2. RESIDENCY TRAINING: THE PITS, PEARLS
AND PRIVILEGES OF MENTORSHIP
SINCE I AM SPEAKING TO RESIDENT DOCTORS WHO WILL SOON BE OUR
“GREATER TOMORROWS” THIS LECTURE WILL BE TWOFOLD: MENTORSHIP
DURING YOUR RESIDENCY TRAINING AND LEADERSHIP AFTER YOU GAINED
THE STATUS OF CONSULTANTS AND ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS LIKE CHIEF
MEDICAL DIRECTOR, DEAN, PROVOST, OR EVEN VICE-CHANCELLOR.
LET US BEGIN WITH MENTORSHIP AND, IN DOING SO, WHAT BETTER THING
TO DO THAN TO NARRATE MY OWN EXPERIENCE AS A STUDENT AND LATER
AS A RESIDENT DOCTOR. MY OWN STORY BEGAN AT THE BEGINNING OF MY
CLINICAL TRAINING IN 1964 AND I QUOTE FROM MY BIOGRAPHY LAUNCHED IN
2020.
THE EVENTS I AM GOING TO DESCRIBE TOOK PLACE NOT LONG AFTER
NIGERIA GAINED INDEPENDENCE. SO, THINGS MIGHT HAVE CHANGED.
3. RESIDENCY TRAINING
“We had been divided into several small groups, and it was easy for these
Departments to handle our teaching. Half of my class began with surgery posting
while the other half started with posting in medicine. I was in the group that
began with medicine, and by God’s grace and design, my first posting in that
department was to Dr. Akinkugbe’s (as he was then known) unit. I deliberately
said ‘by God’s grace and design’ because Dr, later Professor Akinkugbe was, as
time went on, to play a fatherly role in mentoring me in my chosen career,
internal medicine, with sub-specialisation in cardiology. Everything I achieved
later, in my professional life, was anchored on his interest in me, among my
peers, during that first posting and I believe and know that it was designed by
God to be so. His senior registrar at the time was Dr, later Professor Lateef
Salako, a very brilliant physician and Clinical Pharmacologist who not only took
us through the rudiments of medicine but who, together with Professor
Akinkugbe, stimulated my interest in internal medicine. We, the students,
regarded both of them as walking encyclopaedia in the art of medicine.”
4. RESIDENCY TRAINING
“I was one of the newly-qualified doctors employed by the University College
Hospital (UCH), as a House Officer after my graduation in June 1968, and my
first posting was in medicine. By this time Dr Ladipo Akinkugbe, as he was
then known, had become the acting Head of the Department of Medicine
and, considering his interest in me, I knew I would be posted to his unit, and
indeed I was. It was, therefore, essential for me to not to let him down by my
performance and so I had to put my heart and soul into the work.”
“Matters were not helped by the fact that I only had a senior house officer to
supervise my work. This young doctor was a handsome, amiable gentleman
who had good intentions but was handicapped by a clinic he ran outside the
hospital. He was absent most of the time and therefore unable to perform his
supervisory role in the unit. This was further compounded by the fact that we
did not have experienced doctors of registrar or senior registrar status. I,
therefore, had to look after the patients on my own.”
5. RESIDENCY TRAINING
“I completed my four-month posting in medicine with no untoward
event and immediately commenced my posting in surgery. Not long
afterwards, however, I was deployed to the war front to assist the
Federal Government of Nigeria in the prosecution of its civil war
against the separatist state of Biafra.”
“We were posted to the Second Division of the Nigerian Army.
When I objected, I was told that the posting, though voluntary, was
compulsory, and I should not think of refusing it. I, therefore, found
myself in a military uniform and in an army vehicle on the way to
Agbor, now in Delta State, to join a surgeon, Professor Emmanuel
Olurin, who was already at the war front. He was one of those who
taught me surgery as a medical student.”
