The one who told you that you could fly must have given you the wings.

The one who told you that you could fly must have given you the wings.

Tabitha Bukusi

WHAT IS FAMILY STRATEGY?

The approach a family takes to explore and exploit its gifting, create wealth, influence society, transform the world and leave a legacy.

Twenty years ago all we knew was family planning. No one in those days every talked about family strategy. We understood family planning to be about the number of children a couple chose to have. As young married couples, we vaguely understood that we would have to work out what to do with our careers as well as how to manage the (little) money we earned. Nobody thought a spouse was a “business partner” that would have been offensive.      

However, we now know that creating wealth, achieving financial freedom, realizing fulfilling careers and enjoying work-life balance is not impossible but very practical and achievable within a marriage. We now know that the social duty of a family is not just to ensure the children survive, but to use its intellectual and economic potential to thrive, achieve a better quality of life for the family and secure fortunes for the next generation. Nevertheless, to do this you must understand strategy, Family Strategy.  Family Strategy equips you to assess your position, realize the value of your resources, look into the future and draw up a road map to your dreams. Family Strategy empowers you realize your family’s full potential.

Many young (and older) couples struggle with paying the rent, budgeting for family expenses, bringing up children, finding employment and job loss and lack of savings. Such couples work hard to make ends meet while trying to maintain a healthy marriage relationship and stay in the rat race. Many of us are so bogged down with day-to-day living; we never quite get to see the big picture. We know there has got to be a way to live a better life, but nobody seems to know how. Family Strategy provides eight empowering principles to transformed family life;

1.      Define your Family

This action helps you clarify your liability and clearly determine your responsibilities before you can  run the business of family effectively.

2.      Family Strategy

Understanding the key concept and object of family strategy is important for you to develop big picture thinking for your family success.

3.      Strategic Thinking

Developing strategic thinking skills to help you create a path to your family’s dreams.

4.      Family Aspirations

Every family has powerful aspirations. By not acknowledging them we kill the family dream.

5.      Strategic Goal Setting

Goal setting is a good thing, but only strategic goal setting will change your family fortunes.

6.      The FamilyTimeLine^©

Helps you paint a picture of your family future that shows you why Family Strategy is critical for family success.

7.      Financial Strategy

Many of us struggle with "financial management", but understanding where and how to put your money to proper use is more important than having a lot of money or earning a bigger salary.

8.      Action Planning

Without a clear action plan for your family; everything is theory. In other words, nothing will every change! 

 

For enquiries email allanbukusi@gmail.com

 

 

THE TALE OF TWO FISHERMEN

 

There were once two fishermen who lived by the sea. Fishermen always live by the see because it is easy to take care of their nets and ships and get to the sea. These two fishermen were great friends and did everything together on the sea. They worked together when mending their nets and set out at night to catch fish together in their boats. They even helped each other to repair their boats when they were broken. They helped each other take care of everything they owned. They were such good friends that their wives and children were good friends too.

But one day they caught a big fish in the net. When they came to the shore, each of them wanted to take it home. They sat in silence for a long time. Then they began arguing. Then they began shouting. Soon they were fighting. The other fishermen came and watched.  Then the market people came and watched. Soon the whole village came to watch. Everyone was so shocked to see the two friends fighting that they too began shouting.  

At last an old woman asked them why they were fighting. When they told here about the big fish she thought for a moment and then said, "It seems to me that there are many big fish out in the sea, but only this one, as far as I can see, has caused such a melee".  When she finished speaking the crowd went silent. First the villagers went home. Then the market people went back to sell their goods. Then the fishermen went back to their nets. Finally the two friends stood there and were so ashamed that they threw the fish back into the sea.

Allan Bukusi

 

Resolving Peace & Conflict Issues in Africa

PEACE AND CONFLICT IN AFRICA

One report shows that out of 41 major conflict zones in the world 15 (36%) are found in Africa. There are major conflict zones in 28 African countries where people lose life. On average one out of every two countries in Africa is dealing with some form of local conflict and flashpoints. However, nearly all these conflicts are triggered within ethnic or cultural contexts. It may not be possible to eliminate conflict altogether for the very reason that no society can be totally free of conflict because people will always have differences of opinion and some degree of competition for resources or positions of advantage. It would be more reasonable to assume that conflict in a society is anticipated and can be contained. The cushion model, shared here, puts forward that the very roots of conflict in Africa are the very means by which it can be contained. Culture may in reality actually serves to contain human conflict. When culture fails then conflict erupts.

