0:03
this is your urgent call to action we are all called to lead in a world in
0:08
chaos crisis and turmoil join a pivotal Global movement for change to transform the leadership
0:15
crisis worldwide will you play it safe or will you wake up step up and speak
0:21
out like Nelson Mandela did for South Africa and the world we need a radical
0:26
new way to think act and Lead leading boldly into the future
0:32
join host Anne Pratt a Harvard fellow and multi-awarded businesswoman and unlock the best version of yourself to
0:39
revolutionize leadership with what the world needs now
0:45
[Music] Gracie saw your future bald leaders
0:52
thank you for joining us from around the world my name is Anne Pratt I'm formerly from South Africa and I relocated abroad
0:59
to attend a Harvard Advanced leadership initiative Fellowship in beautiful Boston in the United States of America
1:07
a thoughtful board leader in this episode today is based in Dubai she is a
1:12
Harvard Kennedy School Edward Mason fellow an Obama Foundation Africa
1:18
emerging leader and is the founder of the Adaptive Leadership Foundation
1:25
she is also an accomplished Diplomat and has served her country Kenya in the
1:30
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and is currently serving in Dubai stay with us as she shares with us her
1:38
adaptive leadership challenge and why moving fast in trying to tackle these
1:44
tough big challenges is often slow and moving slow is often fast
1:51
our childhood slap at age seven in rural Kenya defined her career the difference
1:58
and the distinction between Technical and adaptive leadership challenges and
2:03
how Mandela's lesson of separating oneself from one's role has empowered
2:09
her career we warmly welcome my dear friend and a co-creator of This Global
2:17
Mandela leadership movement for change mercy atino odongo and welcome to
2:24
Leading boldly into the future Mercy welcome it's so wonderful to have you
2:30
here with us from Dubai thank you for spending time on your precious evening
2:35
and lovely to have you with us thank you very much and for having me it's a great honor to share my
2:41
experience with you that's awesome I just wanted to share with our audience that Mercy has spent 14 years in the
2:48
Foreign Affairs Ministry for the Republic of Kenya she was selected by the Obama foundation for the inaugural
2:55
class of 2018 as one of 200 emerging leaders in Africa and she is a coach for
3:03
transformational leadership in the 21st century for emerging leaders across the continent Mercy is so wonderful to have
3:10
you share your leadership wisdom and insights with us and I thought a wonderful starting point would be to
3:17
share some of your career highlights and what has brought you to this current moment thank you very much and for the
3:24
opportunity number one as you said my career has been spunning for 19 years
3:30
public service that's correct and then within this period I was privileged to
3:36
go to Harvard Kennedy School during that period they as you know I
3:41
got to learn or get to some courses that were very fundamental in exercising
3:46
leadership so one of the two courses was exercising leadership politics of change and Leadership from inside out and the
3:54
experience that I've acquired I felt like it is Honorable to pay
4:00
forward for people who've not been privileged to to get this idea because one of the things that stood out for me
4:06
personally was the idea of adaptive challenges and Technical fixes technical
4:12
challenges and adaptive challenges so that worked for me has been eye-opening so when Harvard
4:19
executive program uh partnered with us to help them shape the narrative again
4:24
for the emerging leaders for Africa to design a course for Africa 21st century
4:30
leaders for Africa we did that in 2018 and 2019 we trained over 140 emerging
4:39
leaders from Nigeria The Gambia Somalia Egypt Kenya and some from the US and it
4:45
was amazing experience so that gave me the impetus that this idea needs to find
4:52
Space and that is what led me now to the idea of creating a foundation for leadership
4:58
to empower now young leaders across Nations I mean that's remarkable and of
5:05
course we know that you know Africa is um a nation that is Hungry for Change
5:11
and has enormous challenges too um I was wondering personally Mercy what
5:17
have you found to be your greatest leadership challenge in your in your career I mean you spent 19 years but 14
5:25
years in the ministry you know of Foreign Affairs What What In exercising
5:30
leadership has been your greatest challenge um during that time one of the the
5:36
greatest challenges that I still grapple with to date is my inability to to frame
5:42
issues that are transformational in a way that finds space
5:47
with the authority figures to get the buying and and part of the the challenges I when I frame issues I come
5:55
out as a very strong person and and that to a greater extent
6:01
has been a challenges some would view it as a threat others would be it as aggression so to some extent that has
6:09
impacted on my ability to form alliances build Partnerships and be able to Rally
6:15
around the course that can bring impactful changes okay can you share a practical example
6:22
with us I mean do you have an example that comes to mind interesting I'll give
6:27
you an example when we were selected as you said from a pool of 210 000 applicants for the Obama Foundation we
6:34
are put in a group of four people we are given we were told to to come up with ideas
6:39
right so in the process of coming with ideas our ideas were collected 200 of us
6:45
then they were condensed to 40. out of those 40 one of my the idea that I had found space and that is where the
6:51
Adaptive Leadership Foundation comes in the idea was to be able to bring change using data because we realized that now
6:58
there's a lot of of misinformation and and not basic decision based on facts so
7:06
we sort of like we were tasked to give the resource that you need the kind of
7:12
