40th OML series: Why businesses need leadership with game-changing mindset at VUCA times —Experts

EXPERTS from different sectors of the nation’s economy have said for businesses in this part of the clime to experience the much-needed transformation, especially in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world, it has become imperative for captains of such businesses to develop game-changing mindsets.

The experts made this submission at the 40th Omolayole Management Lecture (OML) series, organised by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) of Nigeria, in Lagos, recently.

Delivering a keynote address at the event held to honour management expert, former Chairman and Managing Director, Lever Brothers Nigeria and the pioneer president of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) of Nigeria, Dr Michael Omolayole, the guest speaker, Dr Mosun Belo-Olusoga, stated that a VUCA world, such as the one Nigeria is presently experiencing, cannot afford to have leaders incapable of thinking out of the box.

Belo-Olusoga, who is the Lead Consultant/Chief Executive Officer of The KRC (Knowledge and Resource Centre), stated that Nigeria, as presently constituted, has all the attributes of a VUCA world and, therefore, requires leaders with the ability to encourage, inspire and motivate employees to perform in ways that create meaningful change.

She added that while leadership in the past was autocratic, recent developments are beginning to force a paradigm shift, thereby requiring today’s leaders to evolve for them to remain relevant in the future.

Mosun, therefore, stressed the need for such leaders to re-imagine their business models and leverage technology to their advantage since the world is moving from a product economy to a service economy and outcome economy.

The first female Executive Director of Access and Guaranty Trust Bank also advised leaders to open up and work across industries to ensure survival, urging them to see current competition as future partners to avoid being overtaken ‘in the fast lane.’

She warned that since new talents will not respond to the old ways of leading people, leaders should embrace the new reality, focusing on hiring talents that are tech-savvy and can help accelerate business transformation.

In his opening speech, the President of CIPM, organisers of the event, Mallam Ahmed Gobir, commended AIESEC Alumni Nigeria for coming up with the idea of the lecture series in 1985.

He expressed the delight that the OML series had over the years grown from a humble initiative to a beacon of knowledge and intellectual discourse, contributing significantly to the development of thought leadership in corporate governance, human resources and national development.

Gobir also expressed the strong belief that the lecture would provide the required business solution to steer the nation forward at this sensitive period.

In his remarks while expressing his gratitude to the organisers for the honour, Dr Michael Omolayole, however, regretted that the parlous state of the nation’s economy had gone a long way in dampening the celebration.

“The Nigerian economy is in shambles and citizens are in agony. Almost all the statistical indices are worse than they were this time last year,” he stated.

He also lamented the fact that some of the warnings of the nation’s professionals on the economy in the past had been glaringly ignored by those in government, thereby putting the nation’s economy in its present state.

The former Lever Brothers boss, however, believed the conference theme was a representation of the spirit and power of optimism and positive thinking.

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