SIX BLANKETS

Peace and conflict in society are cushioned by six blankets. These blankets flex and reflex according to the ebb and flow of conflict in society without breaching the public peace. Dr. Deus defines conflict as “a discomforting difference”. These differences may be minor or they may be major. However, if they are contained they will not be a threat to the general public’s peace. Only when all of these cushioning blankets are breached that conflict becomes overt, out of control and socially destructive. The object of this theory is to use all the six blankets to ensure conflict does not get out of control.

1.      Culture

The first blanket of conflict is the culture of a group, community, organization or nation. Culture is a set of accepted social norms that ensure that a society survives and thrives, but also regulates social intercourse. In ethnic communities, these customs and traditions ensure life is predictable and provides for the organization, management and resolution of differences and grievances. In other words culture imposes order on chaos and conflict. Culture is therefore a crucial blanket that cushions society from conflict and maintains a peace. But this is not only true for ethnic communities; it is just as important in wider society such as urban setting where communities share resources. There must be an urban culture that ensures conflict is minimized. Successful organizations take measures to ensure their organization cultures facilitate business peacefully and minimize conflict to ensure success. Nations need to create cultures that regulate social behavior to minimize conflict. These cultures will not be regulated by laws and edits as much as by national values, integration, acceptance and national pride that inspire ownership and patriotism.

2.      Perspectives

If the cultural blanket is weak and nations fail to blend cultures so that the cultural blanket is like a mix of “oil and water” or a mix of “iron and clay”, then the blanket will be breached by conflict as people begin to view and interpret issues from personal rather than national perspectives. Perspectives have no regulatory framework, they merely depend on the way “I believe things to be”. Perspectives are easily accentuated and often punctuated by, group, community and ethnic divisions. Of course this is a recipe for social upheaval.

3.      Positions

Once perspectives are formed, people begin to take positions. When these positions become entrenched, it is easy to find political forces to marshal support for a cause. What began as failure to regulate social interactions begins to fester like a sore pimple and accumulate pus like a painful blister. At this point it should be clear that something is wrong in society and that measures need to be taken to restore harmony within the breached national culture and harmony in social intercourse.     

4.      Resources

Once positions begin to emerge over an issue, the next phase of conflict follows quickly as groups look for resources to fund, solidify and entrench their positions in preparation for the obvious next phase of a power struggle for dominance and control. Social cohesion, of course, has become weaker as each successive blanket is breached and conflict accelerates and is brought to the surface.

5.      Power

At this stage in the conflict the issues that were at the root of the conflict no longer matter, the central issue at this point of the conflict is to take “power”. The power struggle is the most dangerous stage in the escalation of conflict because reasonable issues are set aside while adversaries are converted into “enemies”. The object of this stage of the conflict is to gain the advantage and take control at all costs. Society pays a high price for this level of conflict that often far outweighs the desired benefits of the protagonists. At this stage, patients suffer when medical staff go on strike, civil wars cost lives while women and children suffer for what they know not. Even if the initial demands may have been reasonable the resultant destruction are not justifiable. However, it is at this point that society itself begins to call for resolution of the breach in the six blankets so that life can go back to normal, but if politics lacks the maturity to return social harmony, it will only light a vicious flame.

6.      Politics

Politics is a critical blanket in the peace and conflict cushion because people listen and respond to political leaders who voice the concerns of the people. However, politics on its own is unlikely to gather enough steam to get public attention unless it is backed by power. Hence the ease with which politicians attach themselves to armed struggles to legitimize and enforce their objectives. While armed factions and disenfranchised groups will legitimize themselves by identifying with a political faction as a representation of the people. It at this point that conflict explodes into the public domain and consumes all achievements, development and constructive engagement. Public conflict sucks in friend and foe alike and in like measure. Unfortunately it is only at this point that political solutions are sought to limit public conflict while no effort is made to repair the breach in the other six levels of the Peace & Conflict cushion. It is no surprise that such solutions are only temporary and never long term.