6. RESIDENCY TRAINING
“However, it was during my stay in neurosurgery that I met Dr
(later Professor) Adelola Adeloye, an erudite scholar and a
brilliant writer. He was then the Senior Registrar under Professor
Latunde Odeku, a renowned neurosurgeon who gave up his
lucrative practice in the USA to return to Nigeria and serve his
fatherland. It was a hectic job because there was no Registrar in
the unit. I had to see all the patients referred to the unit first
before calling Dr Adeloye to evaluate them if I considered it
necessary. Since many patients referred to the unit were those
with gunshot wounds to the head and spine from the ongoing
civil war, apart from those who had head and spinal injuries from
road traffic accidents, I hardly slept.”
7. RESIDENCY TRAINING
“After my surgical posting, I completed my house job by
spending the next four months in paediatrics. I worked mainly in
the children’s emergency room and there, I encountered not only
several malnourished children but also children with
gastroenteritis needing intravenous drips. We were sometimes
there till 2.00 am trying to set drips on these desperately ill
children to save their lives. Some of them were so dehydrated
that we had to set up the drips on their heads because all their
peripheral veins had collapsed. Despite these, we had to attend
to our regular duties, and report to work in our wards at 8.00
o’clock in the morning, before the consultants came for their
ward rounds.”
8. RESIDENCY TRAINING
“I gave up being a gynaecologist while I was a student when I was
made to act as a House Officer in the department because of shortage
of doctors. One day, I was called to attend to a woman in the delivery
room who was bleeding furiously per vagina. I cross-matched blood for
her, set up a drip and commenced immediate and rapid blood
transfusion as soon as blood was ready, using a Melrose pump. As
soon as she was stable. We were planning to take her to the operating
theatre to stop the bleeding. However, while I was doing that, another
woman started convulsing because of eclampsia. I rushed to her aid
and gave her some medication to stop the convulsions. I was still
trying to help the woman when another one started to yell loudly
because of the pain of delivery. All these were too much for me and,
although I saw and treated all of them, I concluded that Obstetrics and
Gynaecology was not the place for me.”
9. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM MY
BIOGRAPHY
“I had spent about four months in the Department of Medicine,
UCH, Ibadan, without a clue on how to travel outside the country
for specialisation when an event that would change my life
occurred.”
“At that time, there was no postgraduate medical programme in
Nigeria, and all those who wished to specialise must travel to
places like Britain, Canada or the USA to do so. I had passed the
ECFMG, a prerequisite examination for those who wished to work
in the USA or Canada when I was in my fourth year in the medical
school, and I was, therefore, qualified to go and work in these two
countries, but I had no clue how to get there.”
10. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM
MY BIOGRAPHY
“However, while I was exploring ways of travelling overseas for
postgraduate studies, I met Professor Akinkugbe one day by chance on
the corridor of the hospital, and he asked me what effort I was making
to go abroad for my postgraduate training in medicine. I informed him
that it was indeed my wish to travel to Britain for that purpose, but I
was having problems securing a training position in the country. He
then asked me to see him in his office which I did.”
“Immediately, he wrote a letter to Dr Vincent Edmunds, a Consultant
Physician, at Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, Middlesex, asking him
to take me on. Of course, he spoke about me in glowing terms in the
letter. I later learnt that he had worked under Dr Edmunds as a Senior
House Officer in Britain and Professor Akinkugbe must have made a
good impression on Dr Edmunds for him to be bold enough to write
such a letter recommending me to him.”
11. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM
MY BIOGRAPHY
“By the middle of Monday, 2nd March 1970, I had completed my
employment formalities and reported to the Consultant in Mount
Vernon Hospital, Northwood, London. I was to work with Dr
Vincent Edmunds, a physician, and Dr Jack Rubie, a
paediatrician.”
“About a month after I started working there, it dawned on me
that it was by divine intervention and guidance that I came to
work at the hospital. First, I found that many of the new
graduates of the University of London were unhappy with Dr
Edmunds for giving me, a graduate from a medical school in
Africa, a job which many of them sought after for house officer
positions in London. The position I occupied was a favourite of
these new graduates!”
12. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM
MY BIOGRAPHY
“Right from my first day in the hospital, I realised that it would be foolish of
me to be carried away by the relative comfort my current job provided me,
as the job was to last for only six months. This time was too short to prepare
and pass the MRCP examination. The examination was not easy and very
few people passed it on the first attempt; in fact, failure on the first attempt
was considered a normal thing. This implied that I would have to look for
another job within the system, preferably a job that would last a year, to
give me adequate time to complete my preparation towards the
examination. However, to get another job, it was important for me to obtain
good references from my current bosses, as I could not use my bosses in
Nigeria, and that meant that I had to work hard to please them. I, therefore,
put everything I had into the job.”
Moreover whenever Professor Akinkugbe passed through London, he was
quick to remind me of the need to start tackling the examination as soon as
possible, and not be put off by the real possibility of failure.
13. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM
MY BIOGRAPHY
Meanwhile, I was happy that Dr Edmunds, as time went on,
was impressed with the level of my knowledge in medicine and
the quality of care I was giving his patients. He even
mentioned it in his report to Professor Akinkugbe in Nigeria.
Oftentimes, he had very few decisions to take on the
management of his patients as I would have done all that was
necessary for them. I was, therefore, reasonably sure that he
would give me a good reference when the need arose.
But “as I began to look for another job, I was not sure of what
Dr Rubie, the paediatrician, thought about my performance so
far and whether he would be willing to be my second referee.”
14. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM
MY BIOGRAPHY
“Most of my colleagues had given me the
impression that Dr. Rubie was not an easy
person to work for, and that he hardly gave
positive recommendations to those who had
worked for him in the past. They said his
Jewish descent made him irritable and
fastidious. Two incidences, I believe, made him
to have a favourable impression of me.”
15. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM
MY BIOGRAPHY
“One night, I admitted a malnourished young child who had been
having diarrhoea. This was a common phenomenon in Ibadan, and I
had managed many of such cases in Nigeria, but this was unusual in
Britain.
I treated her as we used to do at Ibadan and the child settled down and
started to recover within a short time. The child’s father, however, was
apparently not impressed. He called me out at midnight and insisted
that I must call my consultant, Dr Rubie, to come to the hospital
immediately to review the management of his daughter.
All my entreaties to him to postpone his request until the morning fell
on deaf ears. I even promised the man that I would make sure that Dr
Rubie saw the girl first thing in the morning but he was adamant.”
16. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM
MY BIOGRAPHY
“I, therefore, called Dr Rubie and explained to him what
happened and how I had tried my best to stave off the
request from the girl’s father. Calmly, Dr Rubie asked me to
hand over the telephone receiver to the gentleman. He
managed to convince the man that he had confidence in
my ability to handle the case and that there was nothing
more for him to do about the child’s case that night. He
promised to review her in the morning…..”
“By the next morning, the child was already better and had
started playing with other children in the ward. A day after
Dr Rubie saw the girl, she was discharged from the
hospital.”
17. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM
MY BIOGRAPHY
“The second occurrence happened the day I admitted a child
with signs of meningeal irritation. I did a lumbar puncture as
expected of me and the cerebrospinal fluid was uniformly blood-
stained, which meant that the child had a subarachnoid
haemorrhage. I was, therefore, surprised that Dr Rubie did not
believe my diagnosis when I presented the case to him later in
the afternoon. He insisted on repeating the lumbar puncture. He
had considerable difficulty getting through to the cerebrospinal
fluid, but when he eventually did, he made the same discovery
and had to agree that I was right. The child was thereafter
transferred to the neurosurgical unit at Northwich Park Hospital
where the diagnosis was confirmed.”
18. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM
MY BIOGRAPHY
“After that, Dr Rubie neither doubted my diagnosis or management
of cases anymore. It was, however, with trepidation that I
approached him one afternoon, after he had just finished seeing his
patients in the clinic, to ask whether he would be willing to give me
a reference as I had a little time left to work for him. He immediately
bellowed that he would give me a good reference ‘any day, any
time’. I thanked him profusely and literally ‘ran’ out of his presence
just in case he wanted to change his mind. Eventually, he wrote a
beautiful reference for me which I used together with that of Dr
Edmunds to shop for another job.”
