'Zimbabwe lacks authentic leadership'

AS one Zimbabwean business after another fails, the explanations given by those at the helm of these entities when the centres fail to hold range from the shortage of cash, to shortage of foreign exchange, to shortage of raw materials, to high costs of production that make the final products uncompetitive, the high cost of borrowing, the influx of cheap imports… the panoply of "reasons" is truly impressive.

However, to business turn-around strategist, Cecil Madondo, all these are but mere excuses proffered by leaders to justify their own shortcomings because, to him, a good leader should be able to succeed in any situation or environment.

The Financial Gazette correspondent, Cyril Zenda held a wide-ranging interview with Madondo about what the veteran business rescue expert sees as the reasons for the widespread business failures in Zimbabwe and throughout the fulsome interview, the managing director of Tudor House Consultants insisted that there are only three reasons for business failures… poor leadership, poor leadership and poor leadership!

Every other "reasons" given for business failures are just excuses justifying poor leadership, insists Madondo.

To him, the difference between a true business leader and a pretender is in the results. A good leader will produce results, while a pretender will bring forth a bounteous harvest of excuses.

"There is what is called break-through or creative thinking. It is about solving a problem that you have never met or anticipated in your life. We must not just hide behind economic hardships. An authentic business leader must have the capacity to solve any problem, no matter how complex, no matter the context… whether internal or external. If you cannot solve the problems facing your organisation (it means) you don't have adequate leadership qualities," Madondo said.

His 22 years as a judicial manager and liquidator for an array of businesses from virtually all these sectors of the economy has convinced him that the problems that the country faces at all levels - be they political, economic and social - all boil down to a severe shortage of good leadership.

He said the problem starts with people who think they are leaders when they are not.

These people do not even understand the purpose for which their organisations exist, thinking instead that they exist to serve their personal interest only, which then sets businesses on the course.

"This is the mistake that most business owners make. On paper, a business belongs to the shareholders, but in practice, it is owned by stakeholders. Every business has various stakeholders and all these stakeholders need to benefit from it. Who are the stakeholders? We have employees. We have creditors who risk losing money (when a business fail), then we have customers, we have ZIMRA (the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority), we have students at universities who need employment, we have other sectors like banking that depend on providing services to businesses and many others so (when a company is in trouble) everybody is affected. Your duty as a businessman or as a business leader is to satisfy the divergent needs of these stakeholders, that is where the test of a business leader is found."

He said when a poor leader makes a wrong decision, it leads to a problem, and when the problem is not immediately solved, it leads to another and the process is repeated until it becomes a full circle, which is why while some companies are closing down, others operating in the same environment are actually flourishing.

Madondo said a good leader should know that a business is a platform that gives livelihood to mankind and for it to succeed, it must have a leader with the right leadership qualities, a leader who is able to make decisions that benefit all stakeholders, not him alone.

Many people, he said, go into leadership positions for wrong reasons, mainly for self-enrichment and self-aggrandisement at the expense of the other stakeholders.

This, he said, is caused by their lack of sound moral judgment, which comes with one's character.

"The main ingredient of effective leadership is sound character, your character as a leader, which is distinctive from other people.

This is because leadership involves conduct and conduct is determined by values… what you believe yourself as a person… that is where all the issues that you are asking about start from.

"There are two sets of values… the first values are those that we tell stakeholders about, that ‘I will do this and that', whether you are a politician or business leader… and, by the way, the term business is not confined to profit making… business is divided into three sectors namely, not-for-profit such as Red Cross and those non-governmental organisations that render services to the people; then we have the public sector businesses, like the President is in business… they own and manage assets on the behalf of the public so whether you are a president or minister, you are a business leader, you will be expected to have the same values as everyone else. Then we have profit-making businesses like Econet and The Financial Gazette," he explained.

"Then you look at the character of each business leader and on character we look at your values… there are those that we tell others about, these are called declared values, then there are those set of values that the stakeholders actually see in action, these are what are called demonstrated values… what you actually do. A business leader with a sound character always tries to make sure that his declared values actually match his demonstrated values. That is where the mismatch is usually found. When these values match, you have a business leader who is truly authentic… he or she possesses the right values, businesses leaders make complex business decisions based on their values and authentic leaders make the correct moral judgments, conducts and decisions."

Madondo - who is the equivalent of a specialist surgeon who takes ailing businesses through the intensive care unit where some are saved while those badly damaged do not make it - said it is not realistically possible for a leader to attribute failure to their subordinates because this is just an excuse, as subordinates are just but a mirror refection of their leader.

He said a poor leader recruits and keeps poor subordinates because he has no capacity to notice that they do not contribute anything to an organisation's vision.

He said a leader is primarily responsible for his or her organisation's success or failure because those below them follow their visions… if the leader has no vision, that means those below him have no viable vision to follow… and if the vision is clear and the followers are good, there cannot be failure.

He gave an example of the habit of people in positions of leadership who hire their subordinates primarily based on their personal relationships, with professional qualifications being only secondary.

He said where this happens, performance is suppressed because a number of staff members are either not qualified, or just not motivated enough to perform to the expected levels and they know very well that even without performing, nothing happens to them.

"A leader with a sound moral judgment should be able to say to someone: ‘Yes you are my son or brother, but you do not have the qualifications and skills that will help this organisation meet the interests of all its stakeholders so you cannot be employed here.' Most leaders lack the courage to make such bold decisions. Even when it comes to their love life, they find it difficult to make morally sound judgments, so at the end of the day, it is the business that suffers," he said.

He added that the tragedy in most Zimbabwean organisations is not just that they are saddled with a burden of people who do not add any value to the organisations, but in some cases, some of these people are actually in positions where they make decisions that are detrimental to the organisation itself.

This is problem most common in public business entities.

"When you make a decision as a leader, you must be satisfied that you are making the correct decision and you must be able to calculate the consequences of your decision and how it affects other people. If you do not respect other people, it means you only think about yourself alone. This is where we are failing as leaders. As a good leader, you are always coming to crossroads and you must always be able to make the right decision."

Madondo believes that if a leader has no moral values, they can do anything and those below him or her will follow his or her conduct and that becomes an organisational behaviour, so it is not surprising that there are some organisations that are so contaminated because they are known to do things in a certain way, and with the passage of time it becomes a national culture.

If a leader is corrupt, his followers also become corrupt and there is no way he or she can blame his or her failure on those below him or her.

If one is a bad leader, they can only attract people who are like them, and even where they attract people with good qualities, the bad organizational culture from the leaders end up rubbing off to them.