What Legacy are we leaders leaving behind?

What Legacy are we leaders leaving behind?
The month of January 2020 was filled with enough sicknesses of close friends’ relatives and work colleagues’ siblings. And like that was not mentally draining enough, Kenya towards end of January suffered the worst infestation of desert locusts which are spreading fast and furious to other counties regardless of mitigation measures Kenya Government and other development agencies have quickly put it to control them from spreading further and damaging crops. The fact that these fat locusts cost the former Agriculture Cabinet secretary; Mr Kiunjuri his job and the fact that this Valentine’s day some of the Kenyan men failed to buy their spouses red roses and many of them hilariously pulled the “locusts ate all the flowers” plugs on us just like the Men’s Conference 2020 –which is a story of another day.
There was also a lot of deaths happening in this month of love February starting with the Los Angeles’ Lakers NBA legend Kobe Bryant who crashed with 7 other precious souls. I bet he had flown many times with a similar chopper for practice but this time he did not survive sadly. Even more heartbreaking for me as a young mother is the fact that death did not spare his precious 13-year old daughter adorable Gianna. Now Kobe is forever gone, tragically lost at only 41 –I could not imagine what his wife, Vanessa, and his surviving three daughters went through receiving such news.
Close to home last week the world joined us Kenyans to mourn one of our longest serving astute politician of our times Daniel Toroitich arap Moi  and lay his body to eternal rest in his Kabarak home. Moi was a Kenyan statesman who served as the second longest President of Kenya from 1978 to 2002. He served as the third Vice President of Kenya from 1967 to 1978, and succeeded the former President Jomo Kenyatta following the latter’s death. Many considered Moi dictatorial and autocratic especially before 1992 when Kenya was a single party state. Born into the Tugen sub-group of the Kalenjin people in the Kenyan Rift Valley, Moi studied as a boy at the Africa Inland Mission school before training as a teacher, working in that profession until 1955. He then entered politics and was elected a member of the Legislative Council for Rift Valley. As independence approached, Moi joined the Kenyan delegation which travelled to London for the Lancaster House Conferences, where the country’s first post-independence constitution was drafted. In 1960 he founded the Kenya African Democratic Union (KADU) as a rival party to Kenyatta’s Kenya African National Union (KANU). Following independence in 1963 Kenyatta, who became Prime Minister and later President of the new nation, convinced Moi to merge the two parties. Kenyatta appointed Moi to his government in 1964 and then promoted him to Vice-President in 1967. Despite opposition from a Kikuyu elite known as the Kiambu Mafia, Kenyatta groomed Moi as his successor, he took over as president when Kenyatta died in 1978. I could not help but notice that thousands of usual peculiar Kenyans on Tweeter (KOT) were trending discussing about his strong belief and his enormous support for children education especially the girl child –this explains why to-date Moi Girls schools are still thriving so are Kabarak schools. Moi was popularly a darling of many school going students many who will forever remember him for the mouth-watering milk he supplied them in schools free of charge popularly dubbed as “Maziwa Ya Nyayo” His generosity was unmatched and as an author this provoked me to write about a subject am very passionate about of what legacy different leaders leave behind. Part of it is perhaps driven by the fact that personally my education was as a result of my poor village parents’ generosity who themselves did not have the privilege of going to school due to poverty circumstances growing up and their unwavering belief of one of my favorite African super heros Nelson Mandera’s legacy that “in Education lies the power to change the entire world”. My siblings will tell you for free that sweet parents sacrificed and risked everything to educate all 8 of us in equal measure (5 girls and 3 boys). This same “education seeds” that my parents religiously “planted” and painfully “watered” in us has opened doors internationally for me that I would never have dreamt off in the wildest dreams. Talk of leaving a legacy my late mother Nduta’s legacy of selflessness, servant leadership, care for humanity, love and extreme generosity lives on 17 years after she left us. No day goes without us remembering your loving kindness. Sweet mama you left us too soon but rest assured in our hearts you will forever be a shining star of hope!

As I quietly watched above listed sad events unfold around us like a fiction movie, it never ceases to surprise me how many of our leaders never really spend enough time thinking about their legacy – what you will leave behind for the family, countries, teams, organizations and the people they currently serve. Really sad isn’t it? As leaders we are so caught up in the rat race of chasing the next biggest opportunity and more often than not in the “man eat man society” syndrome that we never really think of legacies
Webster’s dictionary defines legacy as, “anything handed down from the past, from an ancestor or predecessor.”  Legacy is not bound by age or time served or scandalous wealth accumulated left behind.   Legacy represents your work at each stage of your career as you establish the foundational building blocks and accumulate the required wisdom to contribute to growth, innovation and opportunity both in and outside of your God-given area of influence. Your legacy grows with each new experience, with each previously untested bold idea that you are courageous enough to deploy, and each time you fearlessly inspire others to see something through to fruition. A lasting legacy is about the actions you take while alive and the way those actions affect how people remember you. For families, people leave a legacy to ensure their loved ones will be taken care of when they’re gone, and always remember them with endless love.