Dudley Road Hospital, Birmingham decided to employ me on the
basis of those recommendations. It also meant that I had entered
the National Health Service and movement within it would be easier.
19. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM
MY BIOGRAPHY
“On Saturday morning, I waited for Tom, the hospital’s mailman, to deposit the mail
as he usually did in the doctors’ common room. Fortunately, I was the only one
waiting in the common room; others had gone to the wards or taken the day off. After
what seemed to be a long wait, Tom appeared, deposited the pile of letters on the
table and left. I then moved over to the table to search for my letter. I was almost
giving up when I found it. It was the very last letter. I wondered if it was placed
deliberately at the bottom of the pile.”
“Initially, I was afraid to open it, but later I summoned the courage to do so. The first
sheet of paper I pulled out from the envelope was titled ‘Rules and Regulations for
Members of the College.’ I then reasoned that the College would not have sent me
such a letter unless I had passed the examination. That encouraged me to pull out the
original letter which indeed congratulated me for passing the examination and, in
doing so, becoming a member of the Royal College of Physicians of the United
Kingdom.”
I returned to Nigeria to take up a Registrarship postion with UCH, Ibadan at the end of
my contract with Dudley Road Hospital in Birmingham.
20. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM
MY BIOGRAPHY
“My main desire, on arrival, was to work with my Head of Department (HOD) to
secure a fellowship to go for a year hands-on training as a cardiologist preferably in
the United States of America or the United Kingdom but this became difficult
because of the situation on ground in the department.” Again, Professor Akinkugbe
came to my aid.”
“Professor Akinkugbe eventually secured a training scholarship for me under the
Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship scheme to achieve my aim. I was
granted a Commonwealth Scholarship for a year to be spent at the cardiac unit of
Kings’ College Hospital, Camberwell, London, with a stipend good enough to
sustain my family and me in London for the duration of the scholarship. I was to
train as a cardiologist under Sir Samuel Oram of the famous ‘Holt-Oram’ disease,
and the British Council was to look after us while we were in Britain.” Professor
Akinkugbe worked under Sir Oram as a junior doctor.
I became a Lecturer1 and Consultant Cardiologist about a year after my return to
the Department of Medicine. I was now expected, as part of my duties, to teach
and mentor others as I had now become a leader.
21. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM
MY BIOGRAPHY
My duty as Sub-Dean (Postgraduate) however included chairing and
coordinating the newly-established hospital’s residency training. In this
position, I was directly responsible for the day-to-day management of
postgraduate training of resident doctors in the hospital.”
“To bring this into proper perspective for the reader, it is necessary to
understand that postgraduate medical professional training in Nigeria, like
the MRCP I went to acquire in the UK, was relatively new at the time and it
began with the Master of Medicine (M.Med.) degree programme of the
University of Ibadan. Not long afterwards, two postgraduate medical colleges
(West African Postgraduate College and the National Postgraduate Medical
College) were established in the country, and they began to function.”
“These two Colleges adopted the M.Med Degree programme of the University
of Ibadan with little modifications while the University of Ibadan phased its
M.Med Degree programme out as it was no longer necessary.”
22. MENTORSHIP – READINGS FROM MY BIOGRAPHY
“The initial problem after the establishment of the two Colleges was its
acceptability by the resident doctors who were now to undergo their
postgraduate and specialist training entirely in Nigeria. Hitherto, all those who
wished to specialise had to travel, as I did, to the UK or the USA to obtain
specialist qualifications and these overseas qualifications were considered to be
of better brand regarding worldwide acceptability than the ones awarded by
the newly established Colleges in Nigeria.
Those of us who had travelled overseas for our own postgraduate training but
who now came back to champion the establishment of postgraduate medical
training in Nigeria based on our experience there were unfortunately regarded
as spoilsports who did not want the younger ones to progress. ‘Our qualification
will be inferior, and we would not be recognised internationally. Those of you
making this suggestion are a bunch of selfish people. Having climbed up the
ladder, you are trying to destroy the ladder,’ some asserted. As one of my
colleagues said at the time, ‘‘the hostility to our idea was palpable’’.
