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[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”30px”][vc_row_inner el_id=”newsletters”][vc_column_inner width=”1/6″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”2/3″][vc_custom_heading text=” Of Institutions and the Leadership Challenge” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:22|text_align:justify|color:%236699cc|line_height:1.8″ use_theme_fonts=”yes”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/6″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”25px”][vc_column_text]
I will like you to pause for a moment to think about any great Nigerian leaders either in the private and public sector. I am certain that at the end of this exercise you will find that majority of such leaders are people who were reared in strong institutions like: the military, the civil service, multinational companies (Shell and the likes), top tier Nigerian companies in banking, manufacturing, professional services industry and other sectors. Not to forget, the organized trade unions, NGO’s and faith-based institutions.How do great institutions breed phenomenal leaders?
Firstly, because institutions have a high number of employees and sometimes operate in different locations there must be strong systems and processes in place to handle the set tasks seamlessly. Every good leader is bred in a rule-based environment where there is a discipline to ask the first basic question which is – What is the laid down process? This is the backbone of every good decision!
Secondly, every leader-in-the-making needs to have opportunities to actually lead people with all their nuances and bents – the good, the bad, the ugly. Institutional environments have the requisite number of workers that gives an employee the opportunity to lead teams of 5, 10, 50 and more as you grow in the rank and file. Many ‘’leaders’’ in authority today are ‘’shepherds’’ who have never had a herd and that is why their emotional intelligence and people skills are so deficient. That is why they cannot delegate or trust people.
Thirdly, great institutions teach people about culture and values. Employees learn that the environment has certain ideals and ethos that govern their very existence and their interactions. The problem with many so called ‘’leaders’’ is that no one can really say what their values are. Any leader who does not stand for anything cannot ‘’infect’’ people with anything and is only inches away from institutional failure.
Fourthly, if you come across anyone who exhibits the methodology for taking informed decisions and problem solving you can guess that they have some institutional breeding. Institutions teach you the culture of having meetings, harnessing views, distilling opinions, building consensus and communicating decisions. Poor decision-making can cost unquantifiable losses. This plays out with leaders who come into authority without having taken major decisions in their previous life.
Fifthly, they say experience is the best teacher and people learn from experience. In my view, this means that good leaders are people who have tried things and succeeded or failed. Institutions are great places to learn from your bad and good decisions. Therefore, you wonder when a leader has a ‘’stick-to-it-tive-ness’’ about a road that seems to have thorns. If he has been there before he knows the areas that are quicksand and he will also know the treasure ahead. Perception and good judgement are invaluable products of cognate experience.
The sixth thing that institutions help you build is the ability to see how strategy comes alive and how things move from pen to paper to market and to rewards that follow. Many people in authority have not been through this mill of being able to visualize, conceptualize and then implement. So, if a person in authority does not innately have this skill and he has not learnt it, they are stuck in the middle of a desert. People who have been involved in startups in Nigeria that grew into strong institutions are perhaps one of the greatest human assets Nigeria has today.
The seventh and perhaps one of the most important things that institutions bring to leaders is the merit-based environment. An environment where people expect that if they work hard they should reasonably expect fair rewards. Leaders who have jettisoned meritocracy have been responsible for ruining many of our institutions in Nigeria. I am sure you can relate with this.
To buttress the above, I would like you to think of the stories you have heard or books you have read about Nigeria in the early 60’s. We heard that in those days we had strong institutions and as soon as people obtained their school certificate you surely got a good job either in a private institution like United African Company (UAC) or Shell or public institutions like the military or the vibrant civil service at the time. Majority of people in that generation went through that route and the result is that majority of them have strong leadership skills and a certain discipline that stays with them life-long.
My conclusions are that institutions are the true custodians of the fabric of society and the greatest influencers from generation to generation. So, we must keep existing institutions and grow new ones. I believe that leadership is not learned in business schools but learned in live environments that create the right level of challenges on a continuous basis. I believe that even the self-grown leaders who did not pass through the institutional mill have grown via projects that institutions have exposed them to. For example, those who are contractors to Chevron, Mobil or the likes have learnt a lot about processes and procedures in their routine engagements with these institutions.
William Clay Ford Jr (great grandson of Henry Ford) is the Executive Chairman of Ford Motors. When he took over the helm in 2001 he was noted for valuing people and tradition unlike the ousted CEO Jacques Nasser who focused on maximizing profits and shareholder value. William Ford typifies great institutions. Institutions are people builders and a microcosm of the collective values and aspirations of any great country. If a William Clay Ford Jr became a President, his institutional attitude would not change because he has spent years building great leaders within a great institution.
If I may ask some pertinent related questions: Are institutions failing in Nigeria? Is there a correlation between the failure of our institutions and our leadership challenge? Shouldn’t we urgently seek to rebuild our institutions? If so, where do we start and who takes responsibility?
