AN OPEN LETTER TO RAILA AMOLLO ODINGA... Sir, you command reverential support from a large ethnic base, the Luo of Kenya, as well as from lower class urban youth all over the country. You are seen as a charismatic leader with excellent skills in mobilising grass root support. You are an indefatigable campaigner who excels through clever campaign tactics such as using the media to gain attention with the public. But.... Leadership is something one is, not something one does. Leadership is the process of motivating, mobilizing, resourcing, and directing people to passionately and strategically pursue a vision. Leadership is unlocking peoples potential to become better not something that is done to people like fixing your teeth. Leadership must be seen as a responsibility rather than a license. The final test of a leader is that he leaves behind him in other men the conviction and the will to carry on. . . . The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully. A leader must take full responsibility for the consequence of your leadership. Leaders produce results. Effective leaders produce desirable results in response based upon intentional and strategic efforts to bring those outcomes to fruition. A leader posses the type of character that moves people to trust you to take them places- spiritual, emotional, relational, and interllectual- that they otherwise would not go. Authentic leadership is not about position, power, popularity, or perks; it is about obedience and servanthood, resulting in transformation. A leader exhibits mastery of competencies that enables you to move people toward meaningful goals or outcomes. The dominant competencies are well known: vision casting, effective communication, motivating participation, mobilizing people into efficient work units, thinking and planning strategically, accumulating the resources required, evaluating results and fine-tuning the process, handling conflict, reproducing and training leaders, delegating tasks to skilled colleagues. Leaders are people who do the right things; managers are people who do things right. Many institutions are very well managed but very poorely led. Managers may excel in the ability to handle all the routine inputs yet may never ask whether the routine should be done at all. Kenya needs a leader for we have good managers. Kenyans must recover confidence, must think of politics as the solvent between thought and action. Yes, we need a leader and not a manager. Kenya needs a leader with a vision and mission. Mr. Raila, do you think you meet the bill?
Posted on: Tue, 09 Sep 2014 10:07:12 +0000