Leadership crucible series

Today,1 July 2009 is President's Day in the Republic of Botswana.Naturally,there has been a lot of talk about leadership today.Moreso,because this is an election year.I had interesting conversations with a colleague KB an officer responsible for youth capacity building in an organisation in which l am currently attached to and seperately with my my good Professor Yeagan Pillay on leadership issues across Africa.Infact,KB and l are collaborating on some capacity initiatives for youths in Botswana.I like to call it 'capacity strengthening' because 'capacity building' somewhat implies that there isn't any capacity in the entity or group you are working with.Many atimes,the socalled 'capacity building sessions' are for people already in leadership hence any initiative is essentially a strengthening process!In my discussions with KB or Kabelo,l was sharing my conviction that personal leadership is the basis for people leadership.Often folks like to lead others when their lives are in shambles.You find someone with unbridled and unretrained appetites chastizing other politicians for 'excessive abuses'.It is easy to get bogged down on 'how to lead people' or 'how to influence' people and forget the centrality of the personal.As the adage goes,charisma can take you to the top but it is character that will make you stay there.
I want to do a series on the leadership crucible,that is the things that an aspiring leader has to go through or should become in the process of leadership development.I am a student of leadership myself so l actually learn from my own writings.Naturally my interest is in politics so l will use names of politicians whose qualities may best demonstrate the strength of a certain virtue or quality.Today l will look at no more than five qualities;

1. Leaders are readers;It is amazing how much reading one needs to do as a leader in order to keep in touch and in tune with emerging trends.We live in the Information Age.Infact,people are now talking of 'information overload';there simply is too much out there.I always joke with my friends at how difficult it is to come up with a theisis topic that has not be researched before.If you think you have found one,just google it and you might realise someone did that very research 2o years ago!However,if one ought to be a leader,there is need to know what is happening in the broader world.People rarely rise above their leaders.Infact your ceiling as a leader tends to become the lid for the goup you lead.The higher your level,the higher your gorup could go.Think of it,it is not common to see a level six leader to nurture level nine leaders.You cant teach or emonstrate what you dont know and your ignorance becomes contagious.The issue is not to compete but to know the context one operates in.If one is a politician,one ought to read what other politicians have done or are doing.Keep updated by newspapers,journals and magazines covering emerging issues of the day.This means each leader needs to have a robust library which covers 'wide and wild' topics.Read everyhting from your field to philosophy,economics,history and technology.Politicians especially need to be aware of several areas.In Africa,l have witnessed a medical doctor being appointed Defence Minister.Imagine if you have not been reading.One of my media mentors,Myles Munroe says he reads at least 2 books per week.You don't have to be like him but at least be an expert in your area and make sure you are updated on current affairs in your field.However,often people just 'read'.Take time to reflect on implications of what you are reading to programing or leadership.What does it mean?Does it mean l have to adjust a certain way of thinking?Does it mean l need to take up an issue as an advocacy point?Check out for meaning.World renowed leadership expert John Maxwell says that every leader should have an administrative office in which they 'work' but more importantly,they should have a 'creative office'.This office is a closed environment in which you withdraw from everyday hussles just to think.Create things in your mind.Plan.Reflect.Build.Destroy and rebuild again.Have you noticed how much we simply don't take time each day to think through issues and reflect.Often we 'think' as we are driving and rushing to work.Great leaders have always had ample time in their own creative offices.Consequently,set aside resources every month to boost your library.On a monthly basis,we remember to pay for our dogs,cellphone bills etc.Why not buy books,dvds and materials that stretch your thinking in the realm of leadership?Show me what you read and l will show you where you are going.Similarly, show me your creative office and l will show how far you will go.
2. Imagination.This seems pretty obvious.However,leaders ought to have a certain level of what l call audacious imagination.This is the confidence and ability to imagine the mindboggling.Your imagination must scare you!Imagine Cecil John Rhodes' dream of 'painting Africa red from Cape to Cairo'That imperialistic and unjust dream was fulfilled because he had audacious gut wrenching imagination.Thank goodness there are other folks with positive imagination.Remember leaders should spend time imagining things that a re just and advance freedom and prosperity for all God's people.Imagine Kwame Nkrumah's dream of a United States of Afirca at a time when other African countries were still colonised.At that point,some African leaders retreated to a cacoon and concluded that colonialism was impossible to break.Think of Fredrick the guy who dreamt as a student of the giant FEDEx company?How on earth could he imagine a worldwide overnight delivery mail service?How about Mandela?To imagine that he could walk out of prison and set a nation free?He needed a certain level of 'madness'.An imagination of the seemingly impossible.The reason why there is so much mediocrity is that there is too much smallness in our imagination.Leaders should stretch their thinking.A young Barack Obama should imagine being Presidnet of the US.Boldness surges after imagination and creativity is a function of sustained imagination.Anything great that you see in the world was created twice.First in the mind and then in the physical.Think big!
3. Conviction.This is an important aspect.Convinience often takes the place of conviction.After all we all want the easy way.Focus is only possible when one actually has a conviction of what they are doing.When challenges mount, many change positions and allegiances because they are fighting or doing something out of preference not conviction.Conviction is stubborness in public.Strive Masiyiwa the Zimbabwean mogul who owns ECONET had to survive a six year legal wrangle with government over a telecommunications license.If he didn't believe that he was supposed to specifically get into the telecommunications business and not any other business,he might have abandoned the case that so him go for broke and maybe chosen another line of business.Men and women who have built great things withered storms because they had the conviction of what they were doing.One online dictionary calls conviction a 'fixed belief'.How does one get to have 'conviction' over something?This is hard to answer because people are different.Some people naturally have set beliefs and they hardly change.Some it comes through a very strong experience that inspires them to work for a certain cause.Some with a more spiritual incilination see conviction as a product of divine inspiration.They see it as a burden or cause given us by God.This cause 'comes' as a gift or an unusual ability to do something.That 'something' usually has our undivided attention.Whichever way you explain the origins of this virtue-make sure you have it.Make sure you have a conviction of the cause you are pursuing.That's the only thing that will sustain your focus.No salary or prestige can break the will of someone with the conviction to do something.Its something you enjoy doing even without a salary.Don't force convictions.Many people out of sheer calculation pretend to love a certain cause.Sooner or latter,they change.Take time in your creative office to locate your passions and convictions.It is easier to become a great leader in an area of conviction.Interestingly,our genius is exposed when we work in our areas of strength or conviction.,The human brain tends to be stronger when it is forced to produce ideas in an area we hold dearly to our hearts.If you find that you seem to lack the intellectual fortitude or drive for a certain cause,you are unlikely to excell in it.