challenges and opportunities for the leaders of the next generation

Leadership

BT Costantinos, [email protected]

Ethiopian Employers Federation Addis Ababa, May 22, 2009

Third Generation

Challenges and Opportunities

April 8, 2023 BT Costantinos, PhD Slide 2

“LEADERSHIP”

“To become a centre of influence holding people together is a grave

matter and fraught with great responsibility. It requires greatness of spirit, consistency and strength. Therefore let them who wishes to

gather others about him ask himself whether they are equal to the

undertaking”

I Ching, or Chinese Book of Changes, ...


Consciousness precedes being Vaclav Havel

Vaclav Havel, the Czechoslovakian philosopher and statesman, asserts that "Matter... is not the fundamental factor in human history...

Consciousness is.

Human awareness is... Those are the deep sources of freedom and power with which people have been able to move boulders and create change by treating institutional and economic realities as absolute constraints, but rather recognises that we "co-create the world" Thus, while we are indeed acted upon, we are also free to act; leadership lies in the complex interaction between the two.


Cultural and behavioural Challenges to emerging leaders

1. Personalization of issues (leba tat)2. Parochialism (weganawinet) 3. Paranoia, chronic suspicion and mistrust

(tiretare): we view everyone as a threat 4. Lack of empathy and empathetic understanding:

ability to identify with or understand others’ situation, feelings, and actions

5. Lack of suspending judgement fundamental to effective communication or giving others the benefit of the doubt

6. Character assassination (sem matfat and alubalta) 7. Lack of openness (Hamet)8. Holding grudges (qim and mequeyem) 9. Envy (mequegnenet) 10.Stubbornness and lack of compromise (getterenet)

The 10 Commandments of Ethiopian politicsRef. Dessalegn Asfaw


Business contribution to development

Organisational development Political contestation and participationFood security, conservation of natural resources and afforestation, economic diversification, health, reproductive health and family planning and HIV/AIDS, education, human resource development, organisational and institutional development, urban and rural physical infrastructures and emergency assistance.


MDGs

Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day Halve, between 1990 and 2015, proportion of people who suffer from hunger

Achieve universal primary education

Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling

Promote gender equality

Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and to all levels of education no later than 2015

Reduce child Mortality Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

Maternal health Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio

Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and ORID

Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse malaria and ORID


MDGs (cont)Ensure environmental sustainability

Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources Halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to water and sanitationBy 2020, significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers

Develop a Global Partnership for Development

Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system [Includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction – both nationally and internationally]Address the Special Needs of the Least Developed Countries [Includes: tariff and quota free access for LDC exports; enhanced programme of debt relief for HIPC and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous ODA for countries committed to poverty reduction]Address the Special Needs of landlocked countries and Small Island developing States Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long termIn co-operation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and productive work for youthIn co-operation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable, essential drugs in developing countriesIn co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications


Leadership outcomes, tools…

Capital formation and accumulation: Human, spiritual, natural, physical/material

social capital: political, psychosocial, organisational, cultural

Tools:Multi-track communications, participatory

assessment and planning, policy, institution and strategic analysis and programme

review

LEADERSHIP

Process and strategic elements Preconditions and preparedness, participatory

and wise decision making, production and availability of livelihood resources, access / control of livelihood resources, stability and

sustainability

Benchmarks Resilience, economic efficiency, social equitability,

ecological sustainability


LEADERSHIP COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE

STAKEHOLDERS IN PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES

DEVELOPMENT OF TOOLS

Governments, parastatals, armed forces, political

parties

Civil societies / NGOs, CSOs Faith Communities

Corporate CommunityEntrepreneurial Sector

Development Partners

National, State and Local Strategic Plans

Partnership mechanisms at all levels and stages

Human, social, political and

financial capital mobilisation and

management

Academia and think thanks

Media and public relations/

mobilisation

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LEADERSHIP: Citizen – State relations –

1. Humility and Optimism 2. Democracy and Pluralism, rule of law, accountability 3. Macroeconomic Prudence and transparency4. Scope for Mutual Support between Government and

Voluntary Organisations Relations5. The right to development 6. Voluntary Action as a Human Right: Indeed, voluntary

action is one of the highest forms of citizenship as it represents action in the service of the community without expectation or pursuit of personal economic or political gain.


