The Young Leaders Mentorship Programme is organizing its second annual play production this Friday (27th July, 2012) at  of the GNAT Hall.

It is based on Meshack Asare's The Cross Drums and performed by our mentees. Follw the adventures of young Billa and Meriga as they overcome obstacles and unite their two waring villages despite the odds through the bonds of friendship.

This heart warming talwe is testament to the fact that there is indeed a leader in us all; we only need to dig deep within ourselves to find it.

It will be educative and fun.

A True Leader

A true leader is one who takes personal responsibility and ownership...

This boy in the next table at the restaurant was super active. He was all over the place and would just not listen to his parents who tried to discipline him.

Standing on the long sofa that connected both the tables he was making a kite out of the napkins and throwing the spoon and knife down. Finally what I feared, happened... juice glass in hand while jumping... he lost balance and spilled it over my trousers.

The father said, "Rohan, that's not done. I have been warning you. Say sorry to the uncle... say sorry."

The boy muttered something I could not hear.

The mother said, "I think more than Rohan, we should say sorry. I am really sorry for what happened."

On our way back...

"You saw how the father was insisting on that brat to say sorry," I said.

My wife said, "I am actually thinking of 'the mother who took responsibility' for what he did, and said sorry to us. I realized she felt the embarrassment over the short comings of her son and took personal ownership tendering an apology."

Besides the mother to mother connectivity, one could see and sense the real leader in the family. (http://www.inspired-personal-development.com/a-true-leader.html)

The inner sense of what is right or wrong in one's conduct or motives, impelling one toward right action is known as conscience.  Leadership effectiveness and efficiency depends on the effective use of one's conscience. The use of this ability has led to the raise and fall of many individuals and institutions both known and unknown. Examples of such individuals include India's Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi commonly known as Mahatma Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela of South Africa. It is agreed in all societies about the value of conscience and its effect on the development of the society. Also the fall of some individuals who, from my point of view, did not appreciate the use of their conscience leading to their down fall include Idi Amin of Uganda.

When one's consicence is bought, it becomes difficult to correct the buyer when he or she goes wrong, for you do not knock the head of the one whom you have your hand in his or her mouth lest he bites it off.

Therefore as leaders our court of justice should first of be our good consicence. This should be our constitution to guide our actions and inactions to make an impact on the individuals around us.

 

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has".- Margaret Mead
So i ask you: What type of Ghanaian are you?

It is therefore my dream that every Ghanaian will be "the dreamer" to help increase the development process of this noble country.

As part of the mentorship programme, a mini seminar was held on the 6th of July 2012 at Accra High School on the topic "Career Development and Study Skills". Mrs Felicia Ashley, HRM of Databank, was the resource person for this mini seminar.

According to her, Career development is a process. It’s not a one day dream. Below are some questions she asked the mentees and junior mentors to ask themselves in terms of career development.

Why do I want to be there?

Where do I start from?

What role must I play in getting there?

In summary, as discussed, to know what career path to tread, we must know ourselves; watch out for our areas of interest, know our values, beliefs, abilities and most importantly pray about our career.We can develop our careers through workshops; career counseling and through mentoring programmes.

 In terms of the role we can play ,Felicia advised that we  look out for role models in the fields we are interested in, engage our mentors, and be hardworking. Careers are constructed through choices. The choices we make in life would lead to our desired goals. As young ones, we must learn to be dedicated and focused. To butress her point she made reference to the bible. “Hard work will put you before Kings”

We again learnt some few tips on studying skills. She touched on the relevance of having personal timetable and encouraging study groups not forgetting to go over what has been taught in class.
In conclusion, we gathered that it is very important to plan our studies. We must balance our time adequately for all courses, take active part in group discussions and solve past questions. Above all we must commit our ways and plans into the hands of The Almighty King.

It was a very fruitful session with Felicia Ashley, Head of Human Capital, Databank Financial Services Limited. God Bless you Felicia!!!

The leaders who work most effectively, it seems to me, never say “I.” And that’s not because they have trained themselves not to say “I.” They don’t think “I.” They think “we”; they think “team.” They understand their job to be to make the team function. They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but “we” gets the credit…. This is what creates trust, what enables you to get the task done. (Peter Drucker)

The art of leadership stems from within. It is a life stlye that people take notice of while you lead them. Some have leadership qualities gifted, some learn how to lead. Leadership initially starts from the leading of the ones' self. To lead a group of people to a stated destination starts from the leader leading him/herself  through self discipline based on life driven principles and values and after the destination has been reached acknowledges the significance of the followers

It is therefore necesary to be self discipline in order to discipline and lead people to a goal. You can n't take the spark in peoples eyes when a log is rooted in yours.

Mahatma Ghandhi, Nelson Mandela, Lao-Tzu have all taught us the practical nature of a leader. This is emphasized in the quote by Benjamin Disraeli who said "I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?

Lets all live like leaders in our small communities. Little drops of leadership makes a wonderful world of positive change. Thus the task of leadership is not to put greatness into people, but to elicit it, for the greatness is there already (John Buchan)

 

Creativity and innovation has made the world go round. Those who have impacted on the world created a path for others to follow. talk of  Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Google boys etc. The willingness to think outside the socially structured box. The ability to swallow mistakes and build on them has been one of the foundational stone of built leaders.

Do not follow where the path may lead.
Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Harold R. McAlindon.

Trails show the path to a destination. Leaders leave trails for the progress and development of followers. Nkrumah left a trial for the gradual independence of the african continent from colonialism. 

Trails can be related to the light house for sailing ships, Jesus Christ for all christians, Aristotle for the development of democracy and the so on and on.

Roland Agmabire

So as future leaders lets create our trials or improve upon the old trails we are using for it to be straight enough for later generation just like Mr Roland Agmabire of RLG Ghana. 

leadership through service

To lead people, walk beside them … As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence. The next best, the people honor and praise. The next, the people fear; and the next, the people hate … When the best leader’s work is done the people say, ‘We did it ourselves!
Lao-Tzu

So just like our Lord Jesus said, lead like a sevant. Its our duty as up and coming Leaders of the world and Africa to serve all those around us so to make them happy so when we are not around, our absence will mean a lot to Africa. Just like the the absence of Lucky Dube, Kwame Nkrumah, Heil Selasi has been felt across the continent.

Thus the price of greatness is responsibility