Lynda, Baroness Chalker of Wallasey

What is expected of leadership in Africa in the 21st century? That is the question Baronnes Lynda Chalker tackled at her public lecture titled "Leading Africa into the 21st Century" at Strathmore Business School (SBS) on Wednesday, 27th August. The lecture, to borrow one of her golden rules of leadership, under-promised and over-delivered.

"Leadership is about understanding community needs. For business to work, it should be rooted in the community.  Succesful business leaders are the ones who understand the community and share sustainable ideas with the community," said the former British Minister for Overseas Development.

"Leaders need to know that to be successful, they need to be surrounded by success. To achieve this success, they should set standards and maintain them. This can be achieved through the 3G method – Growth and Good Governance," she added.

"3G even of the technological variety is not a 'nice to have'. It is a 'must have'. And 3G is opposed to the 3Cs – corruption, counterfeiting, and anti-competitiveness. Growth depends on focus, planning and a disciplined environment. It has to be useful and sustainable," she elaborated.

"The requirements of leadership in government and business are the same. And business leaders in Africa have to take leadership to government," she said. She identified good governance as a challenge facing both business and government in Africa as elsewhere in the world.

Sound political governance attracts foreign investors. But one of the things that undermine good governance is leaders staying in positions of governance for too long. Leaders who stay in positions of power for too long stop listening to the people who are close to them.

"Margaret Thatcher is a good example. I served in her government. After 11 years in power, she stopped listening. She thought she had all the answers. And in our system of government, once you stop listening, we get rid of you," Chalker said.

"It is different in Africa where leaders can go back to one party rule. But this is not working very well as the case of Thabo Mbeki in South Africa illustrates. Mbeki's is a failure to manage succession. Leaders in business and government have to manage succession. One's usefulness in a board of directors ends after about eight years. Longer-serving board members have to mentor newer members of the board," she said.

The Baroness has served in over 50 boards. She said she is involved in mentoring several political and government leaders across Africa. She said the golden rules of leadership are planning and making the plans public. These plans should under-promise and over-deliver.

She noted that younger better educated people were taking over positions in government in Africa. And this new crop of leaders are willing to trying out new ways of doing things. She challenged SBS graduates to take up positions in government. But she said once in government, they will have to persuade colleagues to see things their way.

Baroness Chalker called for sensible control of media (not control of opinion). "A witch hunting media as one of the impediments to effective leadership from government officials," she said.

Baroness Chalker Chairs SBS's Advisory Board. She is also the founder of Africa Matters, a pan African group of advisers seeking to take investment into African businesses and keep them viable. She is also a member of Kenya's National Economic Social Council (NESC).

Lynda has been a member of the Lower and Upper Houses of the UK Parliament for over thirty years.  Between 1986 and 1997 she was Minister of State at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, holding responsibility for Africa and the Commonwealth and for Overseas Development.  She was made a Life Peer in 1992. This means the peerage wont pass to her family after her.

Lynda was the first woman to be appointed first an Advisory and then a non-executive director of Unilever, a position she held from 1998 to May 2007. She is a non-executive director of Group Five(Pty), a member of the international advisory boards of Lafarge et Cie, MerchantBridge Ltd. and the Africa Advisory Board of Renaissance Capital.

Lynda is Chairman of the Medicines for Malaria Venture Board (MMV), an Executive Trustee of the Global Leadership Foundation (GLF) and a founder Trustee of the Investment Climate Facility for Africa (ICF) and, as well as a Patron/or Vice President of a number of charities working in Africa.

Lynda is also co-ordinator of the Honorary International Investment Council of President  Yar 'Adua of Nigeria and a member of similar bodies in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.