Daniel T arap Moi, Second President of the Republic of Kenya

Today the body of a great man was laid to rest. But do you expect me to eulogize a man who has lived to be 100? Where would you start? By nature’s own account he stands tall among men, if only for the privilege of years. Which quarter of the century would you talk about? the first quarter or the last? Would you talk about his youth, his family, his heart, his failures, his work, his friends or his country? No, this I cannot do. At best I can only read from his open book. Still, it would not be possible to get the whole picture, save snapshots of history, that mark the life of such a man. Unless of course, he told his own story. But here I must check myself and read leadership from his legacy. With a testimonial of more than one-half century, he has to be a case study in classes around the world, but even then, there are many secrets he has taken with him.

From the moment he put his foot on the pedal to get an education and a spiritual foundation, he did not let up until he handed over the country to a new president. If you want to be a leader, school, and the spirit is a good place to start. As head of state he never missed a day of worship. Like the character of David of old, he had his flaws and every leader has his enemies, real or imagined. But like David he was sharply focused on his mandate to rule. For leadership, he believed, comes from God.

He had a personal philosophy of peace, love and unity. Many leaders today could do with a simple vision to bring people together. As a person, he awoke long before dawn and was in office by sunrise. It is not enough to say he gave his life to a cause; it is better to say he lived a calling. But he was not just a leader of men, he worked hard for women and children and did everything a father would do to ensure the welfare of his family.

He traveled the country and communicated constantly. There is no corner of this country he did not traverse in search of people, projects and maendeleo (development). Like a Shepard he sought the lost and brought the marginalized into the fold. Many a leader today can learn a lesson or two about inclusivity and the power of diversity. In his passion he took charge of building gabions and planting trees long before global warming sounded its warning. Many of us today could do with a far-sighted vision. In expanding education, he laid a firm foundation of human capital on which the nation depends today. How many of us take time to invest in others?

Leadership and politics go hand in hand, but politics is no man’s party. In politics, he fought his battles with gusto. I find that great leaders fight hard to keep the peace rather than go to war, but win the battle of political score. A leader must be judged in the context of his time and not with the cleverness of hindsight. Back then, many nations struggled around us to keep afloat and governments collapsed in disarray. From unlikely beginnings as vice president he led the nation from the front over 24 years surviving the intricacies of political alignments, strangling economic times and even seasons of drought.

As leaders we can learn about the staying power of grit and grace as we read about the man for whose sheer energy many could not keep pace. So, what else do I take away from the spirit of this great son of Africa whose book I continue to read? …It is that leadership is for a reason and for a season, that to every man is given a grace he can bear, that to every man is given a gift to share, and that to every man is given a duty to care. It is that to every man is given a time and place to exercise his calling.  And when all is said and done, and the sun has set on his time, a man must forgive those who wronged him and ask for forgiveness from others to gain entrance to heaven. His body may be gone, but his spirit lives on. Farewell Mr President, fare thee well Daniel Toroitich arap Moi!

Get your first 100 days to work for you!

Anecdotal evidence suggests that your first 100 days at anything you undertake will be a significant indicator of your success in that area. While this theory does not favor the slow starters, there is some merit in the idea that if you want to make a difference or a change in anything, you should begin immediately or at least as soon as possible.

At the beginning of this year I wished you greatness and success, but I did also suggest that it will take significant effort on your part to make a difference in your circumstances. Well the first 30 days of the year have gone by. What have you done that will anchor the changes you want to make in your life this year? Have you put in place mechanisms to change your life? If you pledged to save money, have you put aside the first $100? If you resolved to study, have you enrolled in school? If you decided on a project, have you finalized the plan? These “rudder” decisions and actions that you take in the first 100 days are the initiatives that will change the course of your journey through the rest of the year.

Nonetheless, it is not too late to put those anchors in place. You still have under sixty days to show signs of any significant movement towards your desired circumstances within the year. My advice to you is take a moment to reflect, ask God for wisdom then take that action now, today, and set yourself on your course to success.

Also see

The Road to Destiny; The Psychology of Growing up

When a Teacher does not teach

Potential is more than profit

How to Get Past “No”!

Do you have a passion statement?

Go Against the Tide

Taking Action

Get your first 100 days to work for you

One employee can make a difference

The Seven laws of creation

Determined to fail

Strive to know the purpose of a thing

How to grow your business

Every business grows from one line of business to several distinct products. It starts from what it does well to what else it can do. It moves from achieving competence in one area to developing capacity in others. In order to grow, a business must ask, what do we do well (linear growth), but more importantly what else can we do (organic growth) and and then figure out how to go about it.

How do you gauge the success of a business?

The success of a business lies more in its ability to do business than in whatever business it is in.

Get yourself an International Education

All of Africa founding fathers had an international education. All transformative leaders the world over have a global orientation. Is an international education important for the development of leaders? My answer to that question is a definite yes! But then, you ask, is it possible to give everyone an international education? Is it possible to expose everyone to global thinking? Again, my answer is a defining - Yes!

Many parents fear to take their children to international schools for fear of the high fees charged while others do not want to expose their children to global thinking lest they are unable to meet the expectations generated by an international curriculum. Yet the power of inspiration and aspiration is what will trigger the development of the child to strive to fulfill these expectations. Put it this way- If you teach the child about the village in which he or she lives, they will think no further than the limits of the way of life they are used to. But tell them stories of lands far away with different kinds of environment and you will trigger a hunger and thirst for search, exploration and achievement. An international education opens to them a door of opportunity to sample the possibility of another life. Indeed, they will be dissatisfied with the present. But then that is not always a bad thing.