KEY LESSONS

There are many lessons we can learn from this cushion theory of Peace & Conflict, but perhaps the most important is that the eruption of major social conflict is never an overnight affair, but rather the result of a breach of an assumed social Peace & Conflict governance protocol. Peace can only exist alongside managed conflict. Laws, policy and institutional frameworks that favor inclusion, harmony and the formation of norms that enhance and protect local, cultural and community interests and ownership of national goals at the social and community level are important governance processes that secure long-term peace. This model provides us with a peace & conflict barometer that can be used to measure conflict levels, and create strategies to weather and manage conflict. The cushion model also provides nations, governments, organizations and communities with a framework to build and establish institutional framework to de-escalate and control conflict before it becomes too costly for society and establish long-term peace.

©Allan Bukusi, December 2013      

 

   

This is THE most important life skill...

The most important life skill you must develop in life is to face adversity, rise above failure and recover from tragedy. These three have one thing in common. You have no control over them. However, life is made up of challenges you cannot avoid, fears you do not decide, and tragedies you may not make. Nevertheless success is not in the situation, but in your response to them. By engaging a challenge is your victory. By courage and overcoming fear can you rise above failure. And by hope and faith you can move on from tragedy. You may have no choice of the matter, but the choice you make decides the matter.

 Allan Bukusi

What kind of power are you?

THE POWER OPTION

There is a notion that power is limited. This theory says that if you have more power in a situation then I have less. Power in this sense is limited. This notions forces people to argue and win positions (and possessions) and take advantage over others. If this is your belief of power then everything to you is a fight. I know you can think of a number of people around you who believe everything has to be a fight. The most I can say about such people is that they are very uncomfortable to be around.

The other option you have is to think of power as a lighted candle. What a candle gives away in terms of lighting other candles does not diminish its flame. But lighting other candles does increase its influence and yet does not take away their heat or new light. People who use this power option do not have to have more power, but revel in the joy of sharing power. No this kind of power is not democracy. It does not come by taking power. It comes by giving it away. This is the power of leadership. Leaders know that power is not limited. It is in all of us and that we can work together better if we all know that we have it and can use it to light our world. The least I can say about such people is that they are very comfortable to be around.

But there is another power that is a very depressing affair. It is the people who do not know they have power. These powerless people love to play the victim. While those who believe power is limited love to fight, these people love to hurt, whine and complain. They are the kind of people you don't want to be around. They are spiteful, blameful and just awful company. The world revolves around them, against them and they are powerless to do anything for themselves. They suck sympathy from a candle like oxygen from a room. All they can think of is doom.

Allan Bukusi

Ethnicity sets the perfect stage for great leadership to emerge

I was at a party recently where people of all races had gathered to enjoy the season when one person sitting in a group suddenly called out to his tribesman in his personal dialect above the din of the group conversation.  They launched into a discussion of some matter that none of us could understand nor contribute to. The discussion in the room gradually quieted down to near silence as these two, who appeared to be enjoying themselves, completed their discussion then turned to their neighbors with no sign or sense of remorse. This overt display of "us and them" may not have been intended to communicate apartheid, but it did.

I wondered why I was so offended when the two were not even talking to me or near me. I wondered why a cold sweat and dry feeling of contempt attacked me. I wondered if anyone else felt the way I did or if they had simply run out of things to talk about. After all, it was a small thing. I tried not to feel excluded from the dialogue but I was.  For a minute, I was not part of that community. This little displaced display of disunity in community sent distressing signals. All of a sudden, people moved away from the area and found other things to do. That outburst, intended or not, had put a damper on the proceedings in the room. Ethnicity had won again or had it?

Ethnicity can create unity, but not common unity or community. While ethnicity can build unity, only leadership can build community. Leadership reaches out to the common elements of unity in a group, knowing full well, that disunity is easy to achieve. Ethnicity thus provides a perfect platform to display leadership in public. Next time you are in the community, you will have a chance to show disunity or lead common unity.

Allan Bukusi  

Evil is a cruel taskmaster

Evil makes you angry, a rebel and a victim in order to make you happy. It kills your conscience and makes you to do things that you would not do willingly. It is antisocial, greedy and makes you jealous and not content. It has no long-term benefit or sustainable return. Someone must continue to suffer as the price of your happiness. This is a sore burden to place on a soul whose life is limited. However, it often takes a long time for people to realize that evil is a cruel taskmaster.

Allan Bukusi

Be ruthless with your time

Be careful with your money. Be generous with your talents. But be ruthless with your time; it is the only non-renewable resource you have.

