Elvis C. Umez

As leadership continues to evolve, Pioneer Leaders must recognize that things ought to be done differently in order for him to leverage on the abilities of the people he is leading, such that problem solving requires his ingenuity and those of the people put together. Although, modern leadership mainly focuses of the ingenuity of the leader, postmodern leadership focuses on the Collective Ingenuity of the players of the cycle of leadership. For effective leadership, the pioneer leader must not be the only cock crowing. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

In understanding the shift from modern leadership to postmodern leadership, the Pioneer Leader must always shift focus from himself to the people he is leading because they hold the key to the transition into the new phase that ensures a safe landing within a record time. While modern leadership focuses only on the actualisation of the vision of the Pioneer Leader, in postmodern leadership, the actualisation of the visions of the followers culminates in the actualisation of the vision of the leader. He becomes the midwife that helps the followers give birth to their visions. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

A world of one man leadership that we have come to know as leaders is, indeed, passing away; some kind of a new one is being born. This change is described as a shift from modern to postmodern leadership, which the Pioneer Leader must seek to understand. Modern leadership lays emphasis on the leaders' vision, attitude, plans, goals, etc. while postmodern leadership lays emphasis on the followers' vision, attitude, plans, goals, etc. It is important for the Pioneer Leader to align himself along these shifts. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Gaining new perspective, which is contingent upon growth, development and awareness on the part of the players of the leadership cycle must be fine tuned by Pioneer Leader in order to curtail the adverse effect on the entire leadership team due to lack of precision and clarity. These adverse effects can be likened to using the coarse adjust knob in viewing an image on the stage without engaging the fine adjustment knob for precision and clarity under a microscope. The Pioneer Leader should always be ready to provide assistance on how to do this fine-tuning for precision and clarity. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Growth and development affords the players of the leadership cycle new perspectives, which is a sign that the Pioneer Leader is causing tangible transformation on the them. The Pioneer Leader, on observing these changes, should be able to modulate his feed action responses to accommodate them. When he fails to do so, there will be clash of interest, which if not managed well would lead to divisiveness and disrespect. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Possiblity thinking Pioneer Leaders must strike a balance between exploration and exploitation because too much of each of them independent of the other could make the entire leadership go into extinction. The balance should be such that exploration would lead to exploitation and vice versa. Exploration must be such that its indices are of immediate consequence so that the leadership is not lost in the future. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

There are two elements of possiblity thinking that the Pioneer Leader must engage when faced problems, which could hinder him and the players of the leadership cycle from arriving at the destination within a record time. They are exploration and exploitation. Exploration opens you up to see all the available opportunities you could choose from in order to solve the impending problems while exploitation opens you up to take advantage and exhaust each of those opportunities, one step at a time. Are you exploring or exploiting? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The contraption, IMPOSSIBLE, in any form of leadership, is characterized by the Pioneer Leader's decision to not seek the "know-how" of how to solve a problem, which can also be transferred to the followers. Here is the advice to the follower led by an impossibility thinking leader: do not let the disposition of the Pioneer Leader to not seek the "know-how" of a problem stop you from thinking possiblity. You have an infinite capacity to figure anything out. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Problems are designed to be solved and they exist because there are solutions. There are no problem without corresponding solutions within time and space. Not knowing "how" to solve a problem is one thing, and thinking that it is impossible is another thing. Every Pioneer Leader who solves some fundamental problems, thinks possibilities. Are you a possibility thinking leader? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Previously on leading in a changing world, I started discussing the five basic phases that any leadership encounters change and the roles the pioneer leader is expected to play in order to have a safe landing within a record time. I looked at the first two, which are STABILITY and DISCONTINUITY. But in today’s essay, I am going to consider the third phase. At this phase, stability is all but gone. The power of the tradition, so crucial in earlier phases, no longer has the ability to act like glue holding the system in the place where it has been for a long time. Both internal and external pressures become too great for merely maintenance and management of what-has-been. The systems, and the people in it, are now experiencing increasing levels of distress as they try to manage the challenges from within the frameworks of stability and tradition. Stress is everywhere. Relationships are strained. Systems begin breaking down. Power struggles emerge. Conflict and blaming are common. ...

Leadership is shifting from a stable and secure world toward a huge, open-ended question. If one word characterizes people’s experiences of this, it is uncertainty. The uncertainty is because many leaders do not seem to really care about who they lead, rather their concern is in producing an intended result by all means, which has led to making perpetual followers instead of reproducing themselves. As the truth unfolds, those being led need a desperate change, which those who lead dread and are wary about. In the previous essay, I listed the five liminal phases associated with leadership in a changing world that every pioneer leader must seek to unravel and understand within time and space if he or she desires a safe landing to the destination within a record time. Also, in the just previous one, I explained STABILITY, which is the first liminal phase, as well as the role of the leader. So, in this essay, however, I shall endeavor to discuss the second liminal phase – DISC...

