Compassion, ethics and values are some of the tenets on which Gqeberha-born corporate executive guru Lincoln Mali has built his life and leadership journey, which he describes as the new leadership paradigm.
In his new book, Blazing a Trail: Lessons for African Leadership, Mali expresses the need to diverge from the dominant command-and-control style of leadership and encourages the adoption of a people-centred style, which he said was the future of African leaders.
The book provides insight into Mali’s then “forbidden” interracial family, his professional journey and the role players in his success story who moulded him into who he is today.
Mali said he grew up in a family of storytellers and always communicated with his staff through storytelling, which he said was a leadership attribute that all leaders needed to possess.
“I’ve always been a storyteller and I feel that leaders should have storytelling as one of their important attributes.
“Throughout my career, I’ve always written to my staff and told them stories when I engaged with them.
“The natural next step was to write Blazing a Trail to offer an alternative path in a context where there’s a growing lack of trust in corporate, civil society and public service leaders.”
He said his journey and experience gave young and potential leaders a sense of his failures, challenges and achievements so that they could look at it holistically and learn from it.
“I want young leaders to be midwives for an African rebirth.
“I’ve told myself that the next generation of leaders need stories about how we did it so that they could lead differently,” he said.
Mali said it was during his professional tenure, which spanned more than two decades at Standard Bank where he held several leadership roles, that he realised the need for a change to offer an alternative leadership style.
“As I was trying to grapple with what kind of a leader I wanted to be, I couldn’t relate to the dominant leadership narrative, which was command and control, being feared, shouting at everyone and being the ‘boss’.
“I realised the leadership style I wanted to adopt was hidden in plain sight and had been there all along.”
Mali said leadership was about the people who moulded him into who he is — his parents, teachers, priests and sports coaches.
“All of them did everything for me to succeed and I asked myself why couldn’t I lead that way.
“When you look back at those role players in your life, you’ll find those people who have not gone up the social ladder but are happy to see you succeed and are proud to have played a role in your life.
“They led me to adopt a style based on compassion, principles, competence, integrity, transformation and being politically astute.”
He said many people were in leadership positions for personal gain more than to serve, which he was opposed to.
“A lot of people are not in leadership positions to serve and I subscribe to the notion that says ‘if serving is beneath you, then leadership is beyond you’.
“If you want to lead, there has to be a higher calling which will be more important than your family, friends and your ego, so that you don’t make decisions to appease them but decisions that come from the higher order.
“Many leaders take up positions and change who they are, they abandon the principles and take short cuts that lead to them making horrible decisions.”
Mali said while some people in the corporate world took up leadership roles for financial gain, in the public sector they took them up to be idolised.
“They tend to act like they’re bigger than the institution they work for, which brings me back to what leadership is about — it must be about the people, the cause, and therefore there must be humility, a sense of compassion and being open to criticism.”
He said if a leader failed to introspect and take criticism, they did not deserve to be a leader.
“Leaders who can’t take criticism get so much feedback but it bounces off because, whatever their followers say, it is countered by family, friends and supporters who constantly say all is well while everything is collapsing.
“Leaders only see what they want to see because they wear blinkers.
“It’s painful to watch leaders who don’t have a vision.”
Mali said his advice to young leaders who wanted to practise the alternative style of leadership was to go in the direction of their conviction.
“Take small steps that go in the direction you want.
“When I started this path I didn’t know where it would take me, but I did what I needed to do because it was the right thing to do.
“Young people must know that taking this path does bring danger and leads to being isolated, but the fire in your belly must be raging for you to do the right thing because it’s easy to go with the flow.”
His book will be launched on Tuesday at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
The book will be sold on site and proceeds will go to the Lincoln Mali Leadership Foundation for contributions to rugby and cricket tournaments that are running for their eighth and ninth years, respectively.
HeraldLIVE
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