Allan Bukusi

 

small and big thinking is not enough

Small thinking is me, big thinking is we, great thinking is others.

We spend much of our time as children thinking about ourselves. As adults, we spend most of our time thinking about us. Very few leaders any time thinking about others, yet others is the key to our own success.

Allan Bukusi

 

What is mentoring?

...to enlist wise counsel.

The other day someone asked me to mentor them. I was a little surprised that someone should ask me to be a mentor. After all what did I know that someone else should ask me to be a mentor? And anyway, I need mentoring myself! I may have felt honored but deep down I knew I was inadequate and technically incompetent to carry out the request. After all, I consider myself a professional – I only do what I know. However, since the person persisted that I be it, I decided there must be some science to the process.

I have been a teacher, trainer, lecturer, facilitator, coach, leader, entrepreneur, author and consultant. In all those roles, I have always made it clear that there is a significant difference between all of them. On occasion, I have said that mentorship involves some if not all of those roles but is also separate from all of them – even though I had never defined mentorship on its own.

After reading a few books and evaluating my thoughts on the subject, I settled on defining mentoring as "enlisting wise counsel" or "enlisting the counsel of the wise". This differs from the other roles I have been comfortable with in one significant regard. Mentoring is NOT driven or even determined by the mentor. Mentoring is engineered by the "mentee". Mentoring cannot be imposed.  The mentor is really a secondary part of the mentoring equation. The difference between a student and a mentee is that a student may not choose the teacher, but the mentee always has the privilege to choose a mentor. This leaves a mentor somewhat flawed, awed and confused, because the mentor has literally no power of control in the relationship. A mentee says "tell me what I need to know, but I will decide if I will act on it or not". The mentor is powerless to enforce or coerce. I think this is why people don't like being a mentor. It may be prestigious, but it is a totally powerless position. You can take no glory from it. You are on the sidelines and can be ditched at any time.

The mentoring process is not only the mentees initiative, but it is also ascribes wisdom on the mentor. This causes the feeling of inadequacy and trauma because by the time the mentee asks to be mentored, they have already taken the proposed mentor through a pre-selection and evaluation process of which the mentor is totally ignorant. This can be very unsettling. The mentee decides what is "wise" or who is wise. How do you describe, determine or define who is "wise". Wisdom has no technical or professional competence. It is more of a personal quality. A mentee may choose to draw wisdom from a clerk rather than the senior engineer.  

Mentees generally select people with more experience to mentor them. They choose someone who has more exposure to a thing. However, not every experienced person is chosen to be a mentor. The mentor must show cause why they should be personally chosen to mentor. The only difference between two experienced people is what they have become as a result of that experience – that's character. 

The third qualification for a mentor I find is understanding – NOT knowledge. Mentees generally have a lot of knowledge, indeed it takes one to have significant knowledge before it dawns on you to seek out a mentor. A mentor is supposed to help you sort out issues and interpret difficult situations. If mentees lacked knowledge, they would easily enlist a teacher. Amazingly ,the one thing all mentees seek out is someone who will listen.

So where do you find people who have experience, character, understanding and can listen? That is the six million dollar question because no one I know goes to school to study and excel in these things and neither do they set out in careers to achieve these things. These qualities are things you pick up as you go through your career. Some people acquire the first but not all four. In other words, a mentor is who you are, not what you aim to become or qualify to be. If someone choses you as a mentor it is a great honor, and very flattering, but you really have very little choice in the matter. All you can do is agree or respectfully decline as it is not possible to give adequate reasons (for yourself) to be or not to be a mentor.

Allan Bukusi

 

The gift of dreams

Dreams are gifts from the future that engage you today; to make a better tomorrow.

Allan Bukusi

Politics has absolutely no relationship to history.

Politics has absolutely no relationship to history.

Allan Bukusi

A manager must care

A manager must care.

Allan Bukusi

Here is Great Financial Wisdom

Some things may sound reasonable, but they are not always rational. Financial affairs fall into this category of things. To get the most out of your finances, it is better to be rational than reasonable. It is perfectly reasonable to pay a fair price for a good car. However, do you need the car?

Allan Bukusi

Work with your enemy!?

Work with your enemy?!

