GENZ; leaderless, tribeless, formless, fearless!

 

What GENZ is teaching the globe about leadership

There is a friend of mine who is having extreme difficulty appreciating that an organization can be leaderless, tribeless, formless and fearless. If you have the patience to read this article to the end, you will understand why it is important to disabuse my friends (and my enemies) of the notion that the group is disorganized and cannot amount to much unless a leader emerges to champion the group cause. With the reference to the GENZ protests in Kenya these last few weeks, my friend actually believes that since GENZ have “no leader” that makes them an illegitimate and confused mob who will eventually fizzle out of intellectual and material resources to achieve their goals. However, GENZ have demonstrated a different spirit that can teach us a few things about global leadership. In my friends’ mind, since GENZ has no philosophy, it is simply a matter of time before a leader emerges from the group and hijacks leadership from the mob. Traditional wisdom suggests that when the leader finally emerges, the group will be corralled and the movement will be crushed by the powers that be! Thus far, no leader has emerged. This has left the administration in a clueless, colorless and callous quandary as to how to approach, engage or negotiate with this amorphous majority polity. The administration has been left figuratively fighting the wind with embarrassing arcane methods, batons and bullets to no avail.

Leaderless?!!

How do you define a leader? The short answer to that is; an individual. However, individuals can be many. Leaders can be many. In this, GENZ have no conflict. They have many leaders. Nonetheless, the long answer to that question is that leaders are a shade between cultic (political) and symbolic (idealist) of the polity they oversee. You can replace cultic leader quite quickly the party dies with their demise. Symbolic leaders are hard to replace in fact they birth other leaders and sustain movements long after they are dead. Cultic (political) leaders demand loyalty and servitude from their followers whom they control in a pay and benefits roll. Symbolic leaders on the other hand offer no such niceties and invite their polity to sacrifice and service for transcendent ideals. Cultic (political) leaders do not allow anyone to challenge their power. Symbolic leaders, however, openly inviting everyone to take up leadership responsibility for the cause. The reason why authoritarian political (cultic) leaders have a hard time crushing idealistic movements is that these movements are in fact leaderless! Take a lesson from empires that have persecuted religious movements around the world, and nations that have tried to crush emergent ideology with sword and  armor.

Tribeless?!!

A hungry man has no tribe. Perhaps a jealous person might want to form an alliance of convenience to corrupt the interests of others and ensure personal gain.  But the power of those who hunger and thirst for justice cannot be cured by tribal alliance, political classism or even a covenant among thieves.  Conventional wisdom dictates that a formation of a coalition of tribes or political parties can aggregate power to control the powerless majority. This is conventional wisdom and there is no question that it does work particularly in the case of unenlightened citizenry and masses whose lot is consigned to slavery. Until, the slave, gets an education and is awoke to the fact that he was born free and slavery is not his lot. The cause of humanity is tribeless of any affiliation. Take a lesson from the colonialist who was expelled from Africa. Human dignity is devoid of tribe, politics or affiliation. The call to humanity is tribeless!

Formless?!!

Political organizations and governments struggle with form and function. Corporate business understands the need to maintain the power balance between formal and informal authority all to well. However, the search for a suitable administrative form to champion the rule of law and order, in the traditional sense, is both practical and popular- but far from perfect. Conventional governance relies on the myth that visible institutions such as monarchies, government and militia are a justification to control humanity and rule over the minds of men. But, local communities have governed themselves for centuries without these opulent, overbearing institutions. Without being policed, communities willingly observe ethical principles, virtues and their own cultural values, to successfully govern community life. Functional, formless government is possible. New testament governance is not about legality (rule of law for the sake of law), it is about conscience; a demonstrated heartfelt commitment to a cause of humanity. Formless governance is in the hearts of men and women who selflessly act on what they believe to be true for the welfare of others. Take a lesson from Ubuntu and note that the neo-colonialist withdrew from Africa on account of the formless power of the freedom movements.

Fearless?

Fear is a tool insecure oppressors use to maintain control. Medieval techniques of eliminating a new idea involved maiming and torture instead of its proponents. The oppressor does not have the competence to  address an idea with an idea. They address ideas with violence. However, fear is also the fragility of those in power. Fear paralyzes and immobilizes. Fear disables leaders to succumb to blackmail, corruption, distrust and puppetship instead of leadership. While fear itself may be irrational it is very, very powerful. It takes a “David versus Goliath” battle to change the reality, which GENZ have embraced whole heartedly. When the oppressed become fearless, the oppressor losses the power of intimidation. When this happens the oppressor has something to fear, because the battle is now on level ground. The list of the fearless is too long to name here, but the fearless ones; Rosa Parks, Lymah Gboweh, Tsietsi Mashinini… tilted the tide of history in the spaces they found themselves in. Fearless is not a feeling. To be fearless is to take action in spite of your fears.

Every rising age-group, rika and generation in Africa is challenged and charged with the responsibility to protect the interests and welfare of the community. GENZ is not an exception. They are not going anywhere!  GENZ have recast the paradigm of leadership into a formless covenant against administration, bureaucracy and laws that do not move the heart. GENZ draw on courage, conscience, community and connectivity to deliver their message. With available handheld technology they have opened a new frontier of leadership in digital space accessing the collective wisdom, intellect, capacity and contribution of all its polity to sustain its campaign in the post information age. Get comfortable with it. It speaks to the future.

Post script: Leadership is on the keyboard

Leadership has been reduced to a button on the keyboard. Of course you will tell me, “it depends on who is working the keys on the board”. And that is precisely my point!

Allan Bukusi