By Jovanka Ciares is a wellness expert, nutrition consultant and author.
Every time I think of Nelson Mandela the first thought in my mind is we need more like him. We are ready and in serious need of leaders to inspire us and motivate us with action as much as words.
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| Nelson Mandela |
Leadership is hard to define, mostly because it means different things to different people. We know it requires knowledge, strength and compassion. We expect leaders to be fair, to share our values and provide direction. That to me is what leaders like Mandela represent.
As a Hispanic woman, health advocate and entrepreneur I strive to one day become a strong leader in my community and emulate the leadership values that I learn from people like Nelson Mandela. By taking daily action, living with integrity and following my intuition, I too hope to inspire others to follow their own path and let their light shine.
When looking to develop leadership skills, whether it is at home, with your peers at work or in the community, it is very helpful to look for mentors, role models that have spent years mastering leadership traits and putting them into practice. I have many mentors but Nelson Mandela is very much at the top of that list. I continue to learn many lessons from him, but the ones that remain timeless to me are as follows:
1. Inspire with action
Motivate others with your words and actions. Give them courage, inspire them to learn more, instil in them a sense of possibility. Every action that you take will lead to a learning opportunity and will encourage moving forward movement in others. Teach others by example. If you do it, they will follow.
2. Be better, not bitter
Nelson Mandela is the impersonation of this powerful lesson. He was put in jail by a brutal regime for 27 years simply because he was fighting for fairness and equality. But even while jailed, he continued to be a leader and the symbol of the struggles of South Africans. Amazingly, after his release from jail, he became a stronger leader, not bitter or ready for revenge. He found common ground, embracing those who were once against him and helping the country bridge a seemingly impossible gap.
3. Fail to plan, plan to fail
People fail to accomplish their goals many times because of this simple premise. Planning and organising ahead of time is key to the success of any task or endeavour, whether in your personal or business life. Organise your ideas, write out a plan with actionable steps to take and deadlines and set out your goals.
4. Work with the willing
Most of us have gotten caught up at least once in the emotional roller-coaster that is wanting to work with or help someone who has the talent, the potential or the need, even if that person is unwilling or incapable. Move on from those that don’t want to do or be where you want them to do or be. And don’t carry their burden. Let them go through their journey and spend your time and energy looking for like-minded people who you can partner with.
5. Communicate
Communication is the simple act of getting a message across clearly and unequivocally to others. This sounds simple in theory but communication is one of the hardest things to do because there are so many things in play (body language, cultural idiosyncrasies among others) that can get in the way and cause confusion. Nelson Mandela was a master communicator, which is one of the top traits of a great leader.
6. Become a people’s person
Nelson Mandela was an incredibly dynamic person who was able to motivate an entire country to work together and move past a very difficult time in their history for the benefit of all. He wasn’t attached to a particular ideology or goal. Instead, he was willing to build relationships on all sides in order to accomplish his goal of a united and successful South Africa.
7. Develop strong character
Nelson Mandela and his followers knew that they were doing the right thing, even if it was dangerous and could have cost them their freedom (as it did for many years) or even their lives. But they had strong convictions and a strong sense of character and got a lot of respect (and followers) because of it.
A new report by professional services firm PwC, titled The Africa Business Agenda,
takes a closer look at how African companies are attracting, managing
and retaining talent. Here are some of the key points.
1. Training new employees
A number of companies in Africa invest heavily in the initial
training of new management employees. Mobile telecoms operator Orange
has established a campus in Senegal aimed at training managers in its operations across the continent.
Nigeria-based Dangote Group established its Dangote Academy to develop the technical and vocational skills of recent graduates.
“Skills shortages is one of the major problems that we face in
Africa,” says Aliko Dangote, president and CEO of the Dangote Group.
“Having comparative advantage is no longer enough. You need a superior
talent pool.”
Kuria Muchiru, human capital leader for PwC Central and Southern
Africa, says that with regards to graduates and Generation Y workers,
companies face a number of challenges. “The main one has to do with a
large pool of candidates who require significant training, but who also
have very different expectations of the workplace and their employers
than older generations.”
2. Attracting candidates from the diaspora
Some companies see value in attracting talent from the diaspora, as
these people are used to global standards while having a connection with
the local culture.
