Rethinking Leadership With Shared Experience, Insights in A New Book

Yinka Olatunbosun

In this new book titled “Uplifting Leadership: Six Core Values to Elevate Your Leadership and Create Infinite Legacy,” there’s a radical departure from the conventional approach to leadership assessment as the author, Babs Olugbemi focuses on the values that makes for a successful and impactful leader at every stage of leadership, irrespective of the level of operation.

The writer and leadership coach, has read a lot of books on leadership before participating in a leadership advancement programme at Oxford University, United Kingdom.

From decades of experience working as an executive coach for leaders, including leading organisations, his insights have helped him in shaping and refining his perspectives, thus improving his capacity and widening his influence in the field of leadership and organisational development.

In this 366-paged motivational book, he noted first that leadership is an open-learning game. He pointed out in the intro: “If you are leading and not learning, it will show. Your leadership effectiveness cannot be higher than your personal effectiveness.”

Another highlight in the book is that leadership is a team sport. He argues that leaders are the sum of the average of the attitude, capacity and performance of their teams.

Beyond being a team leader is the ability of leaders to put the interest of the team above personal interest.

The book is thus designed to help the readers learn how to grow and keep growing at each level of leadership and how to be a fulfilled person at your old age. In old age, a life devoid of fulfillment is that with leadership gaps not identified and filled.

The author maintains that leadership is a journey not a destination. That is why leadership values are circular not linear. For him, one needs credibility at the personal leadership level as much one does at the organisational leadership level.

The book articulates six core values for leadership effectiveness and leadership manifestation.The need for the book is premised on the problem with leadership today. From the author’s engagement with many organisations, it was observed that many in leadership positions are position-oriented with the mindset that they are in leadership due to their knowledge and expertise as well as the rewards for their connections and hard work.

90percent of them are without leadership development plans. There is also a cycle of abuse in many organisations with the tendency for a leader to treat his subordinates the same way the previous leader had done, thereby manifesting the same tendencies and toxicity in the workplace.

In the author’s view, aligning personal interests with organisational interests will reduce the tendency for self-seeking behaviour which is one of the manifestations of leadership gaps in people. The success of leaders is therefore the internal alignment of their values and leadership style with their teams’ aspirations and not the external image they project to the public.

Another observation made by the author is that there is the dominance of political opinions over professional considerations in the workplace.

One of the challenges this book seeks to address with the aim of influencing the behaviour of leaders is to uplift the ability of leaders to rethink their leadership with a view to becoming more open to further learning, development and making effective decisions in different situations in diverse organisations.

The author further argues in the book that the best way to gain leadership recognition is to keep focusing on your vision, building your people and organisation in a way that will meet and exceed the expectations of stakeholders. Instead of taking glory for a team’s effort, a leader should avoid unmoderated visibility as this may be a disincentive to team members who see everything circled around a selfish leader. Instead, true leaders should embrace quiet leadership.

From his perspective on leadership culture, Babs Olugbemi emphasized on the importance of putting wellness first. Leadership may this mean flexibility in accommodating a staff with special needs and demonstrating fairness in organizational expectations so that everyone can thrive.