people that you need in your team so I said I needed somebody who is good in resource mobilization I needed
7:18
somebody's good in technological um technology I needed somebody who is
7:23
good in branding because I'm a strategy person so those who perform part of my team so we were
7:29
put with four of us in in my team and in the process we we were curating this
7:36
this idea and one thing that was very which I consider leadership failure is yes we
7:43
went through the process we we presented our idea but after that we never became
7:49
together why because maybe earlier on on my part to get the buying in in seeing
7:55
the sense of what we are doing or it was too fast for rushing in trying to mobilize people to get in and the end of
8:01
the lessons that I came out with it's good to Pace your issues step by step
8:07
Don't Rush people people are different developmental stages and sometimes when
8:12
you push people too much they tend to reject even the idea that would be so it's good to get a buying so you give
8:19
people work get the buying from the people right from the onset so that it doesn't appear like it is hands or
8:25
masses idea yes yeah so what What attracted you to move into Foreign Affairs I mean I know you did a bachelor
8:31
degree in in languages and and literacy you know literacy I mean I what what
8:38
motivated you to move into Foreign Service excellent that is a long a long story
8:44
but I'll say it what happened is as a young girl of seven years old in the
8:50
rural part of Kenya growing up on a Sunday morning I was cleaning the house and we used to play and then my brothers
8:57
were cleaning the house my brother pushed me and I fell down I broke my teeth out of my teeth and on
9:04
waking up I slapped my brother so hard and when I slapped him
9:10
he started to nosebleed and my mom when he came to the scene I saw tears coming
9:17
from my eyes so I felt pain through the blood of my
9:22
brother and the tears from my mother's my mother's um my mother's tears and
9:28
within that short duration of time my world came to a standstill I receded in a corner and I prayed to God and I told
9:35
God if you get me out of this I will never ever fight or lay hand on somebody and
9:42
my world was shifted I think God shifted my world to the extent that I don't fight I don't like conflict and I began
9:49
to now play pay attention to the plights of people so even in my home I'm the mediator when
9:59
people are having crisis so as I grew up then I realized that this is the path
10:05
that probably have been called to do but based on that vulnerability that I went through of being in uncertain situation
10:11
and helplessness without hope so that to a greater extent now began to show me
10:18
how to solve problems without using physical confrontation or
10:24
or fight through non-conventional means then when I went to to undergrad for the
10:32
University I joined the model United Nations Model United Nations so Model United
10:38
Nations they follow the activities of the U.N but from the youth perspective
10:43
and uh I was the the head Delegate for France that was that is the time when when there was the sustainable
10:49
development Summit that was coming to South Africa yeah and then so in the
10:56
process of of looking at the the sustainable development goals that is when I discovered now that diplomacy was
11:03
the the thing for me so from there then I went to to to graduate school and
11:09
enrolled in The Institute of diplomacy and did foreign I did the diplomacy and
11:14
international relations and I joined Foreign Service and I've never looked back wonderful and and what do what excites
11:22
you most about Foreign Service and serving your country in Dubai I mean what is most exciting about that for you
11:30
first word fascinated me most was when Kofi Annan delayed was the Secretary
11:35
General of United Nations and as a young girl I would wake up there was a there was a um a program on on CNN called
11:42
diplomatic license and I would diligently wake up to watch Kofi Annan
11:48
move from East Timor to Israel to Benghazi name it and I was
11:53
like this is very nice and then I was like I started paying attention now to world world issues so when I joined
12:01
Foreign Affairs it's almost like this is where I wanted to be for me and now for my current role in
12:09
Dubai we are looking at issues of the consulate now we're dealing with the Kenyan people there's a large group of
12:15
people in Dubai so they are we are dealing with issues of documentation job creation strategy for engagement
12:22
bilaterally between Kenya and the UAE yeah that's very exciting Mercy how have
12:28
you found that from a leadership point of view dealing with you know the desires and aspirations and the cultural
12:35
aspects of what shaped you and influenced you you know coming from Kenya and working in the Middle East I
12:42
mean how has that been a challenge and have you been able to navigate that
12:47
it's very interesting you know I'm coming to I came to the Middle East in 2019 and the most fascinating thing is
12:54
especially here is the given that the world has flattened so the boundaries
13:00
are broken so because of the broken boundaries we have in common Global problems
13:05
when you have common Global problems it means now the challenges are shared but
13:11
we deal with them inwardly as countries or nation states so what does that potent for us it means that now even our
13:18
diplomacy or our foreign policy orientation steps up in terms of advocating for
13:25
multilateralism so that we rally convergence of ideas in solving common Global problems so it's very exciting
13:32
because because you can see for example from the pandemic of the covid-19 pandemic
13:38
just one incident in one China and the world has come to stand still and our
13:44
world now we have to change now I can talk to you through Zoom which is very easy so technology to a greater accent
13:50
has been accelerated that leads us into another you know set of questions I mean
13:56
if we think about the complexity and challenges of the world today what are the kind of three big challenges that
