Personal Finance

Dividends of providing a shoulder to lean on

LEADER

Some leaders do not associate with the unfortunate individuals, thinking do so may lead to bad luck; this may not be true. PHOTO | FILE

So Satan left the Lord’s presence and struck Job with terrible boils from the sole of his feet to the top of his head. Job 2:7 ISV

In mid-2008 police pursuing the murderers of Lucy Musembi and her two sons arrested David Macharia and his wife Teresia Wanjiru for possession of a phone similar to one owned by the deceased.

They left their young child and were held separately in Industrial Area and Lang’ata Women’s prisons respectively.

After a six-year court trial, both were found not guilty with the judge stating that “this case was based purely on circumstantial evidence with the only evidence linking the accused to the deceased being a recovered phone”.

Assuming that David and Teresia came upon Lucy’s phone innocently, their stint in jail must have been a period of unimaginable suffering through no fault of their own.

Wrongful conviction is not the preserve of Kenya’s judicial system. Timothy Cole, a Texas Tech University student was wrongfully convicted of the 1985 rape of a fellow student on the basis of one victim’s account even though he did not match the description of the attacker.

Cole protested his innocence till his death in prison due to asthma complications in spite of a fellow inmate’s confession to this crime, a claim supported by DNA evidence. Cole was the first person in Texas history to be granted a posthumous pardon.

Closer home, Margaret*, whose short-lived marriage resulted in rejection by her family and subsequent infection with HIV, has tried everything she can to eke out a living. Nothing seems to work.

Following a recent encounter with hunger in which she and her daughter went two days without food, she described the sensation of having someone give her a packet of maize flour and permission to harvest vegetables from their garden as akin to “being in Heaven”.

Even closer is the story of Arnold* whose attempts to venture into business have been frustrated by his prominent elder brother who sees Arnold’s success as a threat to his own standing in their community.

The brother uses official and unofficial means to thwart and hinder Arnold’s progress. Alone and shunned by family friends who do not wish to offend his brother, Arnold teeters on the verge of despair.

Such stories abound around the Leader of Family Business. Sadly, because sob stories peddled by swindlers eager to take advantage of the Leader’s generosity are common, many leaders are hardened against any tale that seems to tug at their purse strings.

Other leaders, afraid that associating with unfortunate individuals may lead to bad luck, deliberately avoid any contact with people who are going through periods of affliction even though the source of their trouble is well known to them.

Leaders of Family Business whose ventures are doing well ought to realise that there are others within their community who have put in as much if not more effort into their businesses and got nothing but tribulations.

While the causes of such anomalies can be analysed to no end, it is important that the prosperous Leader of Family Business learn to turn an ear to those in trouble or exposed to misfortune and lend a helping hand or speak kind words to help alleviate their suffering.

That while hard work ordinarily pays great financial dividends, prosperity accrues, largely due to divine intervention which cannot be forced or manipulated to act in one’s favour within a specified period.

Individuals who go through periods of suffering may be victims of factors out of their control; even though these periods often lead to exponential inner growth, few would willingly welcome suffering as a means of self-development.

Leaders of Family Business should listen to the ill, those wrongly accused, or in collapsed relationships.

Mr Mutua is a Humphrey Fellow and a leadership development consultant focused on family businesses. [email protected]