President Uhuru Kenyatta aboard a military helicopter oversees the destruction of heroine haul in a merchant ship impounded off the coast Mombasa. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Leaders must be more conscious of how they act than what they say; remember ‘actions speaks louder than words’.
Family Business leaders break rules in pursuit of perceived benefits.
Family and staff of a family-owned business should not imitate their leader’s example if it goes against their good moral judgment.
Therefore, pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practise what they teach.
Matthew 23:3 NET
On August 29 this year, a ship alleged to have been used in the trafficking of drugs into Kenyan waters was sunk by the military. Intended as a bold statement to drug lords worldwide that Kenya would not be used as a drugs transit point, President Uhuru Kenyatta oversaw this operation.
While the President and his handlers probably had the best of intentions, this particular action went against court orders issued by a magistrate and reiterated by a judge of the High Court sitting in Mombasa against destroying this vessel. It formed part of the evidence in an ongoing court case.
That the exercise was carried out in blatant defiance of court orders and that there have not been, so far, any ramifications on those involved in this adventure, sends a clear message that top leadership has little regard for due process. Sadly, such examples, even though well meant, encourage the observant public to also take such liberties.
On August 28, 2014, one of the vehicles that prominently feature in the presidential motorcade was stolen from a police officer outside his house. What was initially dismissed by Nairobi’s police commander as “just an old BMW” made its way to Nakuru where its tracking system was disabled by an individual during “repairs”.
Thereafter, this easy-to-distinguish vehicle passed through many police roadblocks and the Busia border unchallenged.
Corruption and incompetence
Thankfully, the vehicle was recovered from a parking lot in Kampala and brought back to Nairobi under heavy police escort, wailing sirens and all, and finally returned to its home in State House. While it is easy to accuse the police of laxity, corruption and incompetence, it is important to note that the conduct of the police and other government organs is a reflection of the values held dear by leaders and the voters.
Every leader and government official encourages the public, especially the youth, to abide by Kenya’s national value of “the rule of law”. All, without exception, swear an oath that they will obey the Constitution and live according to the laws of the land.
Sadly, examples of the brazen breaking of traffic rules, contempt for court rulings and the abuse of due process among national leaders are many. Worse is the tendency by Leaders of Family Business to publicly break rules within their families, in their ventures and in their public conduct.
Worst of all is that some of these breaches happen in the full view of their impressionable children who follow the leader’s example, often to their eventual ruin.
What leaders do rather than say, tends to be the way they communicate their core values to their constituents. As a result, while the Leader of Family Business may mean well in going against the family’s core values, stated rules and regulations, that example is, by itself, enough to endorse every sort of evil within the organisation.
Few leaders
Because leaders often have little sense of what effect their actions have on their constituents and followers, they regularly underestimate the effect their conduct, even in private, has especially when it is in contradiction to their spoken words.
A few leaders do evil for its own sake; they often do wicked acts in the pursuit of a positive or helpful consequence designed to enhance the business venture, for the benefit of their constituents or in complete ignorance of the effect such deeds have on their observers.
Where the Leader’s actions contradict what they say and to what the organisation’s values are, family members and staff are best advised to follow their internal moral compass. That is the organisation’s positive core values in their day to day activities rather than their leaders’ examples.
Mutua is a Humphrey Fellow and a leadership development consultant focused on family businesses.
