Journey with Della

Yay! Light is back I said and almost immediately, my brain and lips got into a heated argument. It went something like this.

Brain: Light is back? Really?

Lips: Well, yeah can’t you see?

Brain: (rolling eyes) are you kidding me right now?

Lips: Common, you know what I mean. Don’t be so uptight

Brain: Well, yeah but that is because I am smart. I am just having a hard time understanding why you would say one thing when you actually mean another

Lips: Oh please! Give me a break Mr. Smart. Can’t I just feel free to express my delight without you breathing down my neck?

Brain: Ok ok ok. It’s just you might think it is not such a big deal but besides being unnerving to the likes of us, it could equally be misleading to others, you know?

Lips: (pauses in deep reflection) I think you are right. I will give it more thought next time but only if you promise to give me the space I need to think

Brain: Technically, you need me to do that but oh well! You got it!

In the past when some inaccurate utterances like this have made their way out of my lips, I would simply brush them away with a silly excuse like English is not my first language. But not today. This time, I actually stopped and gave my brain’s comments some deep thought.

At risk of sounding like an obsessed leader development expert who makes a leadership issue out of everything (that is the very false accusation my niece made after I showed her my last post. What can I say? I am stuck with a highly opinionated niece for the rest of my life. Love it!!!) yet again, here I go.

Summarily, my brain was trying to bring two things to the fore:

• Inaccurately stating reality is unnerving to some: This is not that big a deal, right? Or is it? At first one might think Oh please! Get a grip of yourself, don’t be so uptight! But think again!!! What is it that can be so unnerving about an inaccurate statement? I don’t know about you but I have lost count of the number of times when I have been so disappointed at the words that came out of the mouth of someone who holds a top leadership position at a time when everyone needed to hear something encouraging and reassuring. If you are a Cameroonian, you don’t have to look too far to see what I mean. A significant chunk of the problems individuals, organizations and even nations face would be avoided if leaders would learn to either state reality accurately or SHUT UP! Just because if looks red doesn’t mean it is blood. Don’t say anything until you know for sure what it is.

• Inaccurately stating reality is misleading: The first step to solving any situation is diagnosing it correctly. Light is back focuses more on the symptoms rather than the causes produces them and you don’t have to be a medical personnel to know that lasting solutions can only be found when the treatment is directed at the cause. Even as I write this I wonder, how many institutions are in crises of different types because their leaders are chasing after symptoms and not causes? And how many leaders even after realizing that they have been focusing on symptoms choose rather to keep up with the appearances? The only thing worse than being misled the first time is deliberately “misleading” yourself and others when you now know better. Sometimes there is no light because the switch has not been turned on. Other times, it is the bulb that needs to be replaced. And then there are times when none of these things can bring about any changes. Stating what is really going on correctly is a big part of the puzzle.

So, if you are like me (a leader with the tendency to use your mouth before you have checked in with your brain #trueconfession), try switching things around the next time the temptation arises and see what happens.

It might be an uphill climb at first but you know! Who said leadership is a walk in the park? As one wise man has said;

Through perseverance many people win success out of what seemed destined to be certain failure

Benjamin Disraeli

In my particular case, the light is indeed back, but only because power has been restored.