Former US Ambassador Meg Whitman/File
Before she resigned from her post as
the United States Ambassador to Kenya, Meg Whitman held a meeting with youth in
leadership and shared a word of wisdom with them.
During the unveiling of American
Corner Mtaani for Youth Innovators, Whitman said among the qualities of a good
leader is honesty and integrity.
“Do the right thing. Don’t do the
easy thing, do the right thing. That is always imperative in leadership because
there are always temptations to take shortcuts and the number criteria is
character,” she said.
Asked how a young leader can avoid
taking shortcuts in a world that praises the same, Whitman said it all comes to
one’s characteristics.
She said it can take one a long time
to build a reputation and the same can be destroyed in an instance reiterating
that keeping a good reputation excludes doing the easy things or taking
shortcuts.
In making moral decisions as a
leader, Whitman stated that it is necessary for one to be of good standing and
retain a good character to be able to make some difficult decisions.
This runs down to having a company
of good character and a moral compass.
On the influence of such initiatives
that empower certain people, Whitman said listening to a community that will
influence one’s decisions is an important thing.
“In business, it is often your
customers. There is an expression in the American business that the customer is
always right. Now this isn’t always right but you must listen to your
community,” she said.
The former Ambassador said often,
the best ideas come from the community.
Using her being a leader as an
example, Whitman said she ensures to listen to all the people she has working
on something.
“But then importantly, someone has
to make a decision. Often when people say listen to your community,
they become paralysed because if they ask 10 people they get different answers
and that can be very confusing to a leader. So you have to be able to listen
but ultimately you have to make a decision,” she said.
Whitman also talked about focus in business.
She stated that making a difference in the community will go a long
way with passion and focus on the right thing.
“I am a big believer in focus. I say
to my community at the Embassy all the time, ‘Could we please focus on a small
number of things and do them 100 per cent as opposed to doing a large number of
things at 20 per cent’,” she said.
“So when think about your
communities, what’s the thing that you can really focus on, and maybe some of
your community can focus on the same thing?”
Acknowledging that there are never
enough resources for everybody or personal time for everybody, Whitman said
focus and attention to detail are key in leadership.
In conclusion, she gave a clarion
call - a strong request for something to happen – to the youth to love whatever they choose to base their careers on and
to respect their working environment.
“I would say, find
something that you love. It’s almost a cliché but you are going to spend a lot
of time at work that you are with your family if you work fulltime, and you do
better at things you love,” she said.
Whitman added, “Whatever organisation you join if it’s not your own, make sure you respect ad like the organisation. Whatever you do first, you do not need to do it forever.”
Whitman emphasised working for knowledge and experience too.
