One of the famous quotes of Mother Teresa is, “At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by ‘I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked, and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in’.”
The demise of Robert Mugabe on September 6, 2019, at the age of 95 years validates the above quote. The essence of life and leadership is the same. It is how well you advance others and humanity with the opportunities you grab in life.
Robert Gabriel Mugabe grabbed the leadership opportunity as one of the revolutionary fighters that liberated Zimbabwe from the British white minority rule. He became the prime minister in 1980 and became the President in 1987 until he was forced out in a bloodless coup in 2017.
Robert’s rise to power is not an exception but what he did with the power is a case study for students of leadership. His route to power was like that of Nelson Mandela of SA, Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore and other nationalists. However, opinions of the outcome of the Mugabe 37-year leadership among the Zimbabweans is that he left behind bad relationships and results., This is evident in the country’s current economic state, coupled with scars in victims of his brutality. If the two significant elements of leadership –results and relationships –that create legacies are not right, the person leading is not a leader but someone occupying a leadership position.
In my journey as a leadership coach and trainer, I had been teaching leadership through a model I developed in 2014.
Your leadership efficiency is a product of your views, capabilities, and influence.
Your leadership view is how you perceive your title, assignment, and role as a leader. Is it to serve or be served? The leadership view, also known as perspective or attitude to leadership determines the capability of the leader to create a vision and influence others to achieve it. Whenever you see a leader that is not doing things to advance people, process or society, check his or her leadership perspective.
Alternatively, your views about leadership are the foundation upon which your actions and behaviours are built. Unfortunately, most of the leaders in the political space have a faulty perspective of their roles as leaders.
Lee Kuan Yew’s view of leadership helped him serve his people within his capacity as the prime minister of Singapore. He turned a third world country without water into a first-class industrial and tourist centre. His vision for the country was above his ambition and reflected in the average standard of living and the strength of the economy of Singapore.
Nelson Mandela’s view about leadership helped him know when to quit and not to seek a second term in office, unlike most of his African contemporaries. He left politics when the ovation was loudest.
Contrarily, the late Gabriel Mugabe’s platform was used to liberate his people and subsequently incarcerate them because of his views about leadership.
No one was qualified to be the president of Zimbabwe except him. His vision was to remain in power for life and kill as many political opposition members and tribes to remain there.
The economy is not a different narrative. Although he gained rhetoric popularity for sending the white farmers away and reclaiming the land for the people, the decision, in the long run, did not create any economic impact but impoverished his people.
His reign as a leader was marked with violence, financial mismanagement, and corruption which created no opportunities nor legacies for his people. He is thus, one of the leaders who scored poorly in both relationships and results given the jubilations in the streets of Harare when he was disposed of in 2017. A leader is the one who is unbiased in his decision and acts in the best interest of the people.
Robert used his party, the ZANU-PF and the government machinery to advance himself in all fronts and at the detriments of the people he once defended.
The trio – Nelson Mandela, Robert Mugabe, and Lee Kuan Yew – had one thing in common. They all had the platforms to lead and influence others. However, it is not the platforms that make genuine leaders, but what is done with the platforms that defined them as leaders or rulers.
The fitness test for leadership is, therefore, the ability of the leaders to subjugate their ambition, greed, ego and self-seeking decisions for actions that are in the long-term of interest to the people and the society. Leaders eat last, according to Simon Sinek, hence, a leader must put his country first.
For Africa to advance, we need leaders who are selfless in all spheres of life, be it in corporations and politics. We need leaders who can kill their desire to remain in office forever but breed successors who will bring new thinking and ideology to governance.
We need business leaders who will adequately reward employees before showing off their wealth. We need those who will understand that the only essence of power and position is to advance others and to put others ahead. We need leaders who can make bold decisions in the interest of our society. We need leaders!
BABS OLUGBEMI
Babs Olugbemi FCCA, the chief responsibility officer at Mentoras leadership limited and founder, the positive growth Africa. He can be reached on [email protected] or 08025489396.
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