Successful leadership, be it in business, politics or sports,
operates on identical underlying principles. As such, successful
leaders learn from one another across the different sectors of life and
terrain of leadership in which they operate.
Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, has a lot to learn about
leadership, and he has plenty of options to choose from. But he needs
not look far. In his mostly unremarkable government, the sports sector,
especially football, especially the national male football team, Super
Eagles, have enjoyed unprecedented success. This due in no small parts
to the efforts of the Glo/CAF African Football Awards 2014 Coach of the
Year, Stephen Keshi.
Since his appointment in 2011, Keshi has led Nigeria to qualification
for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, which they went on to win, becoming
one of only two people (along with Egypt's Mahmoud El-Gohary) to have
won it as both a player and a coach, secured qualification to the 2014
World Cup and is through to the semi-final of CHAN2014. Keshi's success
has not been accidental, and in his handling of the team, some
particularly stellar leadership attributes shine through that the man
from Otuoke can learn from.
Leaders deliver results, not excuses: Jonathan has a readymade excuse
for why nothing is working in Nigeria. From corruption to terrorism to
poor state of infrastructure nationwide, none is due to Jonathan's
inability/failure to effect change. Past Nigerian leaders, the
opposition, the children of anger, some aggrieved ethnicities, these are
the groups responsible for everything that is wrong with Nigeria. And
this has gone a long way in entrenching the culture of complacency in
his largely incompetent team who know they are not to blame for failure.
Keshi as Super Eagles manager has an opposite philosophy, get results
and you won’t have to give excuses. And this has worked for him, as the
team knows a bad pitch or weather and even biased officiating is not a
reason to lose.
Leaders make sacrifices, especially big sacrifices:
"To save Nigeria, we must all be prepared to make sacrifices. On the
part of Government, we are taking several measures aimed at cutting the
size and cost of governance, including on-going and continuous effort to
reduce the size of our recurrent expenditure and increase capital
spending. In this regard, I have directed that overseas travels by all
political office holders, including the President, should be reduced to
the barest minimum," Goodluck Jonathan said in January 2012.
In January 2014, he spoke thus: "Our administration believes that the
cost of governance in the country is still too high and must be further
reduced. We will also take additional steps to stem the tide of
corruption and leakages. Foreign travel by government personnel will be
further curtailed."
In the two years between the two statements from Goodluck Jonathan
above, he has spent over N3 billion on foreign trips, recurrent
expenditure has increased to 72% of overall government spending, Aso
Rock feeding and entertainment budget has stayed at N1 billion and Mr
President is planning to acquire an 11th aircraft for the presidential
fleet.
Keshi and his assistants on the other hand are being owed a total of 7
months' salary and allowances running into about N78 million. In the
face of this, he has ensured that no player is owed match bonuses and
has not failed to deliver results on the pitch. Jonathan and his aides
are living in obscene opulence while asking Nigerians to make sacrifices
for the nation's development. Errrrr, it all starts with you sir.
You are only as good as your team: Since his accidental ascendancy to
the highest political office in Nigeria, Mr Jonathan has managed to
assemble arguably the worst Federal Executive Council since return to
democratic rule in 1999. Men and women of low competencies, questionable
character and proven records of corruption/mismanagement have been
given control of sensitive positions in return for political devotion.
Mr Jonathan has shown that he values political loyalty above competency,
and that is politics, not leadership. In this regard, he should learn
how Keshi picks his team, making sure the best available players are
selected, not those who spent more time with the press praising his
managerial skills.
Leaders know what and when to celebrate: One of the most
disappointing moments of Jonathan's presidency for me was when he told
CNN’s Christine Amanpour during an interview that power situation in
Nigeria has vastly improved and Nigerians are happy with his
administration in that regard. Amanpour went ahead to disprove this
claim so effortlessly. In truth power generation had increased to mor
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