25. MENTORSHIP
PROFESSOR AKINKUGBE NOT ONLY MENTORED ME BUT SEVERAL OTHER
DOCTORS. MANY OF US BECAME HIS PERSONAL FRIENDS BUT SADLY SOME
BECAME HIS ADVERSARIES LATER IN LIFE PARTICULARLY WHEN THEY
ASSUMED POSITIONS OF LEADERSHIP OF IMPORTANT INSTITUTIONS.
I, TOO, FOLLOWING IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF PROFESSOR AKINKUGBE,
MENTORED SEVERAL PHYSICIANS AND CARDIOLOGISTS, MANY OF WHOM
HAD RISEN TO BECOME LEADERS IN THE COUNTRY
. SOME HAVE EVEN
RETIRED.
RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MENTORS AND MENTEES MAY BECOME SOUR
FOR SEVERAL REASONS BUT OFTEN AFTER A MENTEE HAD ASSUMED
IMPORTANT ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS.
IN MY OWN CASE, A MENTEE TOOK ME TO COURT BECAUSE SHE FELT THAT I
WAS TOO CRITICAL OF HER DISSERTATION AND THAT I WAS UNNECESSARILY
DELAYING HER GRADUATION.
26. MENTORSHIP
SINCE MANY OF YOU WOULD HOLD IMPORTANT
ADMINISTRATIVE POSITIONS IN THE UNIVERSITIES
OR MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS AS YOU PROGRESS IN
LIFE, I THOUGHT WE SHOULD SPEND A FEW
MINUTES TO CONSIDER HOW YOU SHOULD BEHAVE
WHEN YOU HOLD SUCH IMPORTANT POSITIONS.
I BELIEVE I AM IN A POSITION TO ADVISE YOU SINCE
I HAD HELD THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS DURING MY
SOJOURN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN.
27. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
SUB-DEAN POSTGRADUATE AND CHAIRMAN, UCH
RESIDENCY TRAINING PROGRAMME;
DEAN, FACULTY OF CLINICAL SCIENCES;
CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE OF DEANS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF
IBADAN;
PROVOST, COLLEGE OF MEDICINE;
HEAD, DEPARTMENT OF MEDICINE;
VICE-CHANCELLOR, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN.
WE SHALL THEREFORE BE CONCENTRATING ON IMPACTFUL
LEADERSHIP IN THE DISCOURSE THAT FOLLOWS:
28. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP-MY OWN
DEFINITIONS
WHO ARE THE LEADERS? – PEOPLE WHO CONTROL THE DESTINY OF AN
INSTITUTION, PEOPLE OR BOTH.
THERE ARE DIFFERENT LEVELS OF LEADERSHIP DEPENDING ON THEIR
SIZE AND COMPLEXITY.
LOWER LEVEL
MIDDLE LEVEL
HIGHER LEVEL
IT IS THE SAME PRINCIPLE THAT BINDS ALL OF THEM. THE EXTENT OF
IMPACT MAY VARY.
29. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
WHO ARE THE LED? –Workers, People.
SOMETIMES THE LED DETERMINES THE TYPE OF
LEADERSHIP PROVIDED FOR AN INSTITUTION OR
COUNTRY.
FOR EXAMPLE, THOSE WHO COLLECT
MONEY/FEED DAILY FROM POLITICIANS OFTEN
PUSH POLITICAL LEADERS TO STEAL.
30. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
THE IMPACT CREATED BY A LEADER MAY BE:-
POSITIVE
NEGATIVE, OR,
NO IMPACT, NO INNOVATION
31. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
WHY DO PROFESSIONALS LIKE DOCTORS GO INTO
ADMINISTRATION
POWER?
MONEY?
PRESTIGE?
HONOUR?
SERVICE?
32. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
IF IT IS MONEY AND POWER, PRESTIGE AND HONOUR ARE
SECONDARY. IT IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE FOR SUCH A PERSON TO
ASPIRE TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN THE LEADER AND THE LED.