I think it is not so important to know your enemies as to know you have enemies. The important thing is to be able to achieve your objectives in spite of people working against you. It may mean that you will have to work with your enemies to achieve your goals. You may have to maintain uncomfortable relationships for the greater good. It takes superior vision, insight and humility to submit to an enemy to achieve the greatest good. However, there are powerful historical precedents that show it is not only possible, but practical too.

Allan Bukusi

Is your job worthwhile?

The first part of your life is spent preparing for work, the next phase is working. The final phase is spent retiring from work. You will never get away from work in your lifetime. It makes sense to ensure you job is worthwhile.

Allan Bukusi

Learn all there is to learn before you move.

Learn all there is to learn before you move. What there is to learn is always more than you think.

Allan Bukusi

THE LEADERSHIP CRUNCH

THE LEADERSHIP CRUNCH

The leadership crunch is the agony an organization goes through when it lacks the ability to realize its goals. A business can experience shocking failure even after a successful change of its top leaders. The leadership crunch is not about the lack of leaders. It is about the lack of leadership. Leadership is enabled by the people and process needed to achieve goals. Many leaders know what needs to be done, but not enough know how to do it. A business may have a clear purpose, but lack the structure to ensure that its goals are met. Though a business, under a new leader, may appear to be on the right track, it begins to stall when staff are expected to put the new plan into action, take on significant responsibility and work independently to realize results.  At this point, it becomes frustratingly clear that the business lacks the ability to meet customer expectations. This sends the business into a tailspin, downward performance spiral and, if unchecked, eventual crash. In short, a change of leaders does not change an organization.

On the surface, a business can have all the right leaders in the right offices, but lack the people and processes to get things done. Such a business can limp along for a long time. When the crunch comes, the public questions the integrity of the leader, but lack wisdom to identify the depth, root and cause of the problem. The popular solution is to change the top leaders in the hope that new leaders will provide the much-needed leadership. However, it is not hard to see that the leadership crunch will happen again unless systems, structure and suitable staff are developed to take on the vision and mission of the business. It takes time, effort and a well thought-out plan to create new organization leadership. Such a plan is needed whenever a business or environment changes state.

The economy and governance in Kenya has experienced fundamental change under the new constitution. There are no experts on the unfolding drama as the country, counties, courts and companies struggle to find their feet in the new reality. Many of the challenges business and leaders face in the coming days will have less to do with the leaders themselves than with the lack of development of leadership within their organizations. Those that do not have a well-defined leadership development plan stand little chance of survival, leave alone success, when the crunch comes.

Allan Bukusi

 

 

Intelligence without character is a criminal.

Intelligence without character is a criminal.

Allan Bukusi

The strength of a man!

The strength of a man is his character. The beauty of a woman is the comfort she brings.

Allan Bukusi  

How to create a productive citizen @ sixteen!

1.       Teach them to fear of God.

2.       Teach them to love their country and their fellow citizen.

3.       Teach them to live with purpose, and

4.       Teach them a trade before the age of sixteen.

Allan Bukusi

Responsibility and freedom

Responsibility and freedom go hand in hand. You will rise or fall to the level of authority and privilege you are able to handle the two.

Allan Bukusi

Whom should I believe?

A pill that took a lifetime of research can cure you in a few days. What some people call a miracle, others call planning. What some call luck, others claim to be hard work. What some call punishment, others call character. Whom should I believe?

Allan Bukusi

THE LOST DECADE

LEADERSHIP IN KENYA: THE LOST DECADE

Thirty-five years after independent, Kenya embarked on an ambitious scheme to reorganize the demographic structure of its productive workforce with dire consequences. One generation after independence, the nation got rid of its (senior) employees and deactivated their participation in the economy. At the time, few people realized the socio-economic impact of slewing off the cream of Kenya productive and most experienced workers would have on the nation's future. In one short decade, the country dismissed its entire leadership potential, talent and competence developed over nearly 30 years and put them out to pasture.

Most of the employees who were retired, retrenched or rendered redundant between 1995-2005 had started work in independent Kenya in their early 20s. They would face the sack 35 years later. By that time however, they had worked hard to develop work, employment and leadership skills to take over jobs held by foreigners  in government and private business. This generation carried Kenya through the Kenyanization programs of the 1970's and 80's. Through strategic leadership development training occupied senior positions in government, private enterprise and national leadership. This generation that struggled to give the nation socio-economic feet, and a national global identity would be shunted out of office under the guise of a "golden handshake" to make way for a younger more talented workforce.

