| Uganda Tax Chief Captivates Strathmore Alumni |
Mrs Allen Kagina, the soft-spoken and dynamic Commissioner General of the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA), took time off from her challenging professional responsibilities to spend an evening with NEBS and ILM Strathmore Alumni at their reunion dinner held on 27th April at the Panafric Hotel. For those of our readers who may not know about Mrs Kagina, she is the person who has managed to turn around URA in a period of only three years.
The more than 70 alumni and guests who turned up for the event to hear Mrs. Kagina speak were not disappointed. In a wide-ranging talk that was more like a heart-to-heart talk than an official speech, Mrs Kagina presented many useful insights into her professional and personal life. In discussing "Leadership & Management in the 21st Century," she highlighted challenges that managers face today such as coping with rapid change through rapid and radical learning and integrated total leadership development, that is, ensuring that leaders exist at all levels of organizations. Towards the end of the evening, Professor David Sperling, representing the Vice Chancellor John Odhiambo, thanked Mrs Kagina for making the effort and taking the time to come all the way from Uganda, and at the same time declared her to be an honorary alumna of Strathmore University. Below are some excerpts from her speech:The one characteristic that can be accurately and realistically be attributed to the 21st century is rapid, radical change. Rapid radical change is the challenge of the 21st century. And the solution is rapid and radical learning. In view of the fast changing world that we live in and the need for greater learning to cope with the change, the position of leadership has never been more central to the scheme of things than it is now. Leaders must therefore be the champions of change. Today's leaders are younger, more unconventional in appearance and approach, and more creative in design. I have been told that in Kenya the average age of corporate CEOs is between 35 and 40 years. Today's leaders are not only book read but also worldly wise. Learning is not a destination that one reaches and stops. They are on a continual journey to learn. The Japanese have a term called "kaizen," which means continual improvement. It is a never-ending quest to do better. And you do better by changing. Standing still allows your competitors to get ahead of you. Because change is inevitable, organizations clinging to old ways of leadership and management will not continue to prosper for long. Unfortunately, people and organizations change slowly, usually with great resistance and often with considerable pain. But as the world of business has changed and evolved, the need for effective leaders has skyrocketed. For businesses to become truly empowering and innovative enterprises, they must develop leaders throughout the organization. In fact, the organization of the future is an organization where everyone is a leader. It is only when people are able to lead themselves that they are actually empowered to be creative and innovative. This means leadership must be developed in every employee! For organizations to succeed in the 21st century, they must develop leaders throughout the total organization. For leadership development to succeed, top management needs to demonstrate that commitment comes from the top. Leadership development that transforms people and organisations must start at the top and be a strategic priority. For leadership development to be effective, it must utilize a complete, integrated, total leadership development process." |
