Andrew
Leadership is both a research area and a practical skill encompassing ability of an individual, group or organisation to influence or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organisations. Zimbabwe is full of such leaders yet one area of concern is that they may not pass on their leadership skills to future generations. In a broadcast by ZTN in partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe (ICAZ), Andy Hodges (AH), talked to Zimplow Holdings Limited Group chief executive Mr Vimbayi Nyakudya (VN). The institution is listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and is the largest manufacturer and distributor of farming implements in sub-Saharan Africa. Mr Nyakudya discussed his leadership journey so as to inspire the next generation of leaders. Below are some excerpts of the interview.
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AH: Vimbayi, what in your opinion is leadership? What skills do you believe are necessary to be a good leader?
VN: Leadership is about the people since you need them around you to participate in the vision that you will be following. As a leader, you need a vision and you also have to demonstrate that ambition towards your vision in such a way that people will naturally feel obliged to work with you.
AH: Where did your leadership journey begin?
VN: My starting point was at KPMG where I met new people with different backgrounds, which seemed very important to them. They appeared to be the key things that validate them, but later I realised that we were all trying to achieve similar objectives in life hence I understood/realised the things I desired to define me as I went on with my career. In addition, you need to accept little tasks that you are given and start paying attention to detail. You then grow into the profession since you will be now tasked to bigger assignments.
AH: Was it an easy or difficult journey?
VN: It was not easy. At KPMG it was more of a professional environment where everything was done to a certain standard. But when I transitioned to the industry, it was a jungle since I was meeting people from different professions with different views on life from what I had. In that process, trying to harness their energy, it was not easy because as a leader you will be focusing on ambition.
However, you need everyone to understand that the decisions that you will be making are good for everyone hence at the end of the day its difficult since you become unpopular at times.
AH: Did you find any major challenges in your rise to leadership?
VN: If you want to be a leader, you need to work with people and understand what everyone brings to the table. You also need to relate and be relatable to people so that they will be able to open up. You need to be a good listener and be able to express yourself. These things don’t come easy but through hard work.
AH: Vimbayi, you are a chartered accountant by training, and I am sure this educational background stood you in good stead in your leadership journey.
VN: Although education is very important, you need to understand the principles that you learnt throughout your entire career so that they guide you and make use of them so that you become the best.
AH: What’s your opinion on women leadership.
VN: I think women need to be trained at an early age that the world is changing and be assured that there will be a need for more women leaders in the corporate environment so that they will be confident enough as time passes. To those that are already aspiring to be leaders, there will be a lot of responsibility that will come, but they need to stick to their ambition or vision and be able to prioritise things that create their paths.
AH: Vimbayi, as a leader what are or were your key success factors during your journey?
VN: The most critical success factor was my ambition to become a Chartered Accountant and that ambition made me search for ways to reach my goal. The other thing is having the right people around you that will guide and push you. One hundred percent hard work is also critical because if you want to be successful in whatever you do, you always need to bend at midnight and as for me I worked hard in trying to define my career journey.
AH: Vimbayi, every successful path comes naturally with failure. How did you and would you recommend that future leaders deal with this important issue?
VN: If you want to be a great leader, you need to push boundaries and take risks whereby in the process you will sometimes fail hence you need to process that failure. As for me, I have faced failure in my journey through running and putting myself in secluded places so that I will be able to process my emotions. Once you process your thoughts, you then need to approach what caused the failure and be objective and upraise yourself objectively so that you can use the best strategies to become true to yourself in terms of your abilities.
AH: A journey is never done alone. How important is the support of your family in achieving your goals?
VN: I am a family man hence family has been very important to me because it has been the key constant since I began to be self-conscious. They have been my pillar of strength since they supported me during the times l needed them the most. They also inspired me whenever I felt lost and reminded me of where I was coming from and the journey that I was on to, so they remained the key inspiration in everything that I does.
AH: The issue of building networks and having mentors appears critical in today’s world. What are your thoughts on this?
VN: When growing up I didn’t have many friends. Later I realised that for you to be positioned you needed to connect with people that will give you guidance. Also you need mentors and a network of people to guide you and push you in the direction that you want to go. Without networking, you will not go anywhere even in business because you need people that will give you the marketing intelligence.
AH: What advice would you give to future leaders?
VN: Future leaders need to be thinking about what they want to be; I always say that you need to have an identity or a desired person that you want to see yourself as. In addition, future leaders need to define their ambition or vision through having mentors that will inspire you and direct your journey.
AH: Finally, as one of today’s leaders, what do you think is your legacy?
VN: I would like to be known as a person who made decisions based on science, principles, metrics and models that have been proven to work and that is how I have defined myself.
Online Reporter