Leaders who do not develop a system for staying in touch with the realities of the people and a mechanism for responding swiftly to the pressing issues will most likely find themselves out of touch and ultimately out of relevance.
From a leadership perspective, the just concluded United States elections and the emergence of Donald Trump as president-elect reinforces the rising tide of populist discontent across the world, which we spoke about in a previous article. As America and the rest of the world grapples with the import of a Trump presidency, leaders everywhere, public and private sectors alike, must also rise up to meet the challenge of satisfying the sometimes multifaceted needs of diverse populations in just and equitable ways. This will require a genuine commitment to understanding the needs and feelings of the people at every point in time.
Leaders who must lead effectively in these complicated times of ours must, by all means, avoid being stuck in echo chambers, where honest feedback is filtered through a retinue of aides and yes-men. Leaders who do not develop a system for staying in touch with the realities of the people and a mechanism for responding swiftly to the pressing issues will most likely find themselves out of touch and ultimately out of relevance.
In 1 Kings Chapter 12, the Bible tells us how King Solomon’s heir, Rehoboam, a young and promising king, lost his throne because he chose to follow the imprudent counsel of his circle of friends, against the wishes of the people. The Bible captured the essence of Rehoboam’s failed leadership tenure in nine words: “So the king did not listen to the people….” (1 Kings 12:15a).
Jens Stoltenberg, one-time Norwegian Prime Minister and current NATO Secretary General, was famed for disguising himself as a taxi driver and driving passengers around the streets of Oslo for several hours. Quizzed by Norwegian daily newspaper VG about his rationale for doing this, Stoltenberg said, “If there is one place where people say what they really mean about most things, it is in a taxi.” In 1982, Tom Peters and Bob Waterman in their seminal work, In Search of Excellence, popularised the phrase ‘Management By Walking Around (MBWA)’. MBWA referred to the leadership practice of the founders of HP, William Hewlett and David Packard, and others, who believed in getting firsthand information from employees and customers by taking routine walks around the establishment. The aim was to listen to what people were really feeling and saying, use the opportunity to transmit the company’s values face-to-face and give people on-the-spot help. Disney leaders worked shifts with their resort teams, and the CEO of waste management firm, Veolia regularly went out with his staff to collect trash.
…one of the biggest problems of the Nigerian state is the apparent disconnect between the leadership and the people. This has created a vacuum of trust between the leadership and the led that makes the environment for governance somewhat toxic.
The primary responsibility of leadership is to serve the people. And you cannot effectively serve a people whose passions, anxieties and needs are not well known to you. Today you do not need to physically walk around to feel the pulse of the people. You can hear them on social media, their voices and frustrations screaming out from myriads of platforms. The 21st century leader’s responsibility is to listen and act swiftly on the insight gleaned.
It is true that one of the biggest problems of the Nigerian state is the apparent disconnect between the leadership and the people. This has created a vacuum of trust between the leadership and the led that makes the environment for governance somewhat toxic. The truth is, we cannot ignore the question of poverty and sectionalism. We cannot ignore the question of political restructuring. We cannot ignore the question of dilapidated or inadequate infrastructure in every sector, including education and healthcare, to name a few. The legacy of leadership, today and tomorrow, will be determined by how well issues are understood and dealt with.
The truth is, leadership is a dialogue, an ongoing conversation where the needs of the people and the efforts to meet them are constantly being negotiated against the backdrop of changing realities. And the realities of millions of Nigerians are turning on the wheels of harsh economic realities. We would need to break out of the comfort of our air-conditioned homes and offices, time and again, to understand the travails of the people and the urgency with which we have to find solutions to the issues that affect them. We need the full cooperation of the people if we are going to turn things around, and to get it we have to engage them, listen to them, let them know we know where the shoe pinches and let them know the solutions we are proffering and working on to alleviate them. This is important for leaders everywhere and at every level. We need to connect with the people where they are and together forge common solutions to the problems that plague us.
NIGERIA HAS A GREAT FUTURE!
Taiwo Odukoya, a leadership and relationship expert, is the Senior Pastor of The Fountain of Life Church.