Despite the assumed financial "savings" made by retiring senior staff, the cost of the loss of top leadership to an organization may be irreversible especially if it happens entirely and suddenly – as it did in the lost decade. A whole generation of top leadership was evicted in a masterful stroke of economic logic. The cost of that lack of wisdom is painfully evident today. There is a dearth of national leadership competence between 50-75 years old in national life. This has distressing social implications as life expectancy rises dramatically over time. What happened to the lost generation?  

RETIREMENT, RETRENCHMENT & REDUNDANCY

The retrenchment programs started as a dribble with multinational corporations drawing first blood by sending home senior employees aged forty over. The thinking may have been that they were becoming too expensive to maintain. The movement grew in steam and status as more local organizations began to believe that their monetary problems could be solved by getting rid of old, high cost, top management. By the time the government felt the pressure to comply with restructuring demands, they produced the famous "golden handshake era to facilitate, fast track and cushion the ejection of the victims from leadership.  By the time, the government was done; voluntary retirement schemes and pre-retirement programs had become the vogue in the private sector.

By the time the lost decade was coming to an end, employee sense of job security was at an all-time low as some first time employees experienced retrenchment on their first job, while not a few older employees had been retrenched two or three times. It did not help that major national corporations at the time began their "privatization"  and downsizing programs that deprived thousands of employees  their jobs and deprived thousand more of potential jobs. The net effect of this period in the economy was to literally throw away the most experienced human capital investment and provide little hope for generation Y employees.

THE LOST GENERATION

Unfortunately, the lost generation were not prepared for retirement. They certainly did not feel old, retired or redundant. Many of the lost generation were retired when their children were still in school. Many still had mortgages to pay. Many had not built homes in the village, nor owned homes in the city. Many had no savings to speak of. Most had no knowledge of enterprise and spent most of the retirement money within a year on meaningless economic activity. Many of the lost generation retreated from the socio-economic mainstream into the village and were sidelined from social leadership issues. Without economic power, many of the lost generation lost their voice, authority and respect in family and social affairs, giving rise to the challenges of generation Y and a new constitution.

SOCIAL COST

Suddenly, all over the country, in every village, returned former employees who made an attempt to start life afresh. Many families received disempowered fathers and mothers, who were suddenly unable to provide for their needs. After the gravy train of the golden handshake ran out, the lost generation began to sell lands and properties to recover their self-esteem only further disenfranchising the next generation.  There can be no greater cost to society than a forty year old parent unable to find employment and incapable of enterprise whom society has rendered redundant!

ECONOMIC COST

Millions of non-productive shillings were pumped into the economy as former employees tried their hand at enterprise after a quarter century as employees. The event was comically catastrophic as many employees bought matatus, shops, and started building houses they never finished in a desperate bid to salvage their social status and secure their future income. There is very little more costly to an economy than wasted resources that increase the debt burden of the people.  

LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT LOSS

By far the greatest cost the country incurs by "early-retirement" programs is the loss of mature national leadership. In the first 25 years of a citizen's life, he (or she) grows up in a family and consumes national resources. In the next 25 years the (working) citizen generates wealth through employment and enterprise to feed his own family. Between 50- 75 years, citizens having completed brining up their families, generate wealth for the nation. In other words, if the employment and enterprise is well managed, the most profitable citizen in a nation is the one who remains productive between 50-75 years of age! Such a citizen produces more value than he consumes.  If this citizen keeps busy, he also has the moral authority and economic power to provide and determine social leadership.  

 LESSONS FROM THE LOST DECADE

First, retirement at 50 makes a complete nonsense of a nation's investment in education. It takes 20 years to educate an employee (or entrepreneur). By the time they have generated enough wealth to cover the cost of their education they are already close to 50 years old. Retiring at 50 is NOT in the public interest neither does it make economic sense.

Second , employees urgently need enterprise skills. Employees generate national wealth, but are also the main consumers of that wealth. The lack of enterprise skills among employees perpetuates poverty as they consume ALL they produce and create no personal wealth at all.

Third, national leadership policy requiring senior citizens to retire even when they have the capacity and competence to generate wealth needs to be revoked and revised to keep senior citizens included and active in the economy and able to engage and facilitate stability in society. If this policy is not reviewed, it will mean that Kenya (as may now be happening) will perpetually be ruled by young leaders with economic sense and professional competence, but completely devoid of the wisdom of elders whose traditional role was to safeguard the welfare of the whole society.

