The famous leadership guru John Maxwell once said that “the person who thinks is leading and yet no one is following is only taking a walk”

It is every leader’s wish that his or her legacy continues to live on years after he or she has exited from the current leadership position. Unfortunately, this is not the case for many African C-Level business, Civil and Political leaders. The moment they leave office, their leadership or business legacies mostly vanish shortly after, leaving the new leader to either start all over again or totally ignore all the investments, cultures and projects started by their predecessors to go down the drain.

There is even the sad reality where certain leaders can be at the helm of affairs of an organization for  decades and yet the moment they go on retirement, completely new people are brought in from outside to take over the mantle of leadership, because no one from within is seen to be “competent enough” to step into their shoes and run the affairs of the organization.

What then should the African C-level business executives, Entrepreneurs, politicians or Civil leaders do to ensure that their legacies stand the test of time?

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Strategic Leadership and Entrepreneurship coach and consultant, Emmanuel Dei-Tumi, says that every leader or entrepreneur should, from day one of assuming any leadership position or initiating a business venture, start thinking about their exist, develop themselves for higher and bigger opportunities and devise strategies to nurture the next generation of leaders within the organization.

 “Leadership is not position or title. Neither is it about the trappings that come along with the position. Rather, leadership is about one’s ability to create a mental future state with the capacity to inspire and influence others to achieve that vision and even surpass it when the leader is no longer around’’ Dei-Tumi says.

“In my years of consulting and training in the field of strategic leadership and creative entrepreneurship education, I have come to the conclusion that, the test of true leadership is the ability of the leader, to leave a legacy that will continue to live in the hearts and minds of his followers after he or she is long gone. This you do by ensuring that you develop conscious leadership programmes supported by the right internal culture to groom someone or a group of individuals to take over from you and continue with the vision,” he adds.

Referencing the famous leadership definition by author, J.P. Kotter, “Leadership is the development of vision, and strategies; the alignment of relevant people behind those strategies; and the empowerment of individuals to make the vision happen despite obstacles”, Dei-Tumi suggests that leadership is all about the leader’s ability to set the organization’s vision and surround himself or herself with the right team, empower them within a systemic environment to continue to deliver the expected results for the organization and even surpass them, whether the leader is present or not.

Sadly, statistics amply demonstrate that in Africa, only few C-level leaders and entrepreneurs are willing and appreciate the need to mentor their followers to continue with the vision of their organizations. Thus, in most cases in Africa, it is not uncommon to see that the moment an entrepreneur dies, so does the business.

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Forbes Magazine in 2013 reported research findings by the University of Warwick in Norway, which indicated that whenever an entrepreneur dies, only 20 per cent of such businesses are able to survive and even that most become prone to filing for bankruptcy or dies a natural death due to a number of reasons, paramount among them being the inability of the pioneer to groom others to carry on with the leadership responsibilities in the true sense of leadership. And Africa is not short of such failed organisations, businesses or countries resulting from leadership deficiencies.

No doubt in the last three decades, Africa has witnessed some marginal economic improvement and political stability, but the continuous conflicts in Somalia, South Sudan, Central Africa Republic among others, has left a sour taste in the mouth of many people some of whom still view the continent as a cautious place to live and invest. In this flat world era, most still unfortunately regard Africa as a safe haven for warlords, famine, disease, and unemployment, factors Dei-Tumi attributes to the shallow way of how we look at leadership and what we consider as leaders.

“Organisations will fail when the leader at the helm of affairs fails to appreciate that his or her role is not just to manage available material resources but to invest in developing systems and the right culture(s) to facilitate the growth of the followers into leaders,” the Chief Copywriter of Human Capital International (HCI) adds.

Some have even argued that “why must we invest in our staff by way of training and mentorship when they keep leaving after we have trained them? Dei-Tumi responds by asking “what happens if you don’t train them and they chose to stay within the organization for as long as they can? What results will you expect thereafter?

Jesus Christ, the most exemplary and quoted leader in the world, right from the start of his ministry, publicly made his intentions known to his staff, (the twelve disciples) that: “It is expedient that I go, for if I go not, you cannot do and surpass the things that I have done and taught you”.

He publicly announced his exit and had a strategy for it.

The leader’s primary responsibility, therefore, is to identify and develop others if your legacy is to continue.  Anything short of that, you are only taking a walk and not leading.

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