“In my view, there are real benefits to someone coming home from the diaspora,” says Anita Omoile, CEO of Nigeria-based
Deep Blue Energy Services. “Not only have companies invested in
world-class talent but they’ve gotten someone who has a connection to
the culture. You can’t put a price tag on that value.”
“Many CEOs looking for well-qualified candidates reach into their
diaspora and engage in global searches with focused search companies who
assist them in identifying talent that may wish to return home,” says
Daniel Giffard-Bouvier, a partner in human resource advisory services
with PwC France and Francophone Africa.
3. Retaining talent
Competition for top talent in Africa is fierce. Companies often face
the dilemma of training up an employee, only to see him or her scooped
up by another company offering a better package.
“Several CEOs told us how they work hard to develop a corporate
culture that encourages a culture of belonging, thus improving
retention. Salary and benefits, career plans and a participative social
climate are elements widely mentioned,” says Giffard-Bouvier.
Muchiru says at upper management levels, it is an employees’ market and they hold significant leverage.
4. Leadership development
Housing Finance, a mortgage provider and property company in Kenya,
invests in ongoing training and gives its senior managers more
responsibilities around the company’s strategic projects, in addition to
their day-to-day jobs. This is so that they can learn by experience.
“Affordable housing is integral to our growth strategy and a lot of
these solutions in the mortgage banking industry are found in India, for
example. So, on an annual basis, we send out at least three of our
senior leaders on assignment for exposure to markets like India,” the
company’s managing director Frank Ireri told PwC.
5. Benefits and rewards
Housing Finance also allows its workers to pick the benefits which
are important to them. “We find that benefits like medical cover,
employee pension or mortgage loans are not as important to our younger
workers, so we’re working on what you might call a total compensation
cost, but with a list of options so that employees can tick the boxes
that are important to them,” says Ireri.
PwC has found that more companies are now talking about change
management and a vision aligned with employees’ needs and priorities.
According to Pascal Lesoinne, managing director of Tanzania
Portland Cement Company, new graduates are hard working, but want to be
rewarded for going the extra mile. “This is different from the older
employees who think that one size fits all for rewards, as in everyone
should be rewarded the same. Every year we reward the top employees
during the annual family day in which the winners feel proud to receive
awards in front of their families,” he says.
By: Ernest Moses; Life and Personal Coach
You have to realize that your outside world
is a reflection of your inner world. In the same way, in the greater
scheme of life, what is in the physical world is only a shadow of what
is in the unseen world - the existence you cannot see with your eyes or
contact with your physical senses. What you see in the outside world has
its source in the unseen realm. Living Life Inside Out is the creative
process of bringing into being that which is in the inner or unseen
world; This means you bring out from within you all that you want to see
or experience in your Life.
Inside every man lies the potential
to be what he wants to be and to get what he wants to get. The first
principle in this creative process is to recognize that you have this
ability in you to be what you want to be. The Second Principle is to
find out how you can live out or create the kind of life you want for
yourself. It all begins from your inside; Success in life begins from
within you. When you are able to enrich your inner world, especially
your mind, it will enhance your outer world. You will be more effective
and efficient in any and everything you do which will cause you to live a
fuller and richer Life.
Let’s consider how the architects work
¬- they put together a great edifice or building in the physical world
by making use of ‘the principles of the inner world’. They design the
blue print of how the building will look when it is complete, and by
that they are able to build an amazing structure based on the blue
print. In the same way the things we create in our lives first starts
from the inner world and take its form in the outer world.
The
spirit of living inside out is getting all the things you want in life
by exercising and putting to work this principle. I say ‘everything you
want in life begins from within you’. All that you are or that you could
ever be has it source from within. The within experience needs to be
grasped, because this is the specimen of life that is the gem of all
achievements.
Great men or women of the arts and literatures
discovered and did all the things they did when they discovered this
‘inner principle’. Within you lies the slumbering powers and
achievements that if discovered, will make you a success in life.
Life
is best lived when it is lived inside out. The inner life factor needs
to be understood, harnessed and nourished; there will be greater
achievements in your life when this is properly understood.
You
can begin where you are now, begin new, begin on a fresh note,
especially because it is still very new in the year. You can create for
yourself whatever you desire and want by applying this principle of
living life inside out. When understood and nurtured great things will
come out of you. I look forward to come and celebrate with you.
