EDITORIAL: VEERING OFF THE NORMS IS A KEY LEADERSHIP ATTRIBUTE; WE NEED INNOVATIVE LEADERS
By Mcanthony Onuoha
Most leaders have not been able to make much impacts in the course of leadership because they lack the will power to veer off the conventional, typical or traditional ways of doing things.
Globally, most administrative, decisions or policies implemented, or actions taken by those at the helm of affairs of governments or organizations fall mostly within the ambit of their constitution. If any decision or policy is implemented by fiat or arbitrary order, it is viewed as an affront or flagrant disregard for laid down standards or norms.
Creativity is all about doing things differently. It does not encourage stereotypes as stereotypical leaders do not think out of the box, and can never veer off the norms.
The bane of development in most parts of Africa is the inability of our leaders to veer off the conventional ways of leadership. They are ritualistically bent on maintaining standards, irrespective of the quality of these standards.
Managements of some educational institutions do not consider it important to review their curriculums and standards of teaching, they continue with the same teaching process year in, year out, even when it is obvious that their students are not doing well, they erroneously stick to the old teaching process without evolving, which of course, culminates in gross institutional failure.
A leader that does not bring fresh ideas to the administrative table can not achieve significant milestones. Overtime, technology has evolved as innovative ideas have tremendously accelerated the pace of development globally. Some economies have continued to record huge success in diverse aspects. From science and technology to commerce, transportation, healthcare, education, sports, agriculture, security, housing and many more. These milestones were not achieved by sticking to the old ways and conventional standards, but by innovative ideas and veering off the norms.
Different ways of doing things produce different results. Some governments are bereft of organizational ideas, and that is why their development is always at snail pace. While some are today referred to as organizational geniuses, typical examples are America, China, Russia and Britain. In most African countries, it has not only been a case of lack of innovative ideas but sheer greed and avarice, which have led to primitive and outlandish accumulation of wealth, even for their tenth generation. Most leaders do not think about the future of their countries or the institutions they lead, and also do not care about how posterity will describe them when future history books are written.
However, institutional leaders have continually failed to help define the organization’s goals and objectives;
facilitate structural changes to implement the organization’s vision,
promote and defend the organization’s values and character;
create an environment that encourages talent and well-being, and communicate about the organization’s values and goals on a day-to-day basis. But like the hyena, they feast on both flesh and bones of the institutions that are entrusted to them, leaving them completely distressed and decrepit, hollow and defunct.
Until leaders begin to see leadership as service, they will not jettison greed and covetousness, and will never attach value to humanity.
Not thinking out of the box is the major reason most leaders fail. In Nigeria for example, almost all the sectors entrusted to some individuals, starting from ministers to heads of parastatals and departments lack the expertise needed to transform them. Our health sector management is nothing to write home about, capital flight has been the order of the day as our citizens travel out in droves to seek medical attention, while our best brains are migrating to other countries for better working conditions.
Sadly, the frustration people go through because of bad leaders do not only affect their living conditions, but also affects their psyche, productivity and general well-being. That is why people get extremely irrational and aggressive at a slightest provocation. Kidnapping, ritual killings, fraud and all forms of criminalities are mostly inspired by bad leadership. When leaders do not lead exemplary lives, and care less about their integrity and public image, but are so fixated on enlarging their sizes of wealth, luxuries and girlfriends, they lose touch with core essence of leadership.
Recently, some African leaders converged on Kigali, the capital of Rwanda, to launch the African School of Governance Foundation (ASGF), appointing our own Professor Kingsley Moghalu, Former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN), a distinguished scholar and academics, as its inaugural President.
According to an online publication, “the ASGF aims to address the continent’s pressing governance challenges by equipping emerging leaders with the mindset, skills and knowledge required for effective leadership in Africa’s future. The initiative brings together visionaries committed to creating a sustainable governance model rooted in African realities”.
To citizens who grew up to find themselves in countries led by emperors, greedy and non visionary leaders, leaders that are bereft of empathy and conscience, averse to genuine development, we must not give up on ourselves as we hope to see a new crop of leaders emerge in Africa in the nearest future, to redefine leadership and its core essence. So help us God!
Mcanthony Onuoha, publisher and journalist, writes from Lagos.