14:02
keep you awake at night from a leadership point of view number one is is the inequality
14:09
and inequality in in various points as you know there are there are a number of
14:14
a number of people who are going hungry without food there are people who are staying in
14:20
refugee camps their children who are not going to school there is a huge population that
14:26
do not have access to health care they are young African people because of
14:31
lack of employment they're both their boarding boats crossing the Red Sea to come to Europe so those Myriad of
14:40
complexities within the continent and even within the the countries for me makes me Restless makes me Restless that
14:47
is one number two there's the issue of of of governance the issue of governance and Leadership
14:54
so you find uh most of our our authority figures today
15:02
are still using technical lenses to fix challenges that requires people to be
15:08
adaptive so it's a responsibility for for for authority figures to provide direction
15:14
to set Norms but because of the Brokenness of the boundaries agenda is
15:19
set from even non-state attackers non-state actors so it becomes really a challenge even as authority figure to be
15:25
able to harness or even contain contain your people in providing those
15:31
functionalities that I've laid before you so I think this is one of the the
15:38
most trying times for leaders that now recall requires them to step back a
15:45
little bit and see and be able to compartmentalize what are the issues that requires technical fix how can we
15:52
build lenses and partnership what are the issues that requires people to change their behaviors their values
15:57
their mindset their attitudes and they're giving them that work of bringing that change that they want to
16:02
see and then the the aspect of creating the enabling environment where Innovation can Thrive and that means
16:09
security whether it's personal security food security all the Securities to make people feel
16:17
like they are safe they are protected they can innovate they can grow and
16:22
bring what they want to see yeah I mean we're sitting with with you know
16:28
with a multitude of complexity and I I guess one of the questions that come up in sharing you know with you sharing a
16:34
lot of these issues what do you think is unique about this time Mercy I mean the
16:39
world has gone through a process of evolution you know we've we've had these big challenges in the world before what
16:48
do you think is unique about this time this moment what is what is unique about this moment
16:56
is is the the acceleration of technology which is disruptive so that has changed
17:02
a lot how people operate and because we we the technology has intruded our space
17:07
or intrusion of Technology then even the the Personal Touch of humanity has gone
17:15
low to the extent that even relationships are superficial
17:25
leadership with empathy being being able to to extend uh love and compassion to
17:35
people who deserve it and even just acknowledging the humanity from a dignity perspective so that is what is
17:42
unique so that to some extent because of the intuition of technology and acceleration of it then you can say that
17:49
the love component has become low or diminishing because everything now
17:56
in the digital space whether I want to transact money communicate do work
18:01
everything is in a digital space so if we neglect the the old
18:06
old aspects of our relations that have held us or glued us together then it's going to be a challenge and that's why
18:12
you you you bear me witness that there are a lot of mental challenges that people are going through
18:18
of course and of course exacerbation by the pandemic and having to rely on technology and socially distance
18:25
ourselves but given this current moment I mean and
18:31
these issues and of course the world of work has changed and the world of leadership is changing too what do you
18:37
think is the future of leadership having the future of leadership for me is adaptive exercising adaptive leadership
18:44
and what do I mean by exercising adaptive leadership being able as a leader authority figure
18:51
to compartmentalize issues that require technical fix and issues
18:56
that requires to be solved in adaptive way that is that is changing people's
19:02
behavior attitudes mindset values belief system and giving people the the work of
19:09
bringing that change that they want to see that for me number two also exercising
19:15
leadership with empathy and that requires grounding on values
19:21
which now Builds on to the idea of recognition of the Dignity of humankind
19:26
and then the aspect of of humility to acknowledge the diversities of people
19:35
to acknowledge the stages of development that they aim to acknowledge the
19:40
challenges they are facing and the gaps that they are in and then you see how do we rally together to bridge the gap to
19:47
give hope and and to to give them that enabling environment and ecosystem that
19:53
even in their vulnerable position this hope that there is a better tomorrow [Music]
20:00
talk about one of our favorite mentors and icons I mean if we think of adaptive
20:06
leadership and having core values that evoke our Humanity but also our humility
20:12
we both share 11 passion for Nelson Mandela who we know was a great icon not
20:18
only for South Africa but for the world I know you've had a number of Mandela moments but could you share with us what
20:25
your big Mandela moment was how did Madiba as we call them in Africa shape
20:31
you or influence you or inspire you on your leadership Journey what was that
20:37
moment and how did he shape that yes you said rightfully that I've had Mandela
20:42
moment the first one you know growing up with a strict father my father was very
20:47
strict and growing up as a young girl in our house rules were never
20:53
expressly written but they were implicit so that now you needed to to scan your
20:59
