No one is born wise; we pick up wisdom from others. — African proverb

PART II

11. A leader should be like a wooden axe head, which has to be big enough to host a hole to hold a metal blade. Some leaders are the same size as the metal blade, with no space for a host-hole, with rather obvious consequences.
12. The wise leader should know when not to exert a right one should not assert. The wise leader should also recognise that magnanimity, empathy, and genuine humility are not signs of weakness but are signs of wisdom. They underpin the true basis for true statesmanship. Dear leader, read the paragragh again.
13. Countries are like pressure cookers. You, as the leader, are sitting right on top of one. If you do not allow the people freedoms to vent their feelings — socially, politically, or psychologically — then like Vesuvius, the pot will eventually blow out the lid, tossing you every which way, and not always in one piece.
14. In Africa, respect for all leaders is deeply ingrained. To avoid a rude awakening in the future, do not mistake this respect for love or adoration. Neither shouldyou mistake people’s fear of jail time, thumbscrews, electric wires to sensitive parts, and being made impecunious by the system as proof that “my people love me.” As a leader, you may easily instil fear in the citizens through deeds and words. However, this is a false linearity as even a cowed citizenry will one day have the temerity to rise and kick you out of office. 14. In Africa, respect for all leaders is deeply ingrained. To avoid a rude awakening in the future, do not mistake this respect for love or adoration. Neither should you mistake people’s fear of jail time, thumbscrews, electric wires to sensitive parts, and being made impecunious by the system as proof that “my people love me.” As a leader, you may easily instil fear in the citizens through deeds and words. However, this is a false linearity as even a cowed citizenry will one day have the temerity to rise and kick you out of office.
15. All human beings have desires, and all human beings have reason, which tempers their desires. For all humans, the slippery slope is reached when desire overcomes reason.
16. Leave stotting to quadrupeds. Stotting (also called pronking or pronging) is a behaviour of some animals, like impala and gazelles. The stotting animal springs into the air, lifting all four legs off the ground simultaneously. The legs may be held stiffly, or the rear legs are kicked backward, whilst in the air. It’s a wonderful sight to behold. After noticing a predator, the animal starts stotting, signalling that: You can’t catch me! I am super fit. I can outrun you, so don’t even think about it. You shall just waste your time and energy! Politicians in Africa behave in a like manner. They try and intimidate the electorate with hard and soft power and psychological posturing to avoid being booted out of office. When a breaking point has been reached, the citizens will act and boot out the stotting politician. Similarly, in the bush, a cheetah that is hungry enough will ignore the pronks and still give chase and often catch the lunch.
17. Be aware of the Pygmalion effect. This is the phenomenon whereby higher expectations of a target person affect the target person’s performance positively. An obverse of the Pygmalion effect is the Golem effect, in which low expectations lead to a decrease in performance. Both effects are forms of self-fulfilling prophecies. By the Pygmalion effect, people internalize their positive labels and those with positive labels succeed accordingly. In politics, the effect of a leader who exhibits high expectations of the follower’s performance results in better performance of the followers. This means that an inspirational leader can coerce his countrymen into performing at a higher level. He/she can also do the reverse. Every dog has a fight in it. The size of the dog does not correspond to the size of the fight in the dog. Leaders can augment that fight against poverty and underdevelopment in their people. Typical examples occur in sport, where a mediocre boxer ends up beating a superior one, or a so-so football team beats the overwhelming favourite to lift the coveted trophy. In both cases, the coach may have had the Pygmalion effect.

Which leader are you going to be: Pygmalion or Golem?

18. To male leaders, if or when shove comes to push and you have to leave, do not be afraid of handing over power to a female successor. You will, more likely than not, be doing your citizens a big, big favour. More likely than not does not mean certainly. However, without a doubt, there is a distinct correlation, not a causal relationship, between female leadership and countries’ stability, lack of war, economic development, good governance and other democratic credentials. Dear Adam, there is no easy way of putting this: In political and corporate leadership roles, Eve wins hands down, as the serpent is firmly wrapped around

your neck and whispering in your ear. Stats don’t lie.

19. Every leader needs advisors in various fields because the world has become too damn complex. Leaders should not hire people they are comfortable with but follow Dwight D. Eisenhower’s advice that: “The greatest leaders are the ones smart enough to hire people smarter than them.”
20. Dear leader, be aware that you bear responsibility for the citizens alive today as well as those yet to be born. Propinquity is the allegiance to those who one knows today as opposed to those to come and therefore not known. Be aware of this pitfall.
21. If you want freedom, cut your chains. If you want to die, cut your roots, is an apt African proverb. The West has been exerting massive pressure, including economic pressure, to make African societies become more like theirs. The West has some practices that many Africans find hard to accept and accommodate. Similarly, the West also find some of our practices objectionable, like looking after our parents instead of shunting them off to old people’s homes. It’s a free world. When Africans demur on some of the accepted Western cultures, the reaction from the West is usually one of anger and condemnation. This reaction

from the West is a throwback to the times of first contact when they pummelled their cultures onto the Africans. In this respect, the current crop of White people from the West are behaving just like their ancestors did, beginning 500 years ago. It’s called recidivism. Africans should stand their ground. The problem is that many Africans do not know their history and end up accepting the nonsensical behaviour of the West in this twenty-first century. Of course, there are exceptions like me, Julius Malema, Joshua Maponga, Professor Mwelwa Musambachime, Professor PLO Lumumba, Professor Cheikh Anta Diop, Professor Ali Mazrui —and hopefully you, dear leader — who know the nonsense the West put Africa through and will not accept any more shit from them.

Granted, some cultures and traditions in Africa have to change with the times. But, as a leader, it’s your duty to ensure that change does not mean your nation losing all its culture, traditions and indigenous languages. Meaning that maintaining your nation’s identity is cardinal. For millennia Africans have had their own path. What African societies have gone through before matters in what they are today and what they will become tomorrow. This is called path dependence. As a leader, you should not allow the West or the East to shunt your society into their lane. We do not know their path, and they do not know ours. We have not walked in their shoes, and they have not walked in ours, though they have tripped us many a time. Therefore, one should not force the other to adopt the other’s culture. Science will rule this era, but how did we survive in the past? You, as a leader, must ensure that the youth learn about the history of their land and their ancestors — what makes them, them. The Japanese have remained Japanese. The Chinese have remained Chinese. The Indians have remained Indian. Africans must remain African and not become bad copies of Americans, Europeans, Chinese etc. Development and indigenousness are not mutually exclusive.

Dear leader, read the 21 nuggets above again, and again, and again to ensure that you do not cross that line onto that slippery slope.