New Telegraph

How to be a good, great leader

 

Book: The Shepherd Leader
Author: Isokari Francis Ololo
Publisher: CreateSpace, North Charleston,
SC, U.S.A
Year: 2012
Pages: 253
Reviewer: Adjekpagbon Blessed Mudiaga

 

 

Bad leadership has been the bane of development in Nigeria, Africa and many developing countries in the world.

 

Therefore, Isokari Ololo’s book, ‘The Shepherd Leader’ comes with prescriptive enlightenment for world leaders about some unexplored leadership styles embedded with scriptural light, on the dark spots of civil administration.

 

The 253-page book contains eight chapters themed as follows: The Shepherd and the Sheep; Harvest and Hunger; Encampment and Enemies; Parenting and Profligacy; Healing and Hurting; Endowment and Emasculation; Rod and The Staff of Restoration; and Divinity and Dumbness.

 

It is an exposition about the basic tools any leader worth his salt needs to produce comfort and surplus required by his followers. Throwing light on what leadership is all about, the author offers that, “leadership by endowment explains the condition of a leader who is approved for leadership because of the exceptional leadership traits he possesses for the benefit of the followers.

 

An endowed leader is quick in bequeathing, conferring, and bestowing the endowments he is gifted with upon others.” But a question many people may ask is, what type of good shepherd-like leadership has any Nigerian or world leader bestowed on his followers in modern times?

 

This elicits the reader’s contemplation about Dr. Nelson Mandela, former South African first black president as one of such shepherd-like leaders the world ever had.

 

The author also beams light on emasculation and leadership. He defines emasculation as an antithesis of endowment. According to him, emasculation makes leadership heavy for both leaders and the followers. He refers to the emasculation of Saul and Nebuchadnezzar due to their disobedience to God. On this basis, Ololo cautions nowadays leaders not to be dumb as the consequences could be disastrous.

 

He describes ‘Leadership of Dumbness’ as utter self-pity. He cites the examples of Pharaoh and Moses in the Holy Bible, which he uses as backbone to redefine dumbness as ‘the ability or capacity to reason clearly yet refusing to accept the conclusion of a good reasoning.’ Pharaoh’s refusal to act when he was supposed    to act is the lesson the author want modern times leaders to learn from, as his dumbness caused ten plagues for him and his folks.

 

The Peculiarities of Shepherd Leadership; Shepherd Leadership Bestows Goodness on the People; Shepherd Leadership Offers Little or No Attraction; Know Who You Follow; Leadership By Wisdom of the Spur; and Coleman’s Leadership Styles, in the context of shepherd leadership are succinctly discussed in the book.

In this era of insecurity worldwide, Ololo also prescribes some  methods of conflict resolution such as Integrity and Transparency as Tools for Conflict Resolution; Provision-focused Tool of Conflict Resolution, amongst others. He quotes Enrique Fiallo’s comments on Michael Hyatt’s website which highlights leaders’ mistakes such as; pride and arrogance; negative influence; blindly trusting people; short-term focus, and so on.

 

Several biblical occurrences in terms of failed and successful shepherd leadership are copiously quoted in the length and breadth of the book. There may be no second or third chance to right any wrongs made in the course of any opportunity at one’ disposal to lead.

 

This makes it important to apply the rod and staff tools of leadership appropriately, to avoid chaos and karmic seeds. In essence, ‘The Shepherd Leader’ is a metaphor about new leadership model relevant to leaders at all levels; be it in academia, social clubs, corporate world and government institutions, amongst others. It is a prescription on how to lead people to avoid disasters trying to befall any organization, community, state or nation around the globe.

 

A shepherd’s tool such as rod- a stout club at least three feet long, used for prodding flocks and driving wolves; and a staff- a thin pole about five feet long which a shepherd leans on while resting and watching flocks are essential metaphors employed by the author to elucidate the reader on some basic unexplored stylistics of leadership that present day leaders could democratically use to lead their followers to Eldorado.

 

These are symbolical tools used by leaders such as Moses and David in the Holy Scriptures. The author quotes King David in Psalms 24:3 to buttress this. Ololo’s choice of words is very simple to comprehend like Chinua Achebe’s psychedelic eloquence. No psychological noise is present in the entire pages of the book. This further makes it a reader’s delight.

 

Ololo is a staff of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). He has a background in administration and holds a PhD in Management with specialty in Corporate Parenting and Corporate Level Strategy. He studied at the Dundee Business School, University of Alberta, Scotland. His first book is titled The Quest for Distinction

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