LEADERSHIP: SO MUCH TRAINING LESS PRACTICE

I recently went to collect our car from a service mechanic at a garage together with my wife. When we arrived, the mechanic asked us to give him some thirty minutes to give the car final touches.  I knew that meant at least one hour of waiting so instead of sitting down and getting bored with waiting, we decided to take a walk. After walking for sometime, we decided to buy a drink and rest in grocery because it was getting too dark as there was yet another electricity blackout again. At least there were some candles in the grocery.

After a short while, we got into a conversation with the grocer on leadership. He began talking about the frequency of blackouts and said as a man in his late sixty’s he is very worried about the future of the country and the continent as a whole; and more importantly that of my generation and our children. He wondered if anybody really cares about the future of Africa. His biggest disappointment was that everyone seems to have normalised mediocrity – like for example – people now think that electricity blackouts are normal and water taps that don’t run are normal.

I interjected and suggested that the failure of leadership could be because young people are not given chance – it’s the same old people who are clinging to power and closing out young people and new ideas. He looked at me and laughed. He convincingly showed me that new young leaders who have been tried or given a chance have not shown any difference.....

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