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[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Of Institutions and the Leadership Challenge” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:22|text_align:justify|color:%236699cc|line_height:1.8″ use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
I will like you to pause for a moment to think about any great Nigerian leaders either in the private and public sector. I am certain that at the end of this exercise you will find that majority of such leaders are people who were reared in strong institutions like: the military, the civil service, multinational companies (Shell and the likes), top tier Nigerian companies in banking, manufacturing, professional services industry and other sectors. Not to forget, the organized trade unions, NGO’s and faith-based institutions.
How do great institutions breed phenomenal leaders?
Firstly, because institutions have a high number of employees and sometimes operate in different locations there must be strong systems and processes in place to handle the set tasks seamlessly. Every good leader is bred in a rule-based environment where there is a discipline to ask the first basic question which is – What is the laid down process? This is the back bone of every good decision!
Secondly, every leader-in-the-making needs to have opportunities to actually lead people with all their nuances and bents – the good, the bad, the ugly. Institutional environments have the requisite number of workers that gives an employee the opportunity to lead teams of 5, 10, 50 and more as you grow in the rank and file. Many ‘’leaders’’ in authority today are ‘’shepherds’’ who have never had a herd and that is why their emotional intelligence and people skills are so deficient. That is why they cannot delegate or trust people.
Thirdly, great institutions teach people about culture and values. Employees learn that the environment has certain ideals and ethos that govern their very existence and their interactions. The problem with many so called ‘’leaders’’ is that no one can really say what their values are. Any leader who does not stand for anything cannot ‘’infect’’ people with anything and is only inches away from institutional failure.
Fourthly, if you come across anyone who exhibits the methodology for taking informed decisions and problem solving you can guess that they have some institutional breeding. Institutions teach you the culture of having meetings, harnessing views, distilling opinions, building consensus and communicating decisions. Poor decision-making can cost unquantifiable losses. This plays out with leaders who come into authority without having taken major decisions in their previous life.
Fifthly, they say experience is the best teacher and people learn from experience. In my view, this means that good leaders are people who have tried things and succeeded or failed. Institutions are great places to learn from your bad and good decisions. Therefore, you wonder when a leader has a ‘’stick-to-it-tive-ness’’ about a road that seems to have thorns. If he has been there before he knows the areas that are quicksand and he will also know the treasure ahead. Perception and good judgement are invaluable products of cognate experience.
The sixth thing that institutions help you build is the ability to see how strategy comes alive and how things move from pen to paper to market and to rewards that follow. Many people in authority have not been through this mill of being able to visualize, conceptualize and then implement. So, if a person in authority does not innately have this skill and he has not learnt it, they are stuck in the middle of a desert. People who have been involved in startups in Nigeria that grew into strong institutions are perhaps one of the greatest human assets Nigeria has today.
The seventh and perhaps one of the most important things that institutions bring to leaders is the merit-based environment. An environment where people expect that if they work hard they should reasonably expect fair rewards. Leaders who have jettisoned meritocracy have been responsible for ruining many of our institutions in Nigeria. I am sure you can relate with this.
To buttress the above, I would like you to think of the stories you have heard or books you have read about Nigeria in the early 60’s. We heard that in those days we had strong institutions and as soon as people obtained their school certificate you surely got a good job either in a private institution like United African Company (UAC) or Shell or public institutions like the military or the vibrant civil service at the time. Majority of people in that generation went through that route and the result is that majority of them have strong leadership skills and a certain discipline that stays with them life-long.
My conclusions are that institutions are the true custodians of the fabric of society and the greatest influencers from generation to generation. So, we must keep existing institutions and grow new ones. I believe that leadership is not learned in business schools but learned in live environments that create the right level of challenges on a continuous basis. I believe that even the self-grown leaders who did not pass through the institutional mill have grown via projects that institutions have exposed them to. For example, those who are contractors to Chevron, Mobil or the likes have learnt a lot about processes and procedures in their routine engagements with these institutions.
William Clay Ford Jr (great grandson of Henry Ford) is the Executive Chairman of Ford Motors. When he took over the helm in 2001 he was noted for valuing people and tradition unlike the ousted CEO Jacques Nasser who focused on maximizing profits and shareholder value. William Ford typifies great institutions. Institutions are people builders and a microcosm of the collective values and aspirations of any great country. If a William Clay Ford Jr became a President, his institutional attitude would not change because he has spent years building great leaders within a great institution.
If I may ask some pertinent related questions: Are institutions failing in Nigeria? Is there a correlation between the failure of our institutions and our leadership challenge? Shouldn’t we urgently seek to rebuild our institutions? If so, where do we start and who takes responsibility?