Your leadership and legacy is not shaped at the end of the road in your dying bed nor is your legacy defined by how many fluent charismatic speeches written praising you highly nor by how glamorous your well organized funeral processions nor number of tributes paid to you by your emotional mourners but rather by the memorable priceless moments shared, the decisions made, the actions taken, and even challenges overcome throughout the many phases of your life. Leadership is a privileged from God, a reinvention process – a continuous discovery that informs your mindset, new skill sets and aptitudes.   At each stage of our lifes, businesses or careers, we must endeavor to keep creating sustainable impact that will outlive our lifes and fearlessly influence policies that make a difference in others lifes.
It cannot be business as usual and we must refuse mediocrity and impunity that rocked many African countries and that has seen previously well respected companies that were thriving put into receivership due to selfish greed, “cooked books” due to poor corporate governance at board levels, corrupt business dealings, scarcity mentality, failure to adhere to tax and legal compliance regulatory standards that are so clearly set for all of us to follow. For some of these companies it is even sad because their Boards were so hard headed-egocentric that they would not listen to their subject matter experts at the time. With each step we take, we must identify new ways of mastering leadership fundamentals, which in turn provides us with greater clarity and depth of thought to better the legacy we want t behind when we are out of this world. Unfortunately when people talk about leaving a legacy, they’re usually thinking in terms of what they can do at the end of their lives to make an impact after they have squandered their precious youthful productive years. I strongly believe that our legacy will be measured by what we do every day, all day, all year. The most influential people who leave behind incredible legacies, live on in the hearts of the people they have interacted with whose souls they touch along the way (not abuse, hurt and inflicted suffering). When was the last time you stopped and seriously answered below questions:-
What is my role on earth and what’s God given purpose for my life?
What am I super good at that am so passionate about that I could do without a pay?
If you were Kobe Bryant and you knew today was your last day? What would you do differently?
How do I want to be remembered for? How can I take stock? What difference am I making?
The best possible use of our lives is to spend them on things that will outlast us. And the way to create a great leadership legacy is to genuinely carve your name on the hearts and etch it into the minds of others, creating stories that will make up your unique legacy. Contrary to what many think you can start making your mark right this very moment by defining for yourself below pillars of greatness:-

1. Lead from within: Creating a leadership legacy is not leaving something for people. It’s leaving something in people that can add value to their lifes for generations to come long after you are gone. A perfect example is Martin Luther Junior’s “I had a dream” movement which has outlived him years later. Close to home is one of my favorite heroine the Late Dr Professor Wangare Maathai ((who I honestly must admit that I feel like we Kenyans have not yet celebrated her enough like we should-Kenyans on Tweeter(KOT) I dare you can dare to convince our Government to consider declaring “Wangare Mathai as a public holiday with one condition that on this public holiday every Kenyan must plant 2 trees only and post the same on KOT-can I count you all to this challenge folks?)) I digress but in her fearless pursuit Wangare Maathai fought for the green belt movement which sparked tree planting drive in Kenya –she saved millions of innocent trees starting with our serene Karura Forest right here in our backyard. She was so firm and such a visionary that God allowed her to predict that if we carelessly continue neglecting our environment by cutting trees faster that we planted then we end up with what we are grappling with now “global warming” crisis which has dramatically changed our weather patterns, planting season and distorted mother nature.
2. People Matter, so put people first: if we trace our history as far as the days of creation in the book of Genesis, we can all agree that God’s greatest treasure in the whole universe was us human beings. During creation he indeed took his sweet time and meticulously prepared the earth, living creatures and then on the 6th day he said “let’s make man in my image” (not in the image of the animals or plants!) Indeed this world would be lifelessly worthless without people. Use your might, your energy, your wisdom, and your knowledge to inspire others before you expire. When you act with integrity by putting people first, God is glorified and when you treat others with respect and dignity it will forever be honored; when you are trustworthy it will be recognized; and when you live by a code of conduct and your values, others will know what you stand for and more importantly God is glorified. By so doing people will admire you and realize the impact you made along the way and in return they too will impact others.  When dealing with people, compassion and apathy are very important ingredients.