The nation may need to urgently review its leadership development strategy to facilitate transformation. The events of the lost decade may not have been economically sound, but may also lead to a leadership catastrophe the nation may struggle with for many years to come.  Today's leadership challenges (in Africa) may be a result of insensitive treatment of leadership development strategy in the recent past. However, one myth the lost decade has helped to explode is that (national) leadership is cheap, easy to make and can be quickly produced by a set of certificates.

Allan Bukusi, 2013

Why are many businesses not profitable?

Running a business is an ability. Generating a profit is a skill.

 

Allan Bukusi

What is Transforming Africa all about?

TRANSFORMING AFRICA

Africa will not be transformed by technology or transitional government; neither will religion bring release or relief to the nation unless every man and woman rises to live, think and be more than any law requires. Not by armies and politics, but by intelligence, intent and integrity will the nation become a vibrant God fearing, socio-economic enterprise.

This Africa cannot be forced to be. This Africa must come from the heart. It must be built, not by free slaves, but by the free minds of men. Not by people with education, but by people with spirit and dedication. Not by competition, but by competence. Not in compromise, but in collaboration. Not by men with power, but by men of vision. Not by minerals and natural resources, but by wisdom to manage wealth. By dignity, industry and self-respect will its foundations be laid.

To transform Africa is to start enterprise, to create wealth and to produce value. To transform Africa is to accept responsibility for change. It is to innovate, not live in the past, and not live in fear of the state or the tax rate. To transform Africa is to feel the pride of a nation, to be a blessing and not a burden of creation.  To have an attitude of gratitude and the discipline to work.

This is the Africa I live to see, work for and, if need be, die for. This Africa is free to be all that God made it to be. Where people do not earn a right to live, but have the character to work. Not where democracy reigns, but where people rule in the fear of God. Not where people make plans to receive, but work hard to get and to give. Not where food is always needed, but where enough is always planted.

This is the Africa God has given me, the Africa that was meant to be. Not where a man is free and women seek liberty, but where both men and women accept responsibility.  This is my Africa; a land where sons and daughters, born to the family, live to be citizens and do not need to flee. Where all men are saved from the sin of self-pity and the fear of poverty. This Africa I want to see. This Africa is a blessing to me. This Africa I am proud to be.

Allan Bukusi

Why MEN need to LEAD!

WHY MEN NEED TO LEAD

Allan addressing MEN at The Game Changer Forum, October 2013, in Nairobi

As the opening trainer on this program, I felt a great burden to "justify" why the program is worthwhile. I asked God to help me see if such a justification does in fact exist. My struggle was, "How could I speak to men in private and go out and tell the public I have a message just for MEN?". In today's era, that could easily come across as "sexist".  How would I be able to face a woman, after this session, and explain that the message was, "just for MEN" (as opposed to women) and that I would do it again if I needed to.

I secretly hoped that there would be some women here today so that they can go tell other women that there is a good reason why this program is for men. And that the program is NOT a male chauvinist gathering of an extreme sect of fanatical, conservative Christian men who profess a confused doctrine of self-righteousness leveled against women's empowerment.

In my struggle, I was led back to Genesis, to examine the foundations of humanity. This was so important to me that I suspended all preparations for this training until I had satisfactorily justified this program to myself.  I also invite you to wrestle with the same question and prove me wrong. But if I am not wrong, then we need to submit and commit to be the urgently needed MEN in our world today.

THE GENESIS ACCOUNT;  Gen 1-26-28. Gen 2.25

So what does this account translate to in leadership terms? God created all things, gave men and women equal status and gave them responsibility to rule over everything he had created.  God made them leaders over animals, birds, fish and every living thing. He made men and women equals. They were both naked and were not ashamed embarrassed or demeaned by each other in any way. In other words, there was no advantage of one over the other. I am not sure there is anything that makes two people more equal than when they find equality when stripped of everything – degrees, clothes, jobs, houses and cars. The only concept that comes close to that kind of equality is the equality found in a marriage between  a woman and a man. A man should not be ashamed, embarrassed or believe themselves to be exalted to be a man. While a woman should not be ashamed, embarrassed or feel self-righteous because she is a woman! God gave both Adam and Eve the same (equal) command; be fruitful, multiply, dominate and subdue the earth.