environment and Be watchful and allowed to know that this is no this is right
21:05
mm-hmm why because my dad was was was a strict disciplinarian hours that helped
21:10
me in my Mandela moment um for for me that aspect of of the
21:16
strictness of my father and the scanning of the environment has enabled me even in my exercising of leadership to be
21:23
able to scan the environment where I am you constantly see things as they unfold
21:28
pick lessons that that are relevant failures that pitfalls that I need to
21:34
avoid and areas that I need to enhance so when Mandela was in prison one of the
21:40
the key things that that he did that was very remarkable for me is he studied a
21:46
lot yes studied a lot and he is sucked in a lot like I called in fact they called
21:52
Robin Island you know the Robben Island University um yeah you know not only for Madiba but
22:00
many of the other young prisoners that came onto the island yes but even while
22:05
he was in the prison he was he kept a breeze of what was happening outside of
22:10
the prison yes and and in that process he also worked with people that they were in
22:17
prison with whether device strategies to solve their problems to represent them
22:22
and they was able to take stand that is one of my my Mandela moments another
22:27
Mandela moment for me was as you've seen the when when you find yourself in a
22:33
situation where you are unable to build alliances or Partnerships or
22:39
because of your strong value system or your grounding people tend not to agree with you then either you find yourself
22:46
you either take a stand or you go with the crowd and sometimes the stand that you take might not be appealing to
22:53
majority so it will be a lonely walk and and during this lonely walk then you
22:59
have to to to to to rely on the values that ground you so for me that also is a
23:06
is a memorable moment because Mandela the bulk of his life he led a lonely life
23:12
that's true during that lonely period he was able to acquire knowledge I think he
23:18
also understood the magnitude of the weight that he carried on behalf of South Africans and the hopes and the
23:24
dreams that they had on him and when he got out he realized
23:30
that for him to move forward he had to forget and forgive
23:36
and he struggled that reconciliation between the mind as he says and his heart and that is what I constantly
23:42
strive to do even where I'm offended I tried in order not to carry the baggage
23:48
of my oppressors or the offenders then I have to to forgive and say I have for me
23:53
to move on with what I want to do which is the focus on the ball then I have to forget the past
24:06
but the forgiveness was was as you write he said a big part of it so in Madiba
24:12
and his leadership what really stands out for you is being unique about him and and why and how do you think that's
24:19
relevant given the challenges you outlined earlier you know how's that relevant for today
24:25
so I have for Madiba I will say three things number one it was very bold and
24:31
courageous yeah and it took stand on issues that that that he believed in
24:38
to some extent even he's quoted to have said those are the things that even is prepared to die for
24:44
which I found very very very fascinating so that's that when when he was asked
24:50
about the issues of Fidel Castro and his affiliation with Muammar Gaddafi said no
24:56
no no don't be twisted here your enemies are not my enemies that for me was very
25:02
profound that in your engagement with the people in your exercise of leadership you have to identify what are
25:09
the key issues that are aligned to the values your spouse what are the values
25:14
that these people bring to you and to the agenda that you are carrying so that you don't begin to
25:21
send away people because of the standards that you've been set for so in
25:27
another way is set to Zone parameters of doing things and in his invitation to
25:32
the world you he invited People based on what he had said so it's like you
25:37
welcome the people in his space as opposed to fitting in other spaces and conforming
25:43
that for me is very profound another thing was his ability to to reconcile
25:50
yes when you form the the rainbow Nation and there was a lot of pressure from
25:57
from the black South African who had hopes and they felt like with Mandela's entry that was their time to be
26:04
liberated and feel free and that was the turn of the other parties to be oppressed but he said no no
26:10
we are going to to form the rainbow nation and it's going to start with him that for me is is a key ingredient that
26:18
most leaders are lacking especially in in a process where an electoral system
26:23
is a winner take it all so it becomes like are you talking about the issue of reconciliation or the fact
26:30
that it started with himself or both for him to start with himself he had to reconcile
26:36
you know you have to first lead by example you you reconcile with your status for you to now go out and
26:42
convince other people that this is the course that I'm taking because and that that brings me to the second one of
26:49
leading by example of course you don't tell people to to do things that you
26:54
will not do so you ask people to do things that you will do and those are my guiding
27:00
principle when I give people tasks I don't give them something I cannot do
27:06
myself I said that can I be able to do it if I can't then it will be improper
27:11
to task somebody to do something that they cannot do and they push them to their Frontier of incompetence and you
27:17
watch them to struggle then the third thing was the the aspect of recognizing
27:23
the Dignity of humankind yeah it not relate with you based on your position
27:29
or your role but you viewed you as a person fast
27:35
so for me that that is also very important in leadership in the sense that he listened he listened to to views of
27:43
people intensely intensely and then he responded
27:48
meaning as as a leader for you to be able to listen to the people you have to
27:54