   Personally I don’t advocate for energy draining fund raising and the “hand-outs” mentality, but in the last 2 months I have had to personally mobilize my work colleagues to fund raise for sick siblings admitted in the hospital for a prolonged periods due to sudden major illness or health complications whose medical bills was 10 times what their insurance covers. (The saddest painful one of them all was few weeks ago a case of one precious sweet baby Jabali who was born prematurely and was in the hospital emergency nursery for a prolonged period of time whose bill had accumulated to over 6 Million shillings by the time it was brought to my attention to help by a concerned work colleague. I have never felt so helpless in my life like I did when I visited as we tried to fund raise in whatever manner possible –selling work heels, missing lunch at the office for this innocent baby, fasting, praying, crying to #SaveBabyJabali and I gathered strength by collecting my broken heart as we tried to negotiate payment terms for overdue charges with the Hospital’s CFO who was so candid with us of the scenario…my heart goes to all parents who watch their sick babies in hospitals helpless I tell you there is no greater pain!!!)
   Compassion though isn’t something you’re born with. It grows out of considerate human behavior, and any leader practicing compassion for others will forever be held in high esteem and long remembered after they are gone. Leadership, at its core, is about compassion—the ability to relate to and connect with people for the purpose of enriching and inspiring their lives. It is one sure way a leader can genuinely demonstrate the people you serve that you are human and you care about them. Putting people first means that you put others interests before yours.
   May I dare all our so called human resources officials who loosely use this fancy term “Employee First” just for the heck of looking nice and diplomatic to quit using it! If your actions do not reflect at all that you truly put your employee first please remove this “employee first” all together from your HR policies!
   A story is told of this so called “Employee First” International company that could not provide a common sense taxi facility to one of her female employee who is living with an obvious physical disability, nor could her “don’t care” employer offer her a soft-padded chair for her desk type of administration work even after she had pleaded for help few times! This meant that every month she had to incur extra-costly-painful-time consuming-draining-tissue damaging- physiotherapy sessions to minimize her walking pains because she is a mother and had to work to feed her family. Insanely inhuman isn’t? Imagine how little it would cost such a company to be human to this lady?
3. The choices you make will leave a mark. Life is made up of an endless number of choices, and the choices you make add up to form your legacy. It’s important that whenever you make any decision you deliberately try to make choices that your gut feeling tells you that honors God the most, always put your best foot forward and learn from your past wrong ones you might have made. In the end, your leadership legacy will be a cumulative mirror reflection of the choices you’ve made over the years.
4. Your character will leave an impression: character plays a vital role in leadership. In this digital millennia era of social media hype, many people are sadly more concerned with their reputation when they should be concentrating on their character instead. Your character is who you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are. Take care of your character and your leadership legacy will take care of itself.
5. Adopt a gratitude attitude for the little you have: When God created us he must bounced with excitement and said “alas you are wonderfully and fearfully made.” God has given you physical, emotional, spiritual and mental energies. This is probably the biggest capital that God freely gave to you. You need to use this capital and create synergy, do good, help others at every opportune time. If you do not yet have any idea on how you can help those who are in dire need, you can start off this Valentine’s by collaborating with other like-minded philanthropic organizations such as ours Nduta Angels Foundation http://www.ndutangels.org As a global mentor I often meet many unemployed youths desperately looking for jobs and I always encourage as well as challenge them to try global volunteerism which actually helps expose them to acquire new skills they did not have.
6. The confidence with which you lead will be admired: When a leader exhibits confidence, it becomes easier to trust that leader, and people want to work with leaders they trust. Imagine for a second working for a leader who panics every time there is a system failure or there is bush fire in California or whenever the stock market moves? In reality, self-confidence is a more important asset than skill, knowledge, or even experience. A confident competent leader will be remembered as someone who instilled hope, faith, and confidence in others by making them feel significant and empowered even in their most desperate times of need or in times of unexpected crisis.
7. Courage and Risk-Taking
   As a leader, you must trust your gut feeling and be courageous enough to take calculated risks.     At times, this requires you to trust yourself enough to challenge the status quo and push the envelope of conventional wisdom – even if this means putting your reputation on the line. In 2013-2016 I personally had to pass up well deserved career promotion opportunities which was a very courageous but painful decision at a time when you would watch your “kiss ass” peers busy “kissing and others “sleeping their way up direct to the c-suite positions with no merit”. These same peers were enjoying hefty-unjustified fat take home salaries and per diem entertainment packages, living large, driving well-oiled Feralli machines & highly “glorified and worshipped money”, risked entire company and thousands of shareholders’ investments –all these at the expense of all of the other hard working employees in the same organization. I wonder where these guys now are as we speak and even the ones who survived the clean-up its by God’s grace and mercies that some of them exist Integrity is not for the faint-hearted nor for people who have little regard to ethical God honoring moral values in the corporate world.
