LEADERSHIP LESSONS DRAWN FROM EXPERIENCE.

For the most part of my life, I have been privileged to serve in a number of leadership positions. From class monitor to prefect, to member of executive committee for different student's bodies and many others. In my quest to reminisce on these privileges,? I discovered some lessons I thought I should share.

1) Never abuse your power as a leader.

Many are the times we get drunk with leadership and think we would hold our positions forever. Back in 2012, I was a senior prefect at my school. My circle was comprised of Frank Simuyemba (Head boy), David Chiyuni(Prefect), Trevor Hamulunda(Class monitor) and a few other friends that had no positions. Trevor had more power in class, including placing our names on the list of noise makers.? On the other hand, we had power outside class and our authority carried much weight.

We would intimidate Trevor not to place our names on the list of noise makers even when we made noise. One day,? he had the guts to resist our intimidation and placed our names on the list of noise makers. Inclusive of the head boy. The head boy confiscated the list and tore it apart. ?

The school manager walked in and found us making noise. He asked for the list of noise makers and it was reported to him that the head boy had ripped the paper apart.? To cut the long story short, I was implicated in the list of noise makers drama despite not having touched it. We were all punished for making noise that day despite our leadership positions that were immune to punishment.

Lesson: Abuse of power always has it's pay back day. No matter how long it takes,? pay back day is surely coming.

2) Have a forgiving heart.

Last year, I was publicity secretary for the ZICA-UNZA Student's chapter. Then President,? Vincent Habasimbi reached out to me with instructions from the Live the dream mentorship Chief executive officer Mr. Prince Zulu. The instructions were that me and President Habasimbi needed to interview applicants for the mentorship and select those that passed the interview.

Before this, as an alumni of this mentorship, I encouraged a few people to subscribe to the association so they could benefit from the mentorship.

When I announced to the applicants that they needed to be interviewed to be selected,? this message did not sit well with a colleague I convinced to subscribe.? In his mind, we just tricked him into subscribing to the association.? We never had interviews during our intake, why subject them to such? We were labelled corrupt and all sorts of hurtful names.

In my view, the colleague lacked confidence in himself that he would pass the interviews and beat other applicants.? I? must admit,? I believed in him that he had the capacity to answer the simple questions and pass the simple interview.

Now this is the part where leaders exercise their unforgiveness. The colleague calmed down and attempted the interview. In the selection process,? he was found to be among those that passed the interview. Frankly,? we had the will not to pick him for his earlier remarks to us but we were compelled to forgive and apply objectivity in the process.

Lesson: Depriving opportunities? those that throw stones at you as a leader when they meet the criteria weighs you down to their level. There's a certain fulfilment as a leader when you forgive and let your oppressors see things through your lenses.

Today,? this colleague is a leader. He is wearing the shoes we were wearing at the time. He has confessed to me a number of times how bad he feels when he called us names when he couldn't see what we saw. Today,? he is called names by those that don't see what he sees.

3) Have the empathy and heart to receive criticism and ridicule.

Early this year, as representative for Soweto hostels, I received a call from the custodian of our hostels requesting to see me.

He had toured our hostel and found certain things that did not sit well with him. He complained bitterly accusing students from my school to be the main? culprits. He went further suggesting everyday inspections on our hostel by his office. In my mind, I knew that his allegations were unfair because only a handful of students from my school were culprits. Most of which I had managed to talk to and heeded to my advice. Secondly, the inspections never made sense because they would be inconveniencing because of the differences in schedule.

So I convinced the custodian that I make engagements with the students and address the issue. I? did as promised and had meetings with the students.

The meetings were successfully held and to my rude shock, I received a call from a strange number accusing me of reporting students unnecessarily to the school management. I was angered because the opposite was true. I was actually defending the students and not reporting them.

A lesson I got from this scenario is that as a leader, everyone feels entitled to attack you based on what they believe is true. You might be working tirelessly in the background for the good of those you are leading, but some people are too blind to see your efforts. When they come in anger roaring at you, have the empathy to understand their emotions,? accommodate them and make them see things from your lenses.

In conclusion, you are responsible for creating the kind of leader you want to be. As a leader, always understand that people have different mindsets, strengths and weaknesses. Be accommodative, take the criticism, be questioned and make everyone comfortable. Leadership is not easy, shape it to the closest possible way to being easy.