believe in the value of that Humanity to even give them the
27:59
audience to listen to what they are saying and even if you are differing with them you do it with dignity and
28:06
what part of his leadership do you think um would have most impact what we need to do
28:12
today different that Mandela did and probably is one Legacy that we carry
28:17
along other than that that dignity is the ability to take a stand and provide
28:23
Direction many people sit on the fence when they expected to step up and give the direction of the guidance
28:29
that is needed so they they waver they don't have like a stand on on something
28:35
for Mandela it took a stand even if it was even if it was uncomfortable
28:40
with the people who are close to him you take a stand and say yes in as much and that is what I found very interesting
28:47
even with his wife I still don't understand when he said to Winnie that I
28:52
love her but up to this moment we will pathways in as much as I still love her and she's
28:59
the love of my life and stuff but he said we because he looked at the big agenda and realized that it would impact
29:06
on how is going to to help Drive the process forward
29:13
so that that is that is that is one thing that that people need to do today there are issues that will push you to
29:19
the corner even to the people that you love but how are you going to separate your role from self to move the process forward
29:27
many people fall authority figures fall on the Wayside because of inability to
29:33
separate the role and the self of course of course that that one we
29:39
need that is one thing we need today so Mercy can you share with us an example of where you've taken a stand in
29:46
your current world of work and applaud that lesson in in taking a stand and can
29:53
you just share with us an example you know in I mean you you have a difficult role and it requires a lot of diplomacy
30:01
and you know that that is the nature of your role but is there an example where
30:06
you've taken a stand that has been a lesson that you've learned and applied
30:11
that's a very good question and based on what I've told you with tech stands every day if you're
30:19
Guided by values if you are your moral life is value driven then every decision
30:25
you make every step of the way you take a stand on something and sometimes it
30:31
might not go well even in terms of your career trajectory because it means if you are able to
30:38
speak truth to power in in a way that does not argue well or
30:43
you are able to driven by your value inability to Rally towards a cause then
30:49
chances are you are going to be relegated to periphery or when you come out as a very strong person then it
30:56
means where issues that requires some kind of not serious stance then you are
31:02
left outside and that can be a lonely process do you have a real example you can share with us I have a real example
31:08
the latest one there is an organization that we are co-creating called the Global Peace Network so we we are trying
31:15
to co-create finding solutions for world peace is a project within the organization so what happened was
31:22
we we were doing what is called the 4D mapping and we wanted to do something
31:28
unconventional because the world peace has been elusive for a long time so we were seven of us
31:35
so we the four of us were told we are going to do the presentation on behalf of the 19 people that we're working with
31:41
the the first person introduced what 3D modeling is then I was to map the actors
31:48
and one one of the issues that was a bit tough was we thought that the humanity mankind man
31:57
as an actor in terms of now the different segments of personalities within a conflict so there are people
32:03
who have been in the conflict epicenter there are people who have been privileged to conflict their people who
32:09
have been involved in Conflict through mediation there are people who are funding conflicts
32:14
okay and then there is conflict itself and then there are people who are
32:19
hell-bent to see conflict continue because that is how they run their business so when when when we presented
32:26
this this uh complaint and said let's let's look at it from the different uh perspectives so we we listed
32:33
all the actors within a conflict after we finish that because of uh the
32:39
the idea that probably if you look at conflict from with the human lens
32:45
because whether you take you when you take government you take resources their people behind these faces
32:51
so that did not did not go well with the certain segment of people so when we are going to the to the next the next
32:59
meeting of now actualizing so reactualizing the 3D model
33:05
they they decided to to put me aside so when we did now the mapping and
33:11
all was in place then we said wait a minute so where is the the organization that we are finding
33:17
because it was missing in the map and we've done everything else so that is that is one example where when you when
33:24
you when your ideas don't find place or when people find you you're framing to be
33:30
different from what they expect they will not invite you to the table can you share with us what you did in that
33:37
instance what I did in that instance one of the things that I've learned from from my lessons and training of adaptive
33:43
leadership in that emotive moment I don't act I stepped back and internalized and try
33:50
to analyze what is going on here what are the group dynamics what are the issues what are people avoiding so I let
33:57
it go so now when when we met the second time when now the the team is presenting
34:02
then is when I spoke the issues and it made sense but I died forced myself into
34:08
the Preparatory process probably it would not have it would not have been
34:14
taken on board one of the things that I'm learning is is you have to face the work but you also have to meet people
34:20
you start from where people are
34:26
so just have a bit of fun right now I mean just a couple of of one-liners just
34:32
