you were great at a task at a particular
time of your life does not guarantee that
years down the line you will still be good
at it. The ability to read yourself and
read the times is one of the most vital in
business sustainability.
The bible gives a very interesting
demarcation between capabilities. Some
are called to plant while others are
called to water. These represent different
temperaments for the business. Some
are gifted at starting things. These are
the planters. The temperament required
for that is totally different from what is
required for the people who water - or
who nurture a business.
The planters are normally characterized by
impatience. They are driven by the bottom
line. They may be very blunt people and
just want to get the job done. The irony
is that they may also be very charismatic
people who by their charm open doors
but many of them tend to be introverted
but they are able to put on a professional
extroverted appearance.
The people who water on the other hand
have a totally different configuration. They
are administrators par excellence. They
have the patience and attention to detail
that the planters may miss. They are very
patient and go to places that normally
the planters would not go to. They do not
have the roughness of the planters. They
do not need it. The planters have had to
break fallow ground and prepare things
for the people who will come to water
and nurture.
A lot of evidence has gone to show that
when a planter overstays his or her tenure
of planting and they do not engage the
services of those who will water, they
are more likely to run their own dreams
aground. History is full of so many
companies started by visionaries and
also destroyed by their visionary starters.
They did not know when their season
as planters needed to give way to a new
season of waterers and nurturers.
Another way of classifying these two
roles is to look at them as the Founders
Temperament
and
the
Growers
Temperament. Which one are you? A
Planter or a Grower or a Waterer? A
Founder or a Grower? If you do not know
your limitations, life will unveil them
to you in a very harsh way. If you are a
Starter surround yourself with Growers
and Finishers or you will destroy what
you started.
52 MAL33/19 ISSUE
It is ironic but visionary high personali-
ty strong willed and opinionated found-
ers can be some of the most insecure
people alive. The result of this is that
the business is built around them and
their personalities. The danger of this is
that when the founder is sick, the com-
pany is sick. When the founder lacks
creativity, the company loses creativity.
When the founder is not around, it will
show in the company and finally when
the founder dies, the company dies.
The other side of the coin is also valid.
Some people will never start a business
but will thrive within the context of what
others have started. However because
we live in a world where the topic of
entrepreneurship is so widely talked
about many nurturers not knowing
that they are meant to water what
others have started launch out into the
world of entrepreneurship and they fail
miserably because they do not have the
temperament for it. Please note that this
is not a weakness. It is just a sign that they
are meant to be placed differently.
Not everyone is meant to be an
entrepreneur. I don’t know how else I can
say this for people to get it. Think of it,
if everyone was an entrepreneur, who will
work for them or with them? We need to
shout loudly about intrepreneurship as
much as we shout about entrepreneurship.
The upper middle class in most nations
are not made up of entrepreneurs but of
intrepreneurs. These are people who have
identified their gift to nurture and water
what has been planted by others.
Today the greatest companies in the
world like Microsoft, Google, Apple,
Coca-Cola and many more are run by
intrepreneurs. This is the only way to
preserve brands and ensure that they
remain timeless. These companies are
not run by their founders. They are run
by people who are gifted administrators
and who know how to take the company
to the next level. They are inspired by the
visionaries but they as growers put the
roots in place.
A company full of visionaries with no
growers will always have dreams but none
will take solid root and their chances of
becoming timeless brands become slimmer
by the minute.
The Founders Insecurity
Another reason why African companies
are largely not generational is because of
the insecurity of the founders. It is actually
ironic but these same visionary high
personality strong willed and opinionated
founders can be some of the most insecure
people alive. The result of this is that the
business is built around them and their
personalities. The danger of this is that
when the founder is sick, the company is
sick. When the founder lacks creativity,
the company loses creativity. When the
founder is not around, it will show in the
company and finally when the founder
dies, the company dies.
The insecurity of leadership goes beyond
cases where we deal with founders. It also
happens in many organizations where they
have what I call the mediocrity sandwich.
Just like a sandwich or a burger is defined
by that is in the middle and not the bread,
a mediocrity sandwich in an organization
is where you have brilliant people at the
top, brilliant people at the bottom but
mediocre thinkers in the middle. I have
seen this trait in too many organizations
across the continent - even in some of the
very big organizations.
Many reasons have been brought forward
for this trend but one of the most
common has been the fact that leadership