Leaders, according to a top admissions officer of a leading graduate school of business, are people who leave their “footprints in their areas of passion”. This sounds lovely, and those who value legacy will easily identify with it. At an African women’s leadership conference this week I met a number of women whom I could easily see were living this definition out loud. What struck me about the stories of these women was that beyond the warm fuzzy feeling that such an inspirational definition gives you, there are some really tough personal choices, sacrifices, and yes, a certain amount of suffering that one must undergo.
Report by Thembe Khumalo
On the sidelines of the conference, I sat up late into the night listening to Margaret Dongo talk about her leadership journey; the outrage she felt at being denied equal participation, the jarring pain of betrayal, her disillusionment with party politics, the courage required to stand alone and the need for perseverance even when things looked particularly bleak. While the act of leaving “footprints in the areas of her passion” was costly for her in time, money, energy and social consequence, it has affected and inspired and influenced thousands of Zimbabwean women and motivated a whole generation to realise that it is possible to challenge established authority and achieve real results.
For many African women, leadership seems to be a journey fraught with difficulty. Challenging patriarchy and advocating for social justice and economic empowerment is something that many of us do in our daily work as parents, managers, church leaders, family members and opinion shapers without even thinking of ourselves as feminists.
In Sheryl Sandberg’s book, Lean In, subtitled Women, Work and the Will to Lead, she writes: “Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.”
When you think about this in relation to what a women does all day, every day, you begin to see how transformational leadership is being practiced by the women around you all the time.
The real essence of transformational leadership is that it is based on the leaders inspiring people to follow rather than requiring them to do so.
Clearing out my drawers one day, I came across a piece of paper on which I had scribbled: “Jesus inspires us to obedience”. It got me thinking about leadership and how it is that often we resort to the carrot-and-stick method of getting results, when in fact, we would be so much better off inspiring people to do the right thing. In the Old Testament, you were required to do good and you knew that if you didn’t, you would be punished. In the New Testament, we are told that God will forgive us no matter how many times we sin, and also that we will not achieve admission to heaven by our acts. You might then wonder what is the point of being good if you can still get to heaven regardless. Why should people bother to be followers if there is no dire consequence to not following?
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
It is because Jesus inspires us to obedience. We follow His instruction because His goodness and His vision for our lives makes us want to do good. He believes we are better than we believe ourselves to be, and so we try hard to live up to His vision of who we are. That’s transformational leadership!
If you and I could all be leaders like this, we could have some seriously motivated teams and achieve some revolutionary results.
It is likely that we all know of a woman who is a transformational leader. Someone who inspires us by showing us a vision of who they believe we can be – whether as individuals, or as a collective; a vision so compelling that we feel inspired to reach for it regardless of reward or punishment.
It is not only presidents of nations, the Ellen Johnson Sirleafs and Joyce Bandas of this continent, or even the political movers and shakers, like Aicha bah Diallo of Guinea, or Dr Kadi Sesay of Sierra Leone; it is not the civil society giants like Elizabeth Lwanga and Thelma Awori or our own Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, or the acclaimed academics like Professor Hope Sadza and Dr Fay Chung; or even the corporate catalysts like Winnie Kathurima Imanyara or Charity Jinya, who inspire us with their hard work, their commitment to cause, their passion for people or their innovative approach to challenges. I have had occasion to sit at the feet of these women and listen to their stories. In them I hear the echoes of stories of women you and I eat with, live with, and laugh with every day.
Women who, though we may not recognise them as heroes (or indeed she-ores), have painted for us a vision of a better us, a better community and a better country; women who are modelling transformational leadership for us in our homes and office and churches every day. Thembe Khumalo writes in her personal capacity. Readers’ comments can be sent to [email protected].