a brief one-line answer tell us what is your favorite city or country what is it and why you'll be
34:40
amazed that my favorite city is Nairobi Kenya yeah and why because I have sentimental
34:47
attachment to it I've been lived there and grown there and do because of the you know Nairobi
34:54
means Cool Waters it's a Maasai word that means cool water okay and then it's also they sit in the
35:01
Sun so imagine if you have the sun and water the growth Innovation the opportunity
35:07
that exists with those two so that's that's for me and then another thing Nairobi is the only city probably in the
35:14
world that's uncorrected that has a national park within the city center
35:21
wow yes where you can you can see the big five and then you can have breakfast
35:29
you have breakfast with giraffes in the morning you don't get that even inside of you we don't I have to put this on my
35:37
visiting list please that should be on your buck at least so what is your
35:42
favorite childhood memory my favorite childhood memory was on Saturday the Sabbath
35:48
because that was the day first of all you wake up to the smell of chapati my favorite food is chapati I don't know
35:54
whether you know chapati I don't what is it chapati is the kind of it's made of
36:01
wheat flour but it's very nice probably when you when you come it's not like cake but it's sort of like bread but
36:07
made of wheat flour brown sugar yeah so on Saturdays I told you my parents were
36:12
very strict but on Saturday you got away with many things you are never punished
36:18
you walk up to the smell of Japan you used to go to church on Saturday so it was the Sabbath experience that was my
36:25
favorite childhood memory that's awesome and what I mean we know you've dedicated
36:31
you're like well you've spent 19 years in in foreign affairs and the Foreign Affairs Ministry and and then you know
36:39
serving your country but what did you think you would be when you grew up apparently when I was a child I thought
36:45
I would be a doctor so the the doctor narrative changed based on the that
36:50
America yeah medical doctor keeping people in the hospital so one day I had a bout of
36:57
malaria and I was taken to the hospital and three things
37:02
stood out for me and I realized no remember I told you the sight of blood and tears I got injection so I cried it
37:11
was painful for me and during those days they were using big needles syringes
37:18
yeah injectable so it was painful and of course the smell of medicine in the
37:23
hospital so as we were we were getting into the entrance of the hospital
37:28
that site alone makes me well to trigger back that memory that you had
37:36
yes it did because you know when when you were young and you walk into a hospital as you wait
37:42
to see the doctor you'll hear the cries of babies being injected you see people with with syringes and like oh I'm going
37:49
to be the next one and sure that day I was given injection and it was not
37:56
no I need to find Space somewhere wow and what is your favorite book
38:03
the Bible the Bible you not discovered that the Bible has solutions for every problem
38:10
that could be could be debatable but even when you look at the foreign
38:16
policy matters or issues of international relations and you're able to relate them in the biblical even with
38:23
leadership and Kings if you read the book of kings and how the Kings and the
38:28
mistakes they made some of them you see them today and you're like wow these things were fulfilled I'm going to
38:35
digress slightly why do you think we haven't learned those lessons and keep on repeating them
38:42
why we haven't learned the less because we don't treat them you know we are looking for Solutions outside there but
38:48
we have Solutions within ourselves and that is where the the challenge is and
38:53
and that is why for me adaptive leadership is key in the sense that it opens you to see things
39:00
that are within yourself that are solution to a problem you are looking for like for example I don't know
39:07
whether you've heard of what just sent possible yeah uh it gives you possibilities and when you look at at
39:14
that that those possibilities sometimes you realize that there are things that you buy stepped backward
39:22
there are things that you have that you have but yeah that you've watching them as a value or you tend to sidestep them
39:30
or ignore them because you are thinking that the grass is greener on the other side of course I'm biased maybe because
39:36
of my love for God but I've realized that most of the theories the solutions
39:42
are found there and to that point what is your favorite quote my favorite quote is is
39:48
interesting it's by an American poet there's a lady called Ila wheeler Wilcox
39:54
and she said that nothing can deter or
40:00
hinder The Firm result of a determined soul
40:05
nothing can stop a soul that is determined to do something
40:11
and that has been my Mantra going forward when you believe in something and you are determined and you do what
40:17
it takes two says Impossible Is Possible
40:22
but that that reminds me of you know when Mandela said it always seems impossible until it's done precisely
40:29
what do you think Mandela would say three things briefly
40:35
he would say to our generation today to our generation Mandela would say be humble in your
40:42
exercise of leadership humility humility I think Vandella would say
40:49
you have to to have an opinion or take a stand on an issue
40:55
yeah and the third thing I think Mandela would say to me
41:01
that you must have a course to fight for believe in something take a stand be
41:09
courageous be humble yes we know he loved children and we know
41:16
that he really missing children in this 27 years in prison what do you think he would say to our
41:23
younger generation to our Rising young Stars I think to the younger generation
41:28
education will be key I think Mandela believed in education as a liberty of
41:34
mine so tell them to pursue education at all costs I think Mandela would tell the
41:39