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[/vc_column_text][vc_custom_heading text=”Of Institutions and the Leadership Challenge” font_container=”tag:h1|font_size:22|text_align:justify|color:%236699cc|line_height:1.8″ use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]
I will like you to pause for a moment to think about any great Nigerian leaders either in the private and public sector. I am certain that at the end of this exercise you will find that majority of such leaders are people who were reared in strong institutions like: the military, the civil service, multinational companies (Shell and the likes), top tier Nigerian companies in banking, manufacturing, professional services industry and other sectors. Not to forget, the organized trade unions, NGO’s and faith-based institutions.
How do great institutions breed phenomenal leaders?
Firstly, because institutions have a high number of employees and sometimes operate in different locations there must be strong systems and processes in place to handle the set tasks seamlessly. Every good leader is bred in a rule-based environment where there is a discipline to ask the first basic question which is – What is the laid down process? This is the back bone of every good decision!
Secondly, every leader-in-the-making needs to have opportunities to actually lead people with all their nuances and bents – the good, the bad, the ugly. Institutional environments have the requisite number of workers that gives an employee the opportunity to lead teams of 5, 10, 50 and more as you grow in the rank and file. Many ‘’leaders’’ in authority today are ‘’shepherds’’ who have never had a herd and that is why their emotional intelligence and people skills are so deficient. That is why they cannot delegate or trust people.
Thirdly, great institutions teach people about culture and values. Employees learn that the environment has certain ideals and ethos that govern their very existence and their interactions. The problem with many so called ‘’leaders’’ is that no one can really say what their values are. Any leader who does not stand for anything cannot ‘’infect’’ people with anything and is only inches away from institutional failure.
Fourthly, if you come across anyone who exhibits the methodology for taking informed decisions and problem solving you can guess that they have some institutional breeding. Institutions teach you the culture of having meetings, harnessing views, distilling opinions, building consensus and communicating decisions. Poor decision-making can cost unquantifiable losses. This plays out with leaders who come into authority without having taken major decisions in their previous life.
Fifthly, they say experience is the best teacher and people learn from experience. In my view, this means that good leaders are people who have tried things and succeeded or failed. Institutions are great places to learn from your bad and good decisions. Therefore, you wonder when a leader has a ‘’stick-to-it-tive-ness’’ about a road that seems to have thorns. If he has been there before he knows the areas that are quicksand and he will also know the treasure ahead. Perception and good judgement are invaluable products of cognate experience.
The sixth thing that institutions help you build is the ability to see how strategy comes alive and how things move from pen to paper to market and to rewards that follow. Many people in authority have not been through this mill of being able to visualize, conceptualize and then implement. So, if a person in authority does not innately have this skill and he has not learnt it, they are stuck in the middle of a desert. People who have been involved in startups in Nigeria that grew into strong institutions are perhaps one of the greatest human assets Nigeria has today.
The seventh and perhaps one of the most important things that institutions bring to leaders is the merit-based environment. An environment where people expect that if they work hard they should reasonably expect fair rewards. Leaders who have jettisoned meritocracy have been responsible for ruining many of our institutions in Nigeria. I am sure you can relate with this.
To buttress the above, I would like you to think of the stories you have heard or books you have read about Nigeria in the early 60’s. We heard that in those days we had strong institutions and as soon as people obtained their school certificate you surely got a good job either in a private institution like United African Company (UAC) or Shell or public institutions like the military or the vibrant civil service at the time. Majority of people in that generation went through that route and the result is that majority of them have strong leadership skills and a certain discipline that stays with them life-long.
My conclusions are that institutions are the true custodians of the fabric of society and the greatest influencers from generation to generation. So, we must keep existing institutions and grow new ones. I believe that leadership is not learned in business schools but learned in live environments that create the right level of challenges on a continuous basis. I believe that even the self-grown leaders who did not pass through the institutional mill have grown via projects that institutions have exposed them to. For example, those who are contractors to Chevron, Mobil or the likes have learnt a lot about processes and procedures in their routine engagements with these institutions.
William Clay Ford Jr (great grandson of Henry Ford) is the Executive Chairman of Ford Motors. When he took over the helm in 2001 he was noted for valuing people and tradition unlike the ousted CEO Jacques Nasser who focused on maximizing profits and shareholder value. William Ford typifies great institutions. Institutions are people builders and a microcosm of the collective values and aspirations of any great country. If a William Clay Ford Jr became a President, his institutional attitude would not change because he has spent years building great leaders within a great institution.
If I may ask some pertinent related questions: Are institutions failing in Nigeria? Is there a correlation between the failure of our institutions and our leadership challenge? Shouldn’t we urgently seek to rebuild our institutions? If so, where do we start and who takes responsibility?
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