Leadership coach and NewsDay columnist, Jonah Nyoni, has launched a new book which delves into how leadership should be.
The book titled, A Call to Leadership Agility, was written over a period of 10 years based on extensive interviews with leading industry leaders and experts.
Speaking at the book launch in Harare, last Friday, Nyoni said he had interviewed 18 experts in the industry, which included former US ambassador to Zimbabwe David Wharton, business executive Busisa Moyo and business and transformational speaker Arthur Marara, among others.
“I interviewed 18 expects from the period of 2013 and they shared the wisdom they had gained through experience in their industry and this book is not a complicated one for me because I used other people’s voice to create a script,” Nyoni said.
“In this book I’m simply saying that if you are a leader and you don’t change you will be forgotten … For you to keep abreast you need to have certain attributes, certain capabilities and its more than linear thinking. And, in this book, I’m bringing these guys who are in the industry who are bringing practical solutions on what can be done to stay up, stay fresh and stay ahead of the game."
Nyoni said he was inspired by the way he was raised as it pushed him to do more to coach people on leadership.
Keep Reading
- Rethinking your communication strategy
- Success Life: Re-positioning your company after COVID-19
- Achieving employee engagement
“There are a number of issues that inspired me to write this book. When I grew up in Binga, we used to share a textbook, about seven of us, and the worst thing was to walk about seven kilometres to school without enough school necessities,” he said.
“And, I was also inspired by this hunger of being a speaker but I didn’t have resources so I started reading around and I got inspired by writers who wrote about leadership.”
One of the many reasons why the country has had macroeconomic challenges for years, according to experts, is due to a lack of leadership in the market.
Marara said leadership was one of the greatest and fundamental things that was needed to change the dynamic of thinking in every aspect of life.
He congratulated Nyoni on writing a book on leadership.
Evangelist Grace Taruvinga said a true leader was seen through how one thought and did things as true leaders transformed the places they came from.
“I think for me, people should understand that we had moved from linear to exponential and we need to embrace an exponential mind set so that we keep up. For me leadership agility should be at every level since everyone is called to leadership in some extent,” she said.
“Only that, as we get older, demands for leadership increases but leadership is a component of life. For me, a true leader must leave the place better than it was as they serve with idea of longevity for those yet to come.”
Banker Heresy Herry said leadership led to purpose, which made one clear about where they are going.
“Leadership leads to purpose and with purpose, that’s where there’s conviction and one will be clear of what he/she is doing,” he said.