younger generation to listen and to listen to listen and learn glean from
41:46
the lessons remember in his early childhood he used to sit with his father in those meetings yeah just and then
41:53
suck it in so there's a dog father the king king of yes
41:59
it would listen and just suck it in and then probably the third thing you dealt
42:05
to the children yeah yeah no there's a there's a
42:11
valuable lesson so Missy you're you're a remarkable woman who's had a
42:17
fantastic career three to five years where do you see yourself
42:23
that's a very interesting question hmm three to five years
42:29
hmm interesting I'll put it at top foreign policy expert for government top foreign
42:35
policy and ultimately if we had no time frame on that where do you see yourself
42:41
I see myself with Antonio Gutierrez job to to achieve what goal
42:48
to to bridge the the things that give me sleepless night reduce inequality but
42:54
Trace fairness come up with strategies to increase enrollment in schools you know the
43:00
sustainable development goals the challenge that we have and is a
43:06
we've been setting goals and when we are almost at the challenge we revise them again so we started with
43:14
Agenda 21 remember gender 21 yeah then we came up with Millennium
43:19
development goals eight of them then we decided Millennium development goals are
43:24
not sufficient so we came up with 17 sustainable goals I don't know what will happen after but when we were doing the
43:32
agenda 2063 which is the blueprint for the African continent we also came up with with Flagship projects which are
43:39
also on course yeah and we are we were envisioning a continent that is at peace with itself
43:45
being able to feed itself being able to connect and trade among itself and we
43:51
have those African Continental featured area we've dreamed of silencing the guns
43:57
we dreamed of providing electricity to all the countries connectivity and some
44:03
of these processes are ongoing which is encouraging they could not be at maybe the best that were they were envisage
44:09
but they're making remarkable moves so I believe that with them a different lens
44:15
or a different perspective than it would be we are yet to see because a lot is changing imagine where we were 2020 and
44:22
where we are now a lot has changed I don't know what will happen in in three to five years I don't know what will
44:27
happen in 20 years because their cars people are going to the Moon artificial intelligence is here with us robots are
44:35
being off work leadership is being disrupted upside down so we just have to
44:41
be focused and to be a step ahead and not lose the values that glue us
44:46
together for building relationship human dignity and and friendships like these ones that
44:54
we have things that makes us human [Music]
45:00
yeah yeah I mean there's a wonderful takeaways I just have one question you think the United Nations is ready for
45:07
you I don't know like Mandela said now you you check a stand and check your parts
45:13
it's not whether they are ready for me is a question of what value can I add I
45:18
don't even have to get to that level if I can be able to add value where I am yeah well you know what I believe in is
45:26
is the small incremental credits from where I am if I'm able to change the
45:33
mindset of a group of people one at a time for me it's okay I don't even have to be at the health because there's a
45:40
lot of a lot of influence with informal Authority than formal Authority of course of course there's a lot of
45:46
influence when you have informal Authority because you have the leeway to play with many things so for me that
45:53
becomes critical yeah that it doesn't matter who I become or what I become but can I be able to
46:00
change a generation at a time yeah absolutely that for me this is one
46:07
if there's one thing you you could have you could go back and do differently in
46:12
your own leadership journey I mean specifically not you know is there a specific thing that if you could go back
46:18
and do differently you would what what is that to to engage more with authority figures and speak to power in a way that
46:27
finds space and in that finds space to bring the desired change
46:33
you know what one of the things that I said that is interesting is because of the strictness of my father that to some
46:41
extent in my developmental process hindered my ability to negotiate with authority
46:47
so until I discovered that that the the waters that I'm carrying from my father's strictness after giving it back
46:53
to him then now I'm more liberated I can speak to truth to power I can negotiate
47:00
with authority I can be part of the change that I want to see which is liberty and that for me is comforting in
47:06
the sense that once you are grounded on your values then regardless of where
47:11
life takes you you will stand the precious of this world
47:17
yeah I mean that's very profound and I I mean it takes me to another point that our our love story is our leadership
47:24
story really in a way it's very interesting that you've drawn off this you know you've noticed this
47:31
relationship with your father and how you need it to liberate yourself from that to step into more of your leadership
47:37
role and be bond by Authority it's liberating when you discover something
47:44
that has been hindering you from doing things which you wish you had done earlier then that would have meant you'd
47:51
have negotiated certain things much much earlier the younger age and that would not have limited your
47:58
ability to do certain things yeah but that note that is not an excuse that
48:03
you're stuck yeah well I guess that's one of the benefits of experience and aging you
48:09
know that uh having some experience and uh about you know yeah it kind of helps
48:15
us evolve and develop final three takeaways for our audience my three final takeaways is from
48:24
Mandela's perspective diversity management respect other perspectives diversity management
48:32
number two inclusivity yeah in activity in representation
