SPEECHES
A Strategy for Leadership
Ambassador Robert E. Gribbin
Abuja, August 30
Good Morning.
I would like to take the time this morning to share with you some thoughts on leadership. How do people become leaders? What qualities do good leaders possess? Can leadership be learned?
First, let’s agree on a definition of leadership. My dictionary defined leadership as “the capacity to lead.” It defined lead as “to guide on a way, especially a course of action.” That in essence is what I want to discuss: how to develop a course of action, how to obtain the assent of others to the undertaking and how to achieve the goals that have been established.
Leaders exist in all aspects of our lives. Certainly, you can think of leaders in politics and government, generals and soldiers in time of war, and persons engaged in momentous undertakings, but leadership is also applicable to more mundane human activities – such as in the workplace, in sports, school or family.
I think it would be useful to look at several leaders in order to assess their style and impact.
First, let’s look at the Bible. Aside from its religious importance, the Bible contains a lot of what is basically a leadership manual. It teaches lessons about leadership and about overcoming obstacles. In that regard it is useful to consider Moses, the prophet who led the children of Israel out of bondage in Egypt. You all know the story. Pursued by the Pharaoh’s army he led them through the Red Sea into the Sinai desert. There they wandered for forty years before arriving and settling in the land of Canaan. Yet Moses himself knew that he would lead the people into exile and exodus from Egypt, but he would never reach the land of milk and honey. Imagine his leadership task. He had to convince an enslaved people to trust him, to believe in his vision and his ability to get them safely out of Egypt and then to guide them through years of difficulty, yet still to stay true to the vision of a positive outcome and a better life for all.
Leaders like Moses lead by example. Mohandas Gandhi is another. Gandhi made himself an example of service to others. He cared for the sick, the down trodden and the outcastes of society in a pious and modest manner, never seeking self aggrandizement. He stood ultimately as a symbol. One man against the power of imperial British rule. One man, who instead of paying British taxes on salt, walked to the sea to refine his own. Similarly to protest British tariffs and regulations, he spun his own thread and wove his own clothes. His example, his defiance, empowered and emboldened millions of Indians and led directly to independence for the sub-continent. Remember that Gandhi never took a position of importance. He was never Prime Minister or President. He was content with his station in life and his advocacy of equality and tolerance.
Leaders lead by establishing a vision, a vision of a better world, or better circumstances or as our definition stated “a way forward.” Nelson Mandela, for example, from the depths of apartheid South Africa and from his prison cell foresaw a multi-racial, multi-ethnic South Africa where all citizens could live free and prosper. As president he reinforced this vision and guided the nation to achieve it.
In business, Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, had a different vision, one of computer systems. Not only did he invent more efficient and effective ways for computers to operate, he conceived of a marketing plan to ensure that his systems would become the world’s standard. His achievement was stunning. Today Microsoft is among the world’s most successful businesses. Although it was not his initial goal, along the way Bill Gates became the richest man on earth.
In sports, the coach of a basketball team or trainer of a football club leads by instilling in his players a sense of teamwork, a vision of how when working together they can rise above their individual skills to become a competent and effective sports machine. A coach has to teach, organize, plan and most importantly motivate his players.
Leaders empower people through their spoken words. Exhortation and rhetoric are important means of communicating a vision for a way forward.
Abraham Lincoln, America’s president in the 1860s during our catastrophic civil war, recognized, even before the war was over, that the nation would have to find ways to reconcile, to soothe the quest for vengeance by victors and to reassure the vanquished of their value to the nation. His words of peace rang out. “With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
President John F. Kennedy too, set an agenda for Americans, including me in my youth, challenging us to make the world a better place. “And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. ” President Kennedy also challenged Nigerians, when he added, “ My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.”
Civil rights leader Martin Luther King reaffirmed the equality of all people when he eloquently preached, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
In addition to eloquence leaders lead by making good decisions, by consultations and by team building. An example of this would be General Eisenhower, the general who commanded Allied forces in Europe during World War II. It was his decision making, his planning, and his strategy that won the war, but he was not alone in this enormous task. He built a solid team that planned the big picture, orchestrated the movements of armies and navies, set strategic objectives and arranged logistics. He then saw that these goals were accomplished in a timely and effective fashion. General Eisenhower could not have done this alone, yet the military staff could not have done it without Eisenhower’s supervision, guidance and decision making - in short, his leadership.
Some qualities that I look for in leaders are:
Integrity – an innate ability to know right from wrong and to do what is right.
Honesty – leaders must deal forthrightly and straight forwardly with whomever they are trying to lead in order to establish the trust necessary for the endeavor.
Leaders need an ability to articulate the vision they strive for. If a leader cannot tell people what it is that he or she is pursuing, it is unlikely that anyone will follow.
Self confidence. A leader must believe in himself because that is essential to getting others to believe in you.
Results – Leaders need to produce the change they promised.
Understanding and supporting colleagues and followers. I think this is key to effective leadership. As John Dunn said, “no man is an island” and certainly no leader ever accomplished anything as a solo performer. People must buy into a leader. They must support and follow him. But he too must recognize the need to communicate his vision and to work with his followers to achieve goals.
As an American ambassador for the past fifteen years I have been placed in important positions of trust and responsibility. I have needed to be a leader.
I hope my leadership style includes some of the qualities I mentioned above. In implementing leadership I seek to assure that I communicate, that I share information and that I listen to what my colleagues, staff and others are saying. I like to ask questions and hear alternative opinions. When I was ambassador in Rwanda, for example, in the years after the genocide I tasked one of my political officers to always tell me why we should not proceed with an undertaking. Such challenging of a proposed course of action helped ensure that we made the correct decisions.
I also believe in delegation. I expect people on the embassy staff to be professionals, to know their jobs and to be competent. I expect them to make the decisions they are supposed to and only to push key issues upward for my attention. It is not my job to worry about every detail. Rather, I need to take time to consider the big picture, to think months and even years ahead and to guide our cooperative effort towards long term achievements.
There is an adage that says “leaders are born, not made.” There may, in fact, be some truth in that saying. Some people do inherently have the personal magnetism that others rally around and that propels them into leadership roles. They are lucky. However, the rest of us can be leaders too. Studies and experience have repeatedly shown that leadership skills can be learned. That each of us, each of you, can refine and expand your existing leadership abilities so that you become more effective leaders.
You ask what can I do? You say I am not called like Gandhi to lead a revolution, or like Lincoln to pacify a nation after a disastrous civil war, or like Eisenhower to lead a vast army. Yet each one of you is already a leader – you have been a model and example for your siblings and cousins, you have participated in sports where leadership and teamwork are essential, you have joined school clubs, volunteered for special tasks or duties, participated in student government - and because of you efforts to date you were identified for participation in this seminar. Therefore, you are on the right track.
As you continue I urge you to be honest and truthful, to communicate with each other, to identify goals and to pursue them. Above all, practice leadership. As you do so, your leadership skills will increase.
I wish you an educational and successful seminar.
Thank you.
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