Leaders everywhere are having to deal with uncertainty and complexity at unprecedented levels. Those who will succeed today will be determined, more than ever, by the nimbleness of their responses to the varied challenges confronting humanity. It is perhaps for this reason that Forbes magazine in a recent article described nimbleness, or dexterity, as “the ingredient that will define next generation leadership.”
Handling curveballs is an inextricable aspect of 21st century leadership. There are often unexpected, off-script occurrences that could threaten your very existence as a leader; an unforeseen global economic crash, a sudden outbreak of an epidemic, an unforeseen natural disaster, a 9/11 kind of terrorist attack, among others. Today’s leaders will have to learn how to build planes in the air as it were, how to strategically pre-empt challenges and respond to it swiftly and cleverly
The famed American president, Franklin D Roosevelt’s approach on assumption of office on March 4, 1933, is a good reference. His election into office had been attended by an unprecedented and unexpected economic depression, known today as the Great Depression. Speaking at his inauguration, FDR left no one in doubt as to the nimbleness of his response. He promised that he would act swiftly to face the “dark realities of the moment” and assured Americans that he would “wage a war against the emergency” just as though “we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.”
In the following days, the new president declared a four-day bank holiday to stop people from withdrawing their money from shaky banks. On March 9, Congress passed Roosevelt’s Emergency Banking Act, which reorganised the banks and closed the ones that were insolvent. In his first “fireside chat” three days later, the president urged Americans to put their savings back in the banks, and by the end of the month, almost three quarters of them had reopened. Roosevelt went on to launch the New Deal, a quick-witted response that curbed the depression and put the nation back on track.
The heroes of today and tomorrow will be quick thinking and clever acting leaders who are able to anticipate and respond to challenges; leaders who in turn create fluid organisational or institutional structures that encourage robust interactions, quick decision making and incisive problem solving.
Now, we see patterns of this in our current administration, for which we must commend. However, we want to encourage them to be all the more mindful of the need for dexterous leadership in this critical time; the need to re-build the entire system in such a way that enables it respond effectively to challenges, enables it nip problems in the bud before they become monsters, and deal swiftly with the inevitable unforeseen challenges that come with leading and governing in the 21st century.
Roosevelt’s response was possible because the whole nation recognised the enormity of the problem, put aside their differences and rallied together to confront it. So, we appeal to every leader, across platforms, both in the private and public sectors, be it political, religious or the civil society, to join hands with the Buhari administration to constructively address the various socio-economic challenges confronting us.
This is not the time to focus on the secondary issues of our differences, settling personal vendettas or pursuing individual ambitions that clog the wheel of our collective progress. Nigeria needs fleet-footed and quick-witted leadership, organisations and institutions at every level. There is no negotiating this in the 21st century. Leaders everywhere are navigating a turbulent sea of problems and are embracing the dexterity needed to ride forward in spite of the shifting currents. We must not be left behind.
• Taiwo Odukoya is the Senior Pastor, Fountain of Life Church, Ilupeju, Lagos
