to be Teachable
The Managing Director/Chief Executive, Heritage Bank Limited, Mr. Ifie Sekibo, has advised aspiring leaders to be open and teachable in order access fresh insight to overcome challenges of leadership.
He gave this charge while speaking at the Emerging Leaders Forum held in Owerri, Imo State.
“Somebody just asked me how do you get victory over yourself as a leader because we keep talking about change of mind-set as a leader. I said from what I know, the place of leadership is in the classroom and you will never graduate from that classroom”, he said.
Listing the principles of successful leadership to include personal commitment, conviction, partnership and focus on the future, Sekibo said: “There is no economic growth without partnership. In everything you do in life, one times zero is zero, one times one is one.
“Two times two is four folds and that can only happen if you allow partnership and agreements. That is key to success.
“Also, there must be personal commitment to success. Rigorous commitment has to be personal in achieving leadership. When you are committed and you are able to get others to be committed with you, that is leadership.
“To learn this Leadership styles, you must remain open and teachable, remove obstacles from the past, recognising the key factors that makes you a leader.
“You must have personal conviction if you want to be a leader and in the midst of that conviction, you must be able to attract other people to join.”
Emphasising the need for communication in leadership, he said: “Most dreams of leaders die today because they are not ready to share their visions with their follower-ships but what we don’t understand is that we need to get the negative responses, you need to see through the negativity on why you may not succeed as a leader, this enables you to prepare ahead and find a way around to succeed in the midst of those negativity. As a leader, you need to leave the past and focus on the future to enable you succeed.”
