by ableadership | Jun 8, 2020 | Blog
Dear Leader,
I recently bought a box of doughnuts to support a good cause. For some reason, I was under the impression that it contained 4 doughnuts, but to my surprise, there was a dozen. Yes, 12! In consideration of my waistline, these were too many doughnuts! I suddenly remembered a beggar that I had seen many times around my way home and decided to share some with him.
As I drove, I found him in his usual spot. I approached, slowed down, rolled down my car window, got hold of the sealed box, and passed it on to him. He looked at me and said, no thank you!
I was confounded by this response and looked at him to confirm what I thought I had heard. He explained that he never took food, but only food stamps or food coupons. I rolled up my window and drove off. I kept on thinking about this guy seriously! Was this beggar even hungry? Was he really poor? How could he reject a free box of 12 doughnuts? It then hit me, this beggar, despite his current circumstances, decided to uphold certain standards. He had principles he lived by. Though he was a beggar, there were things he accepted and those he didn’t!
Wouldn’t it be nice if we all learned something from this beggar?.
The story of this beggar reminded me of my country. In Rwanda, right after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, the new leadership decided to tell some NGOs “No, thank you”. It was not because the country had everything it needed, far from the truth. The pain and the horror that Rwanda went through during the genocide attracted many people, ostensibly of goodwill, and even with pity.
Most of the time, as is always the case, these “goodwill” people brought solutions that did not necessarily match the needs of the people of Rwanda then. The new administration set standards and started evaluating stakeholders and their solutions. Consequently, some of the organizations were asked to close shop, and for a person who knew how needy Rwanda was then, it definitely looked as if the new administration was shooting itself in the foot. Today, we are able to realize the wisdom of setting high standards at the start!. Such standards have brought us this far!
I hope that from this example we can pick a leaf and ask ourselves the questions: “What do I stand for? What do I believe in? What are my values?”
Simon Sinek says, “… it’s about time for people to stop saying what they do but what they believe in”
This is why I believe that value-based leadership coaching makes a huge difference in our world today.
Think about this.
What standards have you set for yourself and what are the top 3 values you live by?.
Author: Annet Baingana
