Speaker Muturi’s coronation was a Chutzpah strategy

Swifty Lazar was a Hollywood agent. Early on when he was starting out in his career, he went out for dinner with a hot young starlet who was in high demand in the movie industry.

He wanted to wow her and make her one of his clients. So, throughout the evening, he tried everything he possibly could to convince her why he should be her agent. Unfortunately, his efforts were not gaining any traction towards that goal.

At one point during the meal, Swifty excused himself to go to the men’s bathroom. While there, he bumped into none other than Frank Sinatra, a singer and actor, and one of the most popular and influential musical artists having sold more than 150 million records worldwide.

Swifty introduced himself with exuberant passion and exceptional confidence. But being a star, this reaction from what he thought was yet another fan, was not a rare occurrence. And as he always did, Frank responded very apathetically.

Swifty was not disheartened by Frank’s indifference. He persisted and asked Frank to please come and say hello to his table. Sinatra declined. But Swifty asked again and again. He said it would be quick and would only take a few seconds. Eventually Sinatra caved in.

Swifty returned to the young starlet and shortly after, in full view of the entire room, Frank sauntered over to Swifty’s table.

“Hi Swifty,” said Sinatra, extending his hand. “Not now Frank,” replied Swifty. The starlet, duly impressed, signed on the dotted line the following day, making Swifty her agent.

Now, that my fellow Kenyans, is what is called chutzpah.

Chutzpah is derived from the Yiddish language. It describes the confidence or courage that allows someone to do or say things that may seem shocking to other people. It means having the supreme confidence, courage bordering on arrogance, audacity, gall or nerve. It is the fearlessness to take on established authority and systems.

This week, the GEMA nation was astounded by the coronation of National Assembly Speaker Justin Muturi as the Mt Kenya’s spokesperson and political kingpin.

This event elicited mixed reactions that spanned the spectrum of total support, to being denounced by political and cultural leaders that hail from the same region.

These political and cultural leaders were so consumed by their emotions that on one hand, they have made plans to sanctify the shrine where Speaker Muturi was coronated in the belief he defiled it, while on the other hand, unprintable epithets by those in support of the coronation were hurled at those opposed to his new status.

Elsewhere, it impelled a caucus of current and former governors and MPs from Mt. Kenya at a press conference castigated Muturi’s newly bequeathed role, while unconvincingly belabouring on how the region has always remained, and will remain united. They said Speaker Muturi alone cannot be the one to give political direction to the mountain.

On the periphery, others took the route of ad hominem and described him as one without charisma to qualify as the mountain’s spokesperson, while still others taunted him as belonging to one of the smallest sub-tribes in Mt. Kenya, to purport to be a spokesperson of more than ten million people.

Ad hominem is an attempt to discredit someone by labelling or attacking them. It is a personal attack against the source of an argument or position, rather than against the argument itself. It is used primarily as a diversionary tactic, either to unjustifiably shift the burden of proof to someone else or to change the topic.

The use of ad hominem strains relationships, stifles debate, and often results in poor decisions. Ad hominem arguments are not wrong because the personal insults are mean; they are wrong because they are a cop out. And those that resort to them are simply spiteful, lazy and often intellectually challenged.

Begs the question, did Speaker Muturi just execute a chutzpah strategy with his coronation to become Mt Kenya’s political kingpin? Did he catch those wannabe Mt Kenya kingpins napping? And did he dash the hopes of those waiting to be endorsed to take over this mantle?

I submit straight up, that Speaker Muturi, unknowingly executed a chutzpah strategy. I also proffer that charisma is old school, very, very old school. We are living in an era where the staggering rate of change and disruptive innovation is the order of the day. Old fashioned charisma is no longer adequate to get attention, gain traction and get ahead.

There are many self-help books written about how to develop charisma, and many motivational speakers who charge an arm and a leg to teach you how to be charismatic. Yet, this attribute is still in very short supply.

But to pull off chutzpah, you do not need a seven-point guide book or a persuasive coach. All you need to pull it off is a little bit of adrenaline, an acceptable amount of risk taking, a capitalisation of the chance meeting with the CEO in a five-minute elevator ride, a hint of inspired genius, and a touch of madness to believe that you can get away with it.

Today’s winners and conquerors are those who execute chutzpah. Those that are fearless, not only to go after what they want, but have the audacity to do it. Those that have the gall to challenge established authority, systems, traditions, products or services, and conventional wisdom. Those, who like Speaker Muturi, despite belonging to a tiny sub-tribe, dare to take on the Mt Kenya political hegemony. And those who like Swifty, will not let their environment curtail their persistence to persuade the legendary Frank Sinatra to come to their table and say hello.

In economic-speak, this is called creative disruption. It is the deliberate dismantling of established processes in order to make way for improved methods of production and service delivery. It is an evolutionary process that dismantles long standing practices and traditions to make way for innovation, that punishes less efficient ways of organising resources.

The process inevitably creates a disequilibrium resulting in losers and winners. Those that are committed to the old ways are left stranded, while those that embrace the new are thrust into a world of infinite novel opportunities and possibilities.

 Along the innovation curve, losers are known as the laggards who are traditionalists, and the last to adopt an innovation; while winners are the early adopters who embrace change because they are conscious of the changing times, and are very comfortable in adopting new ideas.

If political endorsement requires charisma, then kingpin coronation requires chutzpah. Although as one from Mt Kenya Speaker Muturi does not speak for me because he cannot purport to know my preferences, nor pretend to be burdened by my needs, or claim to have the magic solutions to my problems, I will not begrudge his chutzpah strategy. And neither should the political and cultural leaders from Mt Kenya for being caught flat footed. They should simply and brazenly admit that he outwitted them.

Finally, my unsolicited advice to all of us is; the gap between how quickly you change and how quickly things change around you, is called irrelevance. So choose ye this day chutzpah over charisma.

If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up way too much space - Anonymous