KEY LEADERSHIP WORDS; Rule, dominion, subdue

While "rule" and "dominion" are fairly straightforward leadership terms. Subdue is not. Subdue implies the existence of  "wild, unschooled,  corrupt or incomplete circumstances. It implies potential growth that could become malignant and in danger of becoming chaotic or mutant. Things that need to be subdued, need to be tamed and transformed. God, in fact, sent both man and woman on a mission to complete the job of creation, create order and transform the world into what He intended it to be. If man did not take responsibility to tame and transform the  world , wild growth, corruption, decadence and decay would soon overtake  and destroy not only what God had made, but what he intended to be made.  Ponder this; the dysfunctional state of the world today may be evidence of the urgent need for leadership & transformation!

So what happened next after Gods initial instructions?  THE FALL

Everything went well for Adam and Eve until Satan showed up. His objective; "to confuse the leadership team".  Satan accomplished his mission and so followed the first incident of the most embarrassing statement in the history of MEN everywhere. You know the statement it reads, "The woman made me do it". Satan thought he had won. But that was before half time. The game was about to change.  Gen 3: 1-7

HALFTIME: The Game Changer

Genesis 3: 8-19. There are many lessons that come out of this passage, but we shall focus on those that lend themselves to the challenges of leadership. (Meditate on verses 16 & 17.

1.       Everybody's responsibility is nobody's duty. Neither the woman nor the man accepted the blame for what had happened.

2.       The Man and Woman had failed but God did NOT withdraw their leadership responsibility. God punished all parties concerned, stated the end, (re)defined the goal, clarified roles, re-stated responsibility, reassigned authority and gave specific tasks to each person to occupy and not confuse them. Amazingly, corporate leaders do this all the time. The mission is not abandoned because of a single failure!

3.       The author of the first human leadership crisis was Satan. He refused to submit to God and convinced Eve not to submit to God. Eve then encouraged her husband not to submit to God. However, Satan  was not entirely to blame for man's problems. Both Adam and Eve had independently, jointly and severally disobeyed Gods command. To obey is to submit. What men and many women need to know today is that to SUBMIT is a condition of leadership (see the relationship between Father, Son & Holy Spirit)

4.       New responsibility emerged for Adam to rule over Eve! Man and woman were given specific responsibility, empowerment and authority pegged to accountability. Adam was given authority to provide leadership. If men do not lead, law and order will collapse, chaos will reign and people will go wild. The leadership role for women, will be addressed at the "Women of Purpose" seminar, but the specific message for men is to take authority, take charge and lead humanity! Men need to lead, order and transform the earth. Never again can a man say, "The woman made me do it". God requires leadership from men - first. Clearly, the game (of life) had changed.

THE CHALLENGE FOR MEN

1.       The challenge men face today is no ordinary challenge. It requires a "double portion" of conviction, courage and competence to lead a person who is your complete and capable equal. You can work hard to appear better, but unless they submit, you are both damned and there is very little you can do. However, if they do submit, you have a greater responsibility to provide for them (Leadership is provision).  This, in modern terms, is a "catch 22" situation. It is a delicate situation where you must pay a high price for whichever option you choose. The best thing to do is to choose the lesser evil to accomplish the greatest good.

2.       Men are accountable for the current state of affairs on earth and must take responsibility to reclaim the world and reconcile it back to God. That is an awesome task cannot be done without the skill, will, authority and power from God himself. A team without leadership and without submission is a team without hope.

3.       Today submission is a dirty word and thought to be some great evil, wickedness, weakness and curse. Yet Christ himself, submits to the Fathers will. For many people, the original sin was eating the apple, but the origin of sin is NOT to submit to God. Men and women today do not submit to anyone let alone submit to God.. But when we don't submit who suffers? The answer is;- Men, Women, Children and ALL OF CREATION!  The salvation of the world was earned by submission. Submission is not only an act of salvation but also an act of supreme leadership. Men (and women) of purpose submit to Gods will!

Today, men need the Skill, Will, Authority and the Power of God to restore the world to its original purpose and transform it to its intended design. If nothing else, the understanding of this message gives all MEN a clear, specific  purpose, mission, meaning and identity on earth and a chance to serve Gods purposes in this and every generation until Christ comes.  This is, I believe, is the spirit and the essence of The Game Changer Forum. ......    Commit these things to faithful men – everywhere!