Leadership requires change in perspective – Dr. Ato Sarpong

Business executive and leadership expert, Dr. Edward Ato Sarpong, says it is important for a leader to adopt a new perspective to be effective.

Ato Sarpong in his book “Eyewitness to Leadership,” shares invaluable insights from one of his mentors, Kamanda Mururi.

Recounting lessons from a 45-minute walk with Kamanda in 2003, he intimated that, “leadership requires a change in perspective.”

“Kamanda, on that 45-minute walk, spoke about leadership in an insightful manner which I had never heard or read on leadership. I spoke with passion and used practical examples I could relate to. He said to me “Every woman is a potential mother but only becomes one through a process to manifest that.”

“A woman can never give birth and become a mother without going through a process by which the potential would manifest. In the same way, he said, everyone is born a potential leader but realising that potential is process-driven and the individual’s decision and willingness to pay the price and sacrifice time and efforts to become a great leader.

“Being a leader requires a change in perspective. Although we are all born potential leaders with skills and aspirations to be great at what we do, we can only be successful leaders through wisdom, exposure, education, experiences, practice, and failures.

“Kamanda went on to share with me further insights on leadership including some of his own personal experiences in navigating his way within Africa Online, some of which were that:

“We all have the seeds of leadership in us but we must nurture and grow our individual qualities in order to be successful leaders.

“A leader must look at things differently from a follower. Being a leader requires a change in perspective.

“Leadership is not about self. It is always about others. A leader’s value is in the quality and strength of his followers. Dreams and visions are the hallmark of leadership.

“Leadership is about sacrifice. It is problem solving and preservation of the future. Leadership is about stretching a hand and making life better for people around you.

“Being a good leader is a personal decision to create an enabling environment and to get out of the way so people can flourish and live up to their leadership potential.

In the book, Ato wrote that the conversation with Kamanda gave him his first real lessons on leadership.

“I resolved that night, to be a successful leader. The decision I made that fateful night meant I would share power wherever I found myself but take full responsibility for failures while allowing others to share in the glory of success,” he noted.

“That decision meant I distribute control and surround myself with people with quality and skill to complement me in my areas of weakness. People will usually do what the leader does instead of what he says, so I decided to lead by example and not by instruction,” he shared.

Furthermore, Ato Sarpong identifies the “Ten Building Blocks of Leadership”.