Development Governance, leadership and The Defining Role Of Leaders

1.Building social capital for effective citizen and state institutions

2.Promotion of dialogue, public enlightenment, cultural renaissance, tradition, and renewal

3.Local Governance and Development Management

4.Education for democratic citizenship5.The human factor 6.Civic Education7.Gender, human rights, population, AIDS,

environment, democracy mainstreaming8.Strengthening civil society and rights culture


Paradigms of LEADERSHIP

1. leadership is above all about responsibility; requiring acceptance of the importance of one's self coupled with an appreciation of the greater importance of others over oneself. It entails liability for those who are led - whereby, leadership becomes a discipline in its own right.

2. There is no set of techniques, rules or series of commandments with which the leader can arm themselves and be assured of success; nonetheless, they must always interrelate, familiarize, change and transform themselves.

3. leaders are expected to develop the capacity, through their statements and actions, including symbolic actions, to shape debate and dialogue


Paradigms of LEADERSHIP4. An inspiring ‘job description’ of leaders must be not only

the power over discourse but also their ability to shape morality, to determine what is socially acceptable, culturally sound and politically uplifting. Indeed, leadership is more than a job; it is a calling.

5. Political leadership of human development and human security, requires intimate knowledge of public policy analysis, formulation and management and development of strategic plans and implementing them:

analysis, formulation and management of policy, strategy, process and organisation;

obtaining policy consensus and ensuring that the public service and ancillary organisations can actually

carry out the stated policy, and not see it subverted, neglected or undermined; and

consistency and commitment: ensuring that the policy is implemented with sufficient energy to actually work. This implies mechanisms for monitoring and accountability.


Nuances of LEADERSHIP1. Leaders are responsible for breaking the boundaries of

inward bound wisdom, of "common sense", of patterns which have built themselves into routines which pacify people to dormancy.

2. Leaders maintain continuity whilst simultaneously promoting change; such is the nature of leadership ambiguity and contradiction that comes as part of the same deal.

3. The allusion of the foregoing is that the leader is responsible for change management, and change in a transition implies some degree of anarchy. The nexus between the old and the new, between letting go of the old and adopting the new order, is most often a place where rules are bent, and habit and routine are replaced with periods of chaos - which are indeed pieces of good fortune and opportunities for change.

4. Leaders must have the zeal, commitment, diligence, greatness of spirit, consistency to transform transitional chaos into development opportunities that history will remember them for.


Laws of leadership

1. The true measure of leadership is Influence – nothing less, nothing more

2. Leadership ability determines a persons level of effectiveness

3. Leadership develops daily, not in a day4. Direction - It takes a leader to chart the

course5. To add growth, lead followers; to multiply

lead leaders6. A leaders lasting value is measured by

succession


Laws of leadership

7. When the real leader speaks people listen

8. Trust is the foundation of leadership

9. People naturally follow leaders stronger than themselves

10.Who you are who you attract11.Leaders touch a heart before theiy

ask for a hand12.A leaders potential is determined

by those closest to her


Laws of leadership

13.It takes a leader to raise up a leader14.People buy into the leader and then

the VISION15.Leaders are team winners16.Momentum is a leader’s best friend17.Leaders understand that activity is

not necessarily an accomplishment18.A leader must give up to go up19.When to lead is as important as what

to do and where to go


We know there exist enormous obstinacies to development within the life of this generation,

nevertheless a skilled and committed citizenry, think tanks and leadership can mitigate such hostile state of

affairs and lead the country to democracy and development with the attendant benefits that would

accrue to the citizens from its rich natural resources and vibrant cultures.

Conclusion

Here is where LEADERSHIP – the shared values, vision and resources of community, the demanding common tasks that build a community and the momentum they generate for radical citizen’s participation that creates the realism of what it means to be human: the means,

shared values, vision and resources of humanity for humanity.


Thank youThank you

challenges and opportunities for the leaders of the next generation

Technology

2014 bt costantinos

livelihood resources

poverty reduction

shared values

voluntary action

developing countries

resources

policy