Well if you cannot take your child abroad, how will they access and international education? In most countries there are both international and local curricula. Perhaps schools may want to provide international curriculum as an option and bring it to the local school. My guess is that locals will start to think differently. This will mark them out as leaders able to see things from a new perspective. This then is the value of international curricula, it gives students around a globe an international platform and benchmark of engagement, understanding and aspiration. International curricula help develop leaders among us – People who think differently. People who don’t just deal with reality, but look to achieve possibility. Not people who constantly critical of local conditions, but people willing to construct the future!

Are you Healthy?

Over the weekend Professor Catherine Gachutha, the Executive Director of Kenya Institute of Business and Counselling studies, KIBCO described health as the strength to live, the strength to struggle and the strength to die. As you can imagine I would have expected that she talks about exercise, good eating habits and medical insurance, but no. Her definition implies that health is what keeps you alive!

The strength to live is the will to get up each morning and face the day. The day may be a simple routine of going to the farm or to work. Health is the desire to meet with friends to deal with customers, to enjoy your food to experience the goodly things you look forward to every day. Imagine what the world would be like if we did not have the strength the will or the desire to do these things. If you gave up the desire to work, to eat, to dress up – you could be sick, but also extremely unhealthy.

The strength to struggle is the courage and determination you need to endure suffering, persevere pain in order to do good or get gain. It is the will to sacrifice joyfully for your children’s health wealth and well-being. It is the peace that comes form a hard day’s work. It is the fulfilling exertion of your person to your spiritual, emotional and bodily limits. Health is the capacity to endure loss, sickness and overcome grief. It is the strength to forgive and move on with life. Health is the ability to survive. It is to maintain hope and faith in the face of adversity. It is the capacity to ride the tide of success of achievement and loss in business like seasons of life. Health is the will to empathize, but not always sympathize. It is the capacity to explore all your options, take chances and not throw away any opportunities. Health is the will to live another day!

The strength to die is to live without fear, to live without regret, to do all you need to have done to day to the extent that if your time is called out now, there would be nothing to reach back for. Indeed, you may have had great plans for tomorrow, but you will have used up every ounce of life that was deposited in you if you died today. The strength to die is the strength to let go. To go knowing that you did all good you could with the time you had and to say like Paul - I have fought the good fight. To pass on the baton, teach and coach another in peace knowing that your part of history is done. My inspiration for you today is to live out your life in the fullness of health.

The ABC&D of Education

There is a season and important reason for examinations in schools and colleges. Examinations are designed to reward those that accurately restate what is taught during the term and aligns students in a pecking order of merit that recognizes those who took keen interest and those who had other interests. The “A” student is the most intelligent in this regard and is considered academically brilliant. The “A” student has the gift of recital and can be trusted to commit knowledge to memory. The A student typically qualifies to be an academician entrusted with protection and flawless transfer of knowledge and culture past down from one generation to the next and building upon it gradually, protectively and laboriously by degree.

The B students are certainly astute and have attained the discipline of method and science to an above average degree. Be students strive for perfection. Their gifting enables them to operate in an imperfect world. Their ethics and ethos set them apart as professionals and masters of a discipline. Their technical intelligence will enable them to establish careers in employment and rise to the level of managers of organizations. These are your lawyers, accountants, doctors and engineers who are trusted with expertise, excellence, efficiency and effectiveness.

If you look down upon the “C” grade, you forget that it is the democratic majority. Examiners plan the bell curve such that this group in good company. This group fails as many times as they pass a test. While they are not gifted academicians, but they are willing to try courageous and persistent. While trial and error may seem like guesswork to some, it is the key to survival in life and very often the unction to success. This group has many ideas. their challenge is to exploit them. The creative intelligence of this group makes up the bulk of our entrepreneurs, businessmen and self-employed persons who could not find a job. This group works out its own salvation in the business of life. The fact that an idea has failed once does not mean it will fail next time. Their creative intelligence enables them to succeed with ideas dismissed on paper by the A and the Bs.

The belief that D students only do enough to obtain the highest grade for the least amount of effort is misplaced. While they are considered naughty, cheeky or lazy academic programs do very little to measure their unique gifting. This group exhibits a vast range of kinesthetics energy in non-classroom activities. Their high levels of social intelligence enable them to engage as politicians, leaders, musicians, athletes, artists and fashion designers. D students rely on their natural gifting to succeed in life. Nonetheless, if “A” students were measured for social intelligence, they may not achieve little more than a “D” plain.

So where are we going with this argument? My point is this that God forsakes no one. While education programs measure academic intelligence there are other intelligences that make for success in life. Perhaps education would better serve us if we celebrated all the giftings it exposes rather than the grades it awards. The B student takes his children for tuitions from the A student, and everyone eats lunch at the C students’ restaurant who relies on the D student for popular entertainment. The A student studies the C student to establish industry trends while all of them are raving fans of highly paid football players who hardly made the D grade in school. Education helps everyone find a place in a working society. So, lets respect all our graduates and empower everyone to contribute to the wellness of humanity.