for life after office should begin the very day they assume office . We all saw the flawless execution of the activities leading to the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II . It was not luck . From the day the Monarch assumes office , the protocols for the day they die are set in motion . The Queen was actually part of the team that prepared for her own funeral . In the same way , preparation for life after office must be deliberate and intentional .
When a new leader wins an election and is sworn in , part of their induction should be how to conduct themselves in the office in order to ensure that when they leave the office their lives will continue seamlessly .
Many remember the travails of Bill Clinton as president of the United States . The Monica Lewinsky scandal got him into a financial mess with legal fees running into millions of dollars . A few years after leaving office , he was quoted as saying that while he was president he was in debt but when he left office he became a millionaire .
For many in Africa the opposite is the case . When they are in office they amass wealth and they need the power of incumbency to keep their wealth .
How did Bill Clinton , his wife Hillary Clinton , former British prime minister Tony Blair and many others like them do it ? They built themselves into formidable brands while in office and once they left office
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Build yourselves into brands that need no office to be influential . The power a lot of people have is directly connected to the offices they hold . Yet , history is packed with stories of people who held no political or corporate leadership office but who are respected global icons and brands .
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Strong leadership in public always starts with good leadership of self . If you cannot lead yourself to do the right thing when no one is watching , you will find it difficult to do the right thing with an audience . Human behaviour always goes back to default settings under pressure .
they monetized their experience in office as they hit the speaking circuit and were paid millions to share these experiences . Others monetized their exposure and experience by serving on boards of companies . Again I say that preparation for life after office must begin the day you get into office .
As books are written on how to succeed , there is also a road map on how to fail . Following are some tips that I believe will help those coming in to succeed and to prepare them for the day when they will also find themselves on the way out .
First they must remember that every entity rises and falls based on the capacity and choices of its leaders . This is very important . If you chose to throw your weight around now that you are in , remember you will one day be outgoing .
Secondly , remember that strong leadership in public always starts with good leadership of self . If you cannot lead yourself to do the right thing when no one is watching , you will find it difficult to do the right thing with an audience . Human behaviour always goes back to default settings under pressure .
Thirdly , remember that organizations don ’ t fail . Nations don ’ t fail . It is always leadership that fails . Leadership failure never happens overnight . It is the result of ignoring facts and distorting truth . Failure is never an event . It is part of a process that is accelerated when the leader is out of touch with the realities of their environment .
Strong leadership must be able to temper emotions with reason . They must be able to weigh their emotions and feelings against a greater good and bigger picture and then make graceful decisions that might go against everything that their emotions would have wanted to do . Another word for this is objectivity .
One of the stronger attributes exhibited by great leaders is objectivity which is the ability to override your emotions based on facts and the greater good . It is the ability to support with all your heart something that your emotions reject . It is the ability to make decisions that run contrary to your deepest desires because it is the right thing to do .
The 41st President of the United States , George Herbert Walker Bush left a very moving letter for number 42 , Bill Clinton . The letter started with President Bush writing , ‘ Dear Bill , When I walked into this office just now I felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt four years ago . I know you will feel that , too . I wish you great happiness here .’ and he ended it with ‘ You will be our President when you read this note . I wish you well . I wish your family well . Your success now is our country ’ s success . I am rooting hard for you .
This level of objectivity where you support with all your heart what you fought against with all your heart is made possible by humility . How proud he must have been when his son , George W Bush took over from Bill Clinton eight years later to become the 43rd president of the United States and he did two terms .
Humility is a function of leadership capacity . It takes a lot to be humble . It takes a lot to accept that you were wrong or to accept that you lost . In 2016 , Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but missed the presidency on the platform of the electoral college . This must have been a tough one for her . However , she showed the class that objectivity and humility produced when she attended the inauguration of the person who defeated her - Donald J Trump . It showed her to be a person of great capacity and inner strength .
Trump attacked Obama at every occasion and started conspiracy theories about him including saying that he was not born in the United States and therefore should not be president which of course was a lie . Obama showed the objectivity that comes with humility , capacity and inner strength
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