How Africa
Placing African leaders on major analysis and picking from their successes and challenges,gave this opportunity of being able to draw these common qualities that saw them through the ups and downs of African leadership.
Leadership isn’t a minced meat, however its a combination of several cultivated abilities plus several adopted skills. Every leader, no matter the geographical location and situation, has his own mistakes, In fact some of these mistakes create the beautiful flow that we all are learning from today. Conducting this research on these iconic leaders made us come up with such salient traits that are the perquisites of becoming a good leader in Africa and and beyond.
Africa was our case study because trust me, if one can lead Africans, then you can, with examples lead the world. So if you need to succeed in your current positions, these qualities drawn from different African patriarchs past and present will make your life, career, business and relationships worthy of being emulated.
1. Create a vision that motivates others
Incredible pioneers make a dream without bounds that is distinctive and convincing, and that rouses employees or others to need to accomplish it. Everybody needs to work for an organization that has any kind of effect on the planet. As a pioneer, you are best ready to enable the colleagues associate what they do to the effect it has on clients and groups
2. Be an Example of high integrity and honesty
Great leaders are honest and transparent, and have high integrity–they do what they say they are going to do, and they walk their talk. That doesn’t mean they’re going to have a smooth ride. But it’s going to be truthful ride. Every aspiring leader must be able to deal with the truth.
3. Be a problem solver By Analysis
Ultimately, leaders are recruited, trained, and chosen to solve organizational problems, and to take advantage of opportunities in the marketplace. This requires not only excellent analytical abilities, but also above-average people skills.
4. Drive for results
Some people are happy to sit back and watch the world go by, while others aren’t unless they are making things happen in their organizations. Great leaders have a higher level of perseverance, stick-to-itiveness, and drive than most anyone else, and they can be counted on to get things done.
5. Communicate powerfully and prolifically
Great leaders communicate with their people often, and in a variety of different ways. Whether it’s by means of one-on-one conversations, team meetings, blog posts, email messages, phone or Skype calls, or any other such medium, leaders don’t talk about communicating–they just do it.
6. Build relationships
Every African leader had alliance and the present ones are still forging across-the-border relations. This is because every success is built on a solid foundation of relationships and trust. Without these two things, you can’t have a business, or at least not a successful business. Take time every day to build relationships with the members of your team, your customers and vendors, your boss and your boss’s boss, others in your industry, and your community. The stronger your relationships, the better a leader you will be.
7. Display technical/professional expertise
Most leaders start out in business with a specific skill, such as selling, or accounting, or designing software. The best leaders build on their technical and professional skills over time, becoming valuable experts in their field and skilled at leading their team.
8. Display strategic perspectives
Great leaders have a long-term vision of the future, and they avoid getting bogged down in the here and now. While they can be tactical when necessary, they maintain the strategic outlook necessary to guide their businesses to the best future possible.
9. Develops others
Just as they work to continuously develop and build their own technical and professional expertise, the best leaders set aside time (and money in their budgets) to develop their work force. They look for the most promising employees, and provide them with the training they need to become their company’s next generation of great leaders.
10. Leave your landmark through innovations
The ability to innovate is a key skill for every great leader. You have to set a pace for people coming behind. To be followed, you need to be worth following.
Its a well known fact that the business condition for most organizations is changing quicker than at any other time, which requires individuals and the associations they work for to change appropriate alongside it. Extraordinary pioneers see the progressions going ahead the skyline, and they continually push their associations to be in the opportune place when those progressions happen.
