Leadership matters a great deal, according to Patrick Awuah, the co-founder of a liberal arts college in Ghana, who spoke at TED in Arusha in June 2007. Economic success depends on having people who are creative, persistent, hard-working and empowered, but it also depends on external factors such as free markets, the rule of law, and infrastructure, which are provided by institutions run by leaders who have emerged not spontaneously, but through appropriate training.
The three major problems in Africa, according to Awuah, are corruption, weak institutions, and inadequate leadership. These are big problems which are very difficult to deal with. What is it about the local conditions which produces leaders who are unethical or unable to solve problems? The educational system involves learning by rote, with very little emphasis on ethics, and the typical graduate has a stronger sense of entitlement than a sense of responsibility.
Every society must be intentional about how it trains its leaders. Accordingly, Awuah’s Ashesi University is attempting to train a new generation of ethical entrepreneurial leaders, who have the ability to ask the right questions, deal with ambiguity, identify the right problems and come up with workable solutions. The real business of leadership is to serve humanity.