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ESKOM Time to put leadership where it’s needed most Posted Thu, 03 Mar 2005
Enough talk. No more new organisations and focus
groups. What Africa needs most from the leadership
debate right now is to raise the issues which are critical
and focus on arriving at conclusions around those
issues, says Thulani S Gcabashe, the CEO of electricity giant
Eskom.
This attitude is not entirely unexpected. Mr Gcabashe has
made something of a name for himself at Eskom as a man who
likes to get things done. So to him it’s vital that Africa’s leaders
continue to improve the level of dialogue around leadership, and
use fora like the upcoming Leadership Conference to share the
lessons learnt along the way.
“Nepad is still at the visioning level,” says Mr Gcabashe. “It’s
just an expanded concept. What is needed is those structures
which actually give practical implementation to that vision.
That’s where intervention is needed at the leadership level – the
goal is not to have the workshop and produce the documents,
but to actually get it
onto the ground.”
There’s no doubt that the African style of leadership needs
to change, says Mr Gcabashe. The growing role of technology
in our everyday lives has meant the issues that confront us are
numerous. People sit in continents far from us making decisions
which affect us, making it crucial for today’s leaders to be globally
wise, understanding what’s going on in China and Chile at
the same time as they deal with domestic issues.
Do we have to wait for these new leaders to be born?
Mr Gcabashe thinks not. “It’s the age-old debate, but I’ve always
believed leaders can be made. The issue of exposure to world
issues is one way to develop leaders, and then to identify what
is at the core of African values, and how those values shape and
change the parameters of what these leaders can do or not.”
It’s becoming a common refrain among heads of business:
Africans need to go back to their roots to rediscover the core
values of Africans,
those commonly shared values more likely to
resonate with the people.
“Leadership has always been an important element in moving
society forward,” says Mr Gcabashe. “In the past 10 years we’ve
enjoyed Nelson Mandela. 30 years earlier we had Kwame Nkrumah.
These were leaders who moved us a step forward. The
challenges that Africa faces are moving forward on a number of
fronts.
“What we need initially is someone to provide the vision – to
give an idea of what can be done – and then, importantly, create
the means to get there.”
Talking of means, Mr Gcabashe bridles at the suggestion that
poverty seems to be getting very little attention from an energy
perspective. He points to the ways in which Eskom is making
a difference in helping South Africa and Africa compete in the
global economy - first through a broad electrification programme,
by providing from the most basic 2,5 amp supply for a
household’s basic needs all the way to 90 amp supplies to run
a
small industry.
Secondly, he says, Eskom’s school of African leadership is
slowly starting to bear fruit in its objectives of launching a new
breed of African leaders. The project will provide Eskom with
specially designed leadership programmes
that will develop its managers into people
who go beyond being just managers.
Though the project focuses on African
leadership, it draws on the experiences of
other groups, such as the West, Jews, Indians
and Afrikaners, and asks the central question:
what are the factors that have made these
collective identities a success? “I believe there
is a lot that Africans can learn from these
different experiences for us to move forward.
We need to borrow from other experiences
to enhance that which is African,” says Mr
Gcabashe.
Eskom’s near-obsession with good leadership
has its roots in the strong links between
leadership and change – of which the organisation
has been through vast amounts in
the
past decade. It has entirely transformed itself
from a racial and gender perspective, and
grown from being a technocratic organisation
gives service on a “take it or leave it” basis
to one that innovates and looks at creating
solutions for its customers in the provision of
power.
The point of this, says Mr Gcabashe, is
that Eskom’s change has been almost wholly
driven by leadership. There has been consultation,
for sure, but once decisions have
been taken, they have been implemented. The
company’s leading black economic empowerment
(BEE) policies are one example of what
can be achieved through resolute leadership.
Eskom’s Leadership Development project
will ultimately form the basis for an Institution
of African Leadership which triggers
processes that will produce implementable
strategies. This exercise will seek to practically
influence leadership both positively and
effectively, building an edifice that will guide
and shape the
future.
“Clearly, this is work in progress,” says
Mr Gcabashe. “It is not a project that can
be completed quickly or easily. The tradition
of African leadership has been growing
over centuries, and will no doubt continue to
develop far beyond our children.”
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