Recently, we had the opportunity to host the Maxwell Leadership Conference – Live2Lead – Lusaka Zambia, and it was simply an incredible time of learning together. During the event, people asked me to give my thoughts on John Maxwell’s famous quote, “Everything rises and falls on Leadership”. Immediately the thought of my fellow Rwandans and our shared history came to mind. And thus I responded.
If there’re people in any country that have experienced this quote firsthand are Rwandans. It’s not just a quote for us, we have lived it. Therefore, we have seen the consequences of leadership failure, and we are living in the rise of leadership.
Furthermore, in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, our country came to the brink of extinction, and the only word to describe the state of Rwanda was hopelessness. 29 years later, the country is a beacon of hope on the continent and the accomplishments registered are a testament to the type of leadership we’ve had.
It’s all about leadership
It’s not that the country grew in size or changed its language and people. Not at all, the only explanation for the miracle of Rwanda is that the leadership changed for the better.
In addition, I was recently discussing with Dr. Fred Swaniker, the Founder of the African Leadership Group, and I asked him if he had to choose, which one was more important: leadership or education? He promptly answered that it was leadership.
I couldn’t agree more, you can be the most educated, the most resourced, and all…. But if you are a poor leader, it will affect everything else; family, companies, countries… I truly believe good leadership is the only hope for Africa! That’s why we do what we do … equipping leaders to Be and DO better, because everybody deserves to be led well.
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