- It is said that successful leadership depends on one’s ability to communicate information, ideas and perspectives to others.
- You can imagine how it would be, if say, these politicians who are lawyers occasionally gave talks to law students in the universities.
Image: FILE
We must really applaud the younger crop of politicians.
In the year 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown, the Embakasi East MP Babu Owino took to social media to teach Class 8 and Form 4 students Mathematics.
Through his social media pages — Facebook, Twitter and Youtube — the class attracted a viewership of more than 2000 students. Babu Owino started by encouraging the students, saying Mathematics is an easy subject.
I also saw a recent clip of former Trade and Industrialisation Chief Administrative Secretary David Osiany entertain wedding guests at the wedding of Esther Akoth, popularly known as as Akothee, and Dennis 'Omosh' Schweizer. Osiany sang the ballad, My Way, to the newly-wed couple, a performance that elicited a lot of positive reactions from his followers.
Dagoretti South MP, John Kiarie, a former comedian from the highly celebrated Redykyulass comedy show, drew a cartoon sketch while waiting for the final tallying of his 2022 election votes. Drawing is a career he started early on in the Sunday Nation pages. That particular drawing drew a lot of interest from people in graffiti and the fine art industry.
All leadership begins with valuable communication — the ability to create a common understanding. I have always wondered how it would be if leaders not only generate good ideas in terms of their political inclinations, affiliations and party policies and politics, but also being able share past success stories so others can emulate them.
It is said that successful leadership depends on one’s ability to communicate information, ideas and perspectives to others.
Effective communication skills to articulate what, when, where and which specialisation they excelled in is important as it gives the leader credibility and makes his or her aspirations easier to empathise with. It also allows the leader to articulate their vision with precision and in a compelling and persuasive way.
All our elected leaders and their significant others have a past. They must be from a particular field of specialisation — be it arts and culture, law, medicine, tourism, media, sports, engineering, IT, finance, insurance, music, science, agriculture to name but a few.
We do not have to have a perennial season of politicking in the country because, after all, most leaders often go back to their original hustles and careers once their political terms are over.
A good example of a prominent person in politics who has kept to her career and uses her past, including personal experiences to inspire others is the First lady of the US Jill Biden. A quick google search of her leads you to the White House page where she is introduced as the First Lady of the US, a community college educator, a military mother, a grandmother and bestselling author.
It is said that Jill has been working to bring attention to the sacrifices made by military families and to highlight the importance of community colleges to America’s future.
She also raise awareness around areas of particular importance to women, including breast cancer prevention, all the while continuing to teach English full-time at a community college in nearby Virginia.
During the heated election periods, we see politicians who are lawyers showcase their knowledge of the law, and it is always a trending topic. This shows that the Kenyan public definitely yearns to see more of their professional lives beyond politics.
You can imagine how it would be, if say, these politicians who are lawyers occasionally gave talks to law students in the universities.
How it would also go such a long way if a politician who has been in the arts inspiring those in the industry, with their artworks in galleries on display, or their music prowess.
Part-time lecturer and communication researcher