   This also reminds me of 2010 when I finally made a bold move to resign my well-paying Wallstreet job to come back to my beautiful home country Kenya. When I first called dad to break the news ( who mind you had visited me several times in Massachusetts and had seen us living the life) and my siblings they thought I had lost my mind. 10 years later I look back and by God’s grace I can confidently say this one of the best decisions I ever made -coming back home and utilizing my wealth of experience to build a better Kenya. Am especially grateful to God for granting me an opportunity to enact award winning first of its kind ever Kenya’s Diaspora policies, African Institute of Remittances (AIR) with the able support of Dr Ambassador Amina Mohammed (who was at the time Cabinet Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs) & transparent inclusive Remittances policy and Diaspora Communication policy that has enabled Kenyan abroad to participate in Kenyan economic development as well as voting processes. Was lucky to also be part of the think tanks who history will remember for years for cleaning up long overdue Kenya’s Financial Sector mess. Am reminded of the Ronald Reagan’s legacy which was as strong as ever as U.S. political parties were in search of a narrative both sides can lean on to rebuild public trust in government and an example of how the Presidents should lead.   Reagan’s legacy was one based on courage and timely risk taking.  His supporters though have pointed to a more efficient and prosperous economy in the 80’s as a result of “Reaganomics” foreign policy triumphs including a peaceful end to the Cold War.   As a result of Reagan’s courageous actions and charismatic personality Edwin Feulner-The President of The Heritage Foundation, once said that Reagan “helped create a safer, freer world” and that “He took an America suffering from ‘malaise’… and made its citizens believe again in their destiny.” Amazing legacy isn’t it?
8. Responsibility and Accountability: Legacy building is about being mindful of the opportunity and the responsibility you have to serve your own advancement by serving others.  Only you can set the tone and define the performance standards that you expect for yourself and from others.   As such, you must be incredibly self-disciplined to hold yourself accountable to consistently deliver to those standards every day, every step of the way. When you think about it, legacy is the establishment of traditions that can be passed on to future generations.   The model is the family business, where history and experience are directly passed on to children and other family members so that they can successfully take over and grow the business.  As a leader, it is your responsibility to uphold the legacy and traditions of those that came before you – but equally you must hold yourself accountable to build upon those traditions to further strengthen the culture, human capital and brand of the organizations, family traditions, businesses or communities you serve. We see examples of this all the time that we can draw from. Tim Cook has continued to uphold and further the legacy Steve Jobs left behind at Apple.  As the new owner of The Washington Post, Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, will not only carry on its legacy but plans to build upon it in an effort to evolve the newspaper to the modern era.
   Leaders who feel stuck in their lifes or careers are those that care more about recognition than integrity and respect. One of my other favorite dare devil who I look to when I think of the type of legacy I want to leave behind as a corporate leader is Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group. He had it right when he said what he wanted his legacy to simply be “To have created one of the most respected companies in the world. Not necessarily the biggest.” It is not until leaders desire to be significant that they discover the true meaning of leadership and legacy building.   When this moment is realized,   the lens that you see through becomes crystal clear; you begin to understand that being accountable for the advancement and success of others will ultimately define your significance as a leader not success.
   My fellow Kenyan leaders both in public and private sectors my prayer to God is that you seriously taking note and that after reading this thought provoking article you will find it worth making a 360-degree change that will outlast you beyond your call of duty in your leadership legacy –even in the midst of the all the notoriously mega corruption scandals in our country that are robbing Kenyan hard earned tax dollars. Why is this mission critical now than ever folks? Because if we don’t do it, now who will? And if not us then who? And if not now then- when?