48:38
number three I will talk about um the idea of separating role from self uh
48:46
wrong from self very critical when you harness and then being able to do the
48:51
three what I call the three things that that authority figures do provide Direction
48:56
said Norms protect people and especially Voices From Below
49:01
and that is where that is missing but as Mandela says be humble humility is a
49:08
virtue take a stand on issues don't be offensive and
49:14
recognize the Dignity of humankind of course your engagement with them because
49:20
one thing that I carry with me even in my current work when you make policies
49:25
with the frames of vulnerabilities lenses it changes how you structure
49:31
those strategies how you structure your intervention process because you realize clearly that
49:38
there's a lot of weight on you as authority figure to be able to
49:44
decide somebody's fate and that's what leaders do of course that are able to either influence shape but also
49:51
determine so it's such an honor to be in that position but if you don't understand the magnitude of the wage if
49:58
you don't understand the times and Seasons you're operating in if you don't understand the needs
50:05
from the lenses of the person you are deciding their faith then chances are
50:10
that you you you might not be the best in your educational
50:15
your own yeah that you carry the aspirations the
50:21
hopes the dreams of other people so that you don't interrupt the ball so you keep focusing yeah well Mercy my friend has
50:29
been so wonderful talking to you today and uh you certainly are a woman of
50:35
Courage of humility he takes a stand I feel so blessed and privileged to to share this
50:42
conversation with you and thank you for sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our audience out there and I so look
50:49
forward to us reconnecting again soon thank you very much and for this opportunity and I look forward to
50:55
working closely with you and anything that you need in terms of exercising
51:01
leadership information and we hope that we can do our best I have a little
51:07
to make a make an impact for our generation of course
51:13
and for our next past adaptive leadership so critical in the world today
51:18
many will most have heard the term adapt or die for some it's the Hollywood
51:23
fantasy of James Bond movies for countless more it's waking up to the
51:29
harsh realities in this radical and rapidly changing world
51:34
it is difficult daunting and in fact dangerous when change requires that you
51:42
challenge people's current realities their attitudes their beliefs and their
51:48
norms most people fear extreme loss when you push for Change and the more they have
51:55
the more they will fear they will lose and yet your very survival and life in
52:02
business and in the world today depends on your ability to adapt and to
52:08
exercise adaptive leadership to step out of the familiar comfort zone
52:14
and to challenge the realities not only of others but your own realities too I
52:20
met my good friend Mercia Tino Dongo at Harvard kindy school and the Adaptive
52:26
leadership program with remarkable professors Ron Heifetz and Marty Linsky
52:32
her stories her insights and her wisdom helps us expand on more of the Adaptive
52:38
leadership principles firstly we bust some of the leadership myths
52:44
contrary to popular opinion leadership is not a position it is not a title and
52:51
nor should it be confused with authority instead leadership is a practice it is
52:59
action we exercise leadership secondly she helps us Define adaptive leadership
53:05
or as Professor Ron Heifetz defines it it is the practice of mobilizing people
53:12
to tackle tough challenges and thrive and lastly she helps us draw the
53:19
distinction between Technical and adaptive challenges
53:25
so often people in powerful positions misdiagnose the problem and try and fix an Adaptive challenge
53:33
with the technical solution what I mean by that
53:38
well let me give you an example when Nelson Mandela came out of prison
53:43
in February 1990 if he had misdiagnosed and misanalyzed
53:50
South Africa's transformation problem as being simply a technical problem a
53:56
problem of changing the old apartheid laws into a modern constitutional democracy and had failed to diagnose and
54:06
analyze the Adaptive challenge namely the challenge of changing the heads the
54:12
hearts and souls of all South Africans not only the majority of South Africans
54:18
but everybody in changing their beliefs their attitudes and their Norms he would
54:25
not have succeeded in helping mobilize the country to support and hold
54:32
prosperous and a peaceful first democratic election
54:38
which by the way was held on April the 27th 1994. it took more than four years for
54:46
Madiba to help effect that transition not only the technical solution but to
54:53
help mobilize the people of South Africa all South Africans across multiple deep
55:00
divides so in summary Technical Solutions do not solve
55:06
adaptive challenges and adaptive challenges if unattended to
55:13
can and will disrupt the Technical Solutions what is critical is to draw
55:20
the distinction between the two in the case of South Africa we needed both
55:27
so until next time remember that leaving boldly is about making thoughtful Clear
55:32
Choices and bold leadership is about taking bold action just one small step
55:38
at a time one step for you but together a giant step for Humanity so come back
55:46
soon and take care and take thoughtful bold action
55:58
thank you for listening to this episode of leading boldly into the future please
56:03
find links and connections mentioned in this show in our blog and never miss an episode by subscribing at and pratt.com
56:10
that's a-n-ne-p-r-a-t-t.com
56:16
May these insights from inspiring industry leaders remarkable disruptors and courageous champions of change bring
56:23
forth a brand new you emboldened empowered and ready to inspire hope
56:30
come back soon share with your friends sign ... (1 KB left)