the hands of today’s generation of leadership in Africa. This is not an option it is a responsibility. This generation cannot wait for 2050 to find out how we did. It must act on the key matter of leadership in Africa today as a turning point in the writings, records and references to Africa in the coming days. How will the achievements of this generation mirror the achievements of the Great Ones and the multitude of courageous Greater Ones that history did not have the capacity to name? What inspiration will subsequent leadership draw on today’s leadership? What contribution will this generation make to transform Africa into a great community of nations?
PRESCRIPTIONS
If you take a prescription you must buy the medicine that goes with it. Many of the prescriptive solutions offered to leadership in Africa have not worked well. The price of those prescriptions has been costly failure. Africa has no option but to re-invent the wheel (for Africa) to spark creativity, originality, ownership and effectiveness in leadership. The way forward may lie in descriptions rather than prescriptions. Descriptions ensure sufficient understanding of issues to allow for the construction of creative collaborative resolutions rather than simple single source solutions.
DEVELOPMENT
Problems cannot be the focus of the development efforts of Africa. This perspective does not engineer growth. Problems should never replace vision. Vision is more critical because it incorporates solutions to problems. Focusing on problems deviates focus from priorities that in turn creates future problems. By focusing on problems leadership in Africa misses opportunity, options and openings to take advantage of situations to make progress.
PROBLEMS
The problems of Africa are real. The problems of Africa are many, multiple and mundane. Many of the problems do not require dramatic intervention to eradicate. Effective resolution of many of the problems requires discipline and dedicated management.
EDUCATION
Leadership in Africa may need to evaluate its investment in education. How much value has it added to leadership in Africa. How much has it contributed to Africa’s brain drain? The migration of Africa’s leadership capital may be telling us more about what education is not doing for us than what it could be achieving. Perhaps education should develop leadership ability rather than build leadership capacity. One stresses initiative, enterprise the other knowledge and skill.
Education systems remove individuals from social responsibility, isolates them in institutions, raises their ambitions and expectations to unrealistic levels, then channels them back into society 20 years later hoping that they will make a healthy social adjustment and take up leadership roles. This does not happen with satisfactory frequency. Perhaps education systems could integrate social responsibility into school programs (rather than complete isolation) to help developing leadership keep in touch with social reality and begin developing solutions (during their education) to address surrounding social needs.
This approach would not only ensure that education becomes a social enterprise that continuously interacts and positively impacts the environment, but would also prepare leadership to practically address social concerns and take initiative to make a social contribution upon completion of education. Education is currently institutionalized it perhaps needs to be socialized.
CORRUPTION
Is corruption really that bad? Yes it is. Corruption I mean - not necessarily in Africa. The focus on corruption in Africa might appear to be a local problem, but then we are now in a global village so our neighbors make a fair contribution. Painting Africa as the bad boy of corruption exonerates everyone else. But there is no need to give the world an excuse to keep pointing fingers. Social responsibility must help to kick out the unhealthy device from all levels of society. Leadership theory could incorporate strategies to contain this multi headed monster.
LEADERSHIP IN AFRICA
Leadership in Africa was a successful agent of self- determination. Leadership development has experienced mixed fortunes in the formal environment. Leaderships idle-capacity is an inexcusable investment and leaderships transformational contribution in society is perhaps overdue. Leadership may be the key to unlocking Africa’s vast economic potential as well as harnessing its undeniable social capacity. Yet it is possible for leadership in Africa to quietly assume a state of dormancy that will ensure socio-economic failure.
WAR
War is not the way forward. There is only so much space on the earth and it has pretty much been discovered. The future perhaps lies in fellowship, friendship and working together. The frontiers of leadership are not in places or even space, but rather in the mind bounded by ethical and moral restrictions.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
“Social responsibility” was not a subject we planned to write about, but after writing the book we find that leadership’s true value can only be quantified in a social context. Inevitably leadership must add value to society. It must make a (major) contribution to the success of every social unit from the family to the corporation, from the community to the population. Social Responsibility therefore merits some reflection as we sign off:
Looking into the future there must be some line, code or pledge that will help us stay the course of leadership and leadership development in Africa. This action will require determination, diligence and discipline. Social responsibility is identifying the right things to do, doing the right things and doing things right. The message of social responsibility is simple enough and can be interpreted and translated into every language at every level of social development. Social responsibility is the conscience of effective leadership.
ORGANIZATION
The Organization has been our basis of evaluating the performance of leadership in Africa. We find that the formulation of organizations is critical to realizing the potential, productivity and performance of organizations. Leadership must pay (extra) attention to the supporting framework it relies upon to achieve success and create order. Also every organization needs to maintain good relations with its internal and external environment to continue its existence. An organization that exists at the expense of its environment will collapse under its own success. Formal and informal organizations are not mutually exclusive. Both are essential for organization growth and corporate development. Formal and informal order must exist in harmony or they will cause the organization to self- destruct.
TRANSFORMATION
Leadership must be very clear about what “transforming Africa” means lest the result of development efforts be a simple mutation. Successful transformation may require revised definitions of leadership themes. For example independence may no longer be about individual freedom but rather social responsibility. “Self-determination” may need to evolve from exercising power to a working commitment to the welfare of others.
VISION
To be effective leadership will need to think long-term in order to develop holistic solutions rather than piecemeal intervention. Leadership in the family must think at least one generation ahead. No nation can afford to think in less than a 50-year time frame. Perhaps there is need for think tanks or leadership councils that feed leadership thinking into management activity by developing vision, strategy and focus to steer business and governance initiatives into the future. Corporate vision inspires hope, ignites possibility and opens opportunity for participation and individual contribution.
PEER
Perhaps centuries of being treated with indignity has had its toll on self-esteem. Remaining indignant is a waste of time. There is no benefit to maintain a position of disadvantage. Assuming a peer position is not as difficult as it sounds. All it requires is to accept responsibility for ones own. Reverence for visitors needs to evolve to mutual respect in order to develop peer rather than poor relations with neighbors. A peer attitude and approach to issues should also have a marked positive impact on leadership performance.
LEADER BOX
The leader box remains the most competitive square of the leadership matrix and there is great temptation to go it alone without leadership. Leaders, however, can be no better than the leadership that supports them. Many leaders map out their careers at the expense of the organizations they serve while ignoring leadership development. This leads to “abandoned” and overburdened leaders not enjoying the support of (capable or participatory) leadership. The stress and strain of providing leadership easily leads to leader burnout – which often leads to several other unpleasant options.
2005
Global economic surveys show that Africa is the only continent in the world to have become poorer over the last forty years. How did this come about? What are the reasons for this? What strategies should Africa put in place to achieve a turnaround performance? In our opinion it is not the lack or limit of resources that stands in the way of development. Leadership in Africa will need to emerge as both a champion and steward of growth initiatives, a dependable custodian of the continents wealth and a committed agent of the people’s aspirations.