Leadership Thought Quotient -- the Pioneer Leader's ability to understand the impact of his thought patterns on the people he leads. The thought you think affects the results your players will produce over time. If you think impossibility, then everything becomes impossible for the players. If you think possibility, then even the weakest amongst them catches the fire. What are your predominant thought patterns like? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Previously, I started a discourse on leading in a changing world and was able to outline the liminal phases associated with the dynamic changes and also promised to explain each of them because I have observed that most of the struggles associated with leadership in many of the African societies, today, is hinged on embracing change. Change is one constant commodity, which is a direct effect of growth and development either in the intellectual, spiritual, or physical experience of the members of the leadership cycle, hence, the pioneer leaders must understand that transformation brings about some level of conformational changes in the lives of the people being led. The first phase of this liminality, as I pointed out in the first essay is STABILITY. So, in the rest of the particular essay, I am going explain this phase and the corresponding leadership role of the pioneer leaders. All human systems are dedicated to maintaining stability and equilibrium. You normal response to the wor...

When parents observe that the children are turning into teanagers, they gradually change from being authoritative to being negotiative with the use of sound and superior arguments. With that mutual respect is gradually developed over time. In the same vein, when the Pioneer Leader, in his relationship with the players of the leadership cycle, recognizes that his instructions will be challenged, moves from being authoritative to employing the use of sound and superior arguments in order to drive home his points. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Change is an inevitable aspect of leadership that does not afford any leader a short cut. Short cut, they say, cuts your leadership results short, which is something that every leader must be wary of. Some leaders fail to understand change is non-negotiable in leadership. It is either you change your approach by learning new skills in order to navigate your path or you get changed by your failures to navigating well in order to generate the required results. Organizations, institutions, families, etc, experience change with the way and manner the people being led are exposed to prevailing information. The earlier the leaders of these settings realise what is up, the better they stand a chance to succeed in their quest. Every change is contingent upon the natural laws of sowing and reaping, and times and seasons. After the dry season comes rainy. After the day comes night. And some would suffice that after the raggae play the blues. In all these, one thing is sure that life abhors st...

Pioneer Leaders leading in a changing world must be flexible enough to know that what worked yesterday may never work today. It is like the parent that just discovered that the children are now gradually becoming adults. As the players of the leadership cycle transform from followers into leaders, the Pioneer Leader must endeavour to recognize and engage the power of negotiation. At this point, he will not get what he deserves, rather his results will be based on what he negotiates. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Nothing makes any leadership sour like when the Pioneer Leader makes the assumption that he knows the needs of the players of the leadership cycle without endeavouring to find from them. The Pioneer Leader in a bid not to be seen as one who is impositional should be able to ask: "what are your needs" and "how do you want them provided". With that the players can trust his antecedents. Trust is everything in leadership. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The principle upon which continuity is based in leadership is reproduction. That is to say that existing leaders emmnate from the reproduction of the preexisting Pioneer Leaders in the leadership cycle. Continuity is assured if the principles that generated the intended results for the preexisting leadership are being followed to the latter. But at times, the existing leadership may choose to change the methods, but never the principle. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The major cause of disloyalty and breakaways in leadership is contingent upon the fact that many Pioneer Leaders become antagonistic when their followers begin to show signs of having come up with their personal visions. Here is the deal: a true Pioneer Leader is not the one with the most followers, but one who creates the most leaders. He can only do that by allowing his followers develop their personal visions. Are you a true Pioneer Leader? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The major cause of disloyalty and breakaways in leadership is contingent upon the fact that many Pioneer Leaders become antagonistic when their followers begin to show signs of having come up with their personal visions. Here is the deal: a true Pioneer Leader is not the one with the most followers, but one who creates the most leaders. He can only do that by allowing his followers develop their personal visions. Are you a true Pioneer Leader? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