9. Genuine Care to Advance Others: Understanding what inspires happiness in those who support your leadership is critically important and I dare say it is not always money-ok human resources officers-please get that right at least for once! The saying “Money can’t buy happiness” is still true. Throughout your leadership journey you must continue to learn how to better serve others and genuinely support their career advancement and overall life goals-including work life balance objectives. Have you ever worked for an organization that has no respect for it’s employees and “professionally abuses it’s employee by not meeting Federal Employers guidelines-starting with promotion of it’s employees based on merit. In such organizations you will find you have hard working loyal employees who have stagnated in same boring positions for over 3 years with no career progression, no training of new skills by employer to build their capacities and zero personal growth! Pure madness isn’t it? In such companies you find that you have so many over qualified managers who work gracefully without complaining in mid management levels and very few aka chosen few unqualified Directors who have the talent -killer popular “Mugabe Hog-It- All Leader Syndrome” of am “never leaving this office” nor do they ever bother building capacity of developing their subordinate staff or managers to take up senior leadership positions! And even when they develop or promote they do it out of selfish ulterior motives to promote their “politically correct big talk-zero performance buddies at their office” who are good at “kissing ass” business. And as a Human resource God-fearing leader, how you think your loyal hardworking employees feel when you lazily and quickly hire from outside (for double the salaries-oh indeed common sense is clearly no longer so common?) in the name of “we do not have this skills set within our organization” How demoralizing is it for your own staff, and what a shame on you –you have failed miserably in your leadership legacy by not building capacity for your staff within who God has placed in your path to impact and develop. May the Lord help us as leaders!
   There is never a monopoly of leadership so I encourage all leaders to fearlessly nurture young leaders through mentorship, building their capacity through skills gap trainings, succession planning and responsibilities delegation. Never waste such golden opportunities to build a legacy that will outlast you even after your gone friends! It reminds of banking units that I have built from scratch (Diaspora Banking then Education) that is still exists long after I moved to kick start head other banking units that I am super passionate about impacting.
   Develop genuine responsibility to reciprocate the value they add to your success as a leader.  This meant taking the time to understand them and working towards helping them accomplish their career goals. Mentor and/or sponsor them to train in a new skill they might not currently have–build their capacity, give them the additional guidance they needed to prepare them for the next phase of their own careers or lifes. Part of the corruption that has crippled Kenya and other countries is that leaders allow greed to control their minds (I know money is to known to corrupt minds) The way to avoid money addiction, selfish greed, fame and glory that comes with power is always reminding yourself that you are here temporarily here on earth for a very short time and soon we shall all return to dust. David in the Bible, in the book of Psalms 39:5-6 says “we are like vapor.” Do good when we are still alive and kicking. You should be the Lord over your money and money should not be the Lord over you. Use the money to add value to others in the world. Whatever you do, do it with love and with excellence. If you are in business, develop award winning solutions that solve client’s every day pain points the way Kenya’s largest Telecommunications company-Safaricom PLC years back developed the mobile money MPESA to solve the money transfer pain point –which now some of us use over 5 times a day anywhere with a click of a button at the comfort of our mobile phone (money should not be your primary objective of starting business or starting any project)
10. Develop the habit of giving: From my own experience, giving opens unbelievable doors that no man or women can shut. Part of my salary month goes to supporting extremely needy much marginalized orphans in different part of Kenya. I personally don’t give because I have so much plenty to give but because I know what it means to lack –I grew up in the village and growing up a child I experienced poverty first hand so “I have been there done that” and for me it naturally touches my heart when I see children who are missing school due to poverty levels in their household-I put myself in their shoes and feel it like it’s just yesterday. It’s also a blessing to give than to receive. Service to others is service to God. So i strongly urge you all to start giving the little you have and see how you create, wisdom, knowledge, wealth and even more riches than you could ever imagine https://www.ndutaangels.org/
    As I conclude let me urge us again that both Moi and Kobe Bryant’s deaths remind us that while we have no control of our life span on earth, we at least have a 100% control on what history we will write through our deeds. Their lifes and leadership styles truly reminds us that we have the choice to make the most of our days on planet earth because it takes us all a short memory for the failures that can fuel our success and the courage that drives continuous improvement, making our lives memorable in all the right ways. Like Kobe once said “Things change in the blink of an eye. People go to work and don’t come back home. We cannot afford to take things for granted anymore, especially our spouses and our families and friends. Don’t procrastinate spending time with your babies, don’t postpone that date night with your spouse, don’t delay another hang out with the boys or girls. Whatever good we can do for each other as friends and family, let’s do it now, make all your days meaningful in this life God has given us under the sun and not wait for “one more day” as that “one day” may never come.”
    Live everyday like it’s your last, believe in abundance and drop the poisonous contagious scarcity mentality, run away from negativity and pessimistic people who literally suck the life and energy out of you, appreciate people and believe in adding value to others. Indeed like Michael Jackson rightly sang it if we do so “we can make the world a better place for you and me” Shall we folks?