When the Pioneer Leader does not understand that the goal of leadership is the transformation of the followers, he will become threatened when those followers begin to manifest their personal visions. The truth is: those whose personal visions are tied to you will never leave nor forsake you. In short, they will even find fulfillment in helping your vision, only to realise how far they have gone in achieving so much for themselves. Never get threatened by the personal visions of your followers. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Have you ever thought about leading without a vision in your leadership? Many would think that that is suicidal, right? How do you deal with the situation where virtually all the players of your leadership has personal visions? Would you rather sacrifice their visions for yours to be actualized? Remember, the goal of the Pioneer Leader is to transform the followers into their ideal selves within a record time. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Beyond the four stages of growth and the three paradigms associated with the leadership cycle, there is one more thing that the Pioneer Leader must aware of the people he is leading into becoming their ideal selves. There are four categories of people in the leadership cycle, according to their personalities and the roles they play in actualizing the vision of the leadership. The initiators, interpreters, implementers, and regulators of the leadership vision. Every leader who succeeds does that because he understands this. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Leadership is not just all about success alone, but also failures. For success to be engineered, the Pioneer Leader must be willing to admit his failures and use them as tools to tell a story by extracting principles. Until the Pioneer Leader is able to translate his experiences into life lessons to help the players know better, the value of those experiences is nothing. When he fails to do so, he has set the players up to repeat history. Have you translated your experiences into life lessons? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The wheel of leadership is the transition that occurs as the Pioneer Leader leads the players that makes the process appears as though everything rises and falls. The wheel of leadership is rather a cycle that is contingent upon a system structure to manages the outcomes of succeeds and failure, learning, unlearning and relearning process, and the progressive paradigms of understanding. Do you run your leadership with a system structure or is it just anything goes? Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The Pioneer Leader must understand that everything happens in leadership in cycle (leadership wheel), such that no experience is permanent even if the he becomes complacent. This leadership wheel comprises of success and failures zones, and each of these zones affords some levels of expectations that must  be consolidated as part of experiential knowledge for reaching learning. Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

Every follower necessarily needs help, which should be the primary focus of the Pioneer Leader. But then, if you really believe you are doing your best to help another, then be careful that you are not only seeking to create your own self-worth through the help you offer. For to the extent that you allow other persons to make you responsible for them, to that extent you have allowed them to make you powerful. And that, of course, makes you feel worthy. Yet, this kind of help is an aphrodisiac which seduces the weak. The goal is to help the weak grow strong, not to let the weak become weaker. To learn more about understanding the dynamics of leading, leadership and the leader, join Hodegeo on WhatsApp every Saturday, 8pm. Click the link below to join. https://chat.whatsapp.com/GsCyB4jHIF98QW3RQz5CMB Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

You, as the Pioneer Leader, whose goal is to ensure the transformation of your followers must first, decide Who and What You Are in relationship to them. Second, if you decide you wish to experience yourself as being succor, as being help, as being Love and Compassion and Caring, then look to see how you can best be those things. And notice that your ability to be those things has nothing to do with what others are being or doing. To learn more about understanding the dynamics of leading, leadership and the leader, join Hodegeo on WhatsApp every Saturday, 8pm. Click the link below to join. https://chat.whatsapp.com/GsCyB4jHIF98QW3RQz5CMB Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The desire to transform your followers must be anchored on love, which serves as the substrate for taking them through the paradigms of the leadership cycle. Sometimes, as they progress in the stages of the leadership, the best way to love your followers in a bid to transform them, and the most help you can give, is to leave them alone or empower them to help themselves. To learn more about understanding the dynamics of leading, leadership and the leader, join Hodegeo on WhatsApp every Saturday, 8pm. Click the link below to join. https://chat.whatsapp.com/GsCyB4jHIF98QW3RQz5CMB Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The Pioneer Leader must insist and shorten the time it takes for each player of the leadership cycle to go through the three paradigms of transformation, which is directly proportional to their stages and levels of growth and development. When your help is offered in such a way that it creates continued dependence, rather than rapid independence. When you allow another, in the name of compassion, to begin to rely on you rather than rely on themselves. That is not compassion, that is compulsion. To learn more about understanding the dynamics of leading, leadership and the leader, join Hodegeo on WhatsApp every Saturday, 8pm. Click the link below to join. https://chat.whatsapp.com/GsCyB4jHIF98QW3RQz5CMB Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult

The ultimate goal of the Pioneer Leader in driving the leadership cycle is to create a continuum of Paradigms that begins from dependence (Followers-Disciples) to independence (Collaborators) and to interdependence (Leaders). The leader must strive to make this progressive Paradigms work within a record time. Each of the stages of the cycle of leadership requires transitions into these Paradigms for transformation to occur. In his response to the needs of the followers, he must strive to give nothing which disempowers. That which disempowers is that which promotes or produces dependency. To learn more about understanding the dynamics of leading, leadership and the leader, join Hodegeo on WhatsApp every Saturday, 8pm. Click the link below to join. https://chat.whatsapp.com/GsCyB4jHIF98QW3RQz5CMB Elvis C. Umez Leadership Consultant School of Leadership Development (SOLD) IDB Consult