PEOPLE WHO SEEK THESE TWO ARE INVARIABLY REPRESSIVE IN
THEIR ACTIONS. THEIR IMPACT ON THE INSTITUTION AND COUNTRY
THEY ARE LEADING IS OFTEN NEGATIVE.
WHEN SERVICE, PRESTIGE AND HONOUR ARE THE PRIMARY GOALS.
IT IS POSSIBLE TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN THE LEADER AND THE
LED. LEADERS WHO IMBIBE THESE IDEALS ARE MUCH MORE
DEMOCRATIC. IMPACT ON THE INSTITUTION/COUNTRY IS MORE
POSITIVE.
33. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
WHAT ARE THE VIEWS OF OUR COLLEAGUES IN THE UNIVERSITY WHO
ARE NOT IN THE MEDICAL LINE ABOUT YOU DOCTORS WHO ASPIRE TO
POSITIONS OF LEADERSHIP.
DOCTORS ARE NOT SUITABLE MATERIALS FOR LEADERSHIP POSITIONS.
THE REASONS THEY CITED ARE:-
WE ARE TOO AUTOCRATIC AND OUR SUBORDINATES TOO SUBSERVIENT.
WE ARE NOT TRAINED FOR POSITIONS OF LEADERSHIP.
BUT DESPITE THESE MANY OF US NOWADAYS FIND OURSELVES IN
LEADERSHIP POSITIONS – HEALTH, EDUCATION AND POLITICS.
34. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
SO, IF YOU FIND YOURSELF IN A POSITION OF
LEADERSHIP,
REALISE THAT SUCCESS IN BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN
THE LEADER AND THOSE YOU ARE LEADING DEPENDS ON
YOU AND NOT YOUR PROFESSION.
IF YOUR MOTIVATION IS SOLELY FOR POWER AND MONEY,
FORGET IT. STOP LISTENING TO THIS LECTURE BECAUSE IT
WOULD NEVER HAPPEN.
IF IT IS FOR SERVICE , PRESTIGE AND HONOUR THE
FOLLOWING SUGGESTIONS ARE FOR YOU.
35. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
HOW DOES YOUR PROFESSIONAL CALLING
ENABLE YOU TO BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN
THE LEADER AND THE LED AND ALSO MAKE
AN IMPACT.
JUST DO WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT IN
MEDICINE.
MAKE A DIAGNOSIS FIRST;
THEN APPLY THE TREATMENT.
36. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
OF COURSE WHAT DO WE DO TO MAKE A DIAGNOSIS:-
HISTORY, -from your officers, reading the files, collect
detailed and accurate information about the
institution from various sources.
THEN EXAMINE THE INSTITUTION YOU HAVE BEEN
ASKED TO LEAD. - physical inspection of the
institution to confirm what you have been told and
what your initial impressions are from reading the
files.
37. PRE-REQUISITES TO IMPACTFUL
LEADERSHIP
HONESTY. ONCE YOUR SUBORDINATES REALISE THAT YOU
ARE FIDDLING WITH MONEY, THEY WILL TAKE THEIR OWN
SHARE, KNOWING FULL WELL THAT YOU CANNOT DO
ANYTHING ABOUT IT.
COMPETENCY AND HONESTY OF THOSE YOU APPOINT TO
ASSIST YOU – VERY IMPORTANT.
BE OPEN TO YOUR ASSOCIATES ABOUT THE FINANCIAL
SITUATION OF YOUR INSTITUTION
38. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
RUN AN INCLUSIVE ADMINISTRATION. CARRY YOUR
ASSOCIATES ALONG.
LISTEN TO ANYONE WHO WISHED TO MAKE SUGGESTIONS.
FROM THE LOWLY TO THE HIGH AND MIGHTY. BEWARE OF
TALE TELLERS.
BE A PATIENT LISTENER AT MEETINGS.
39. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
IN THE CASE OF A HOSPITAL, START BY ENSURING THAT
BASIC THINGS WORK, BEFORE GOING INTO MORE
COMPLEX THINGS.
WHERE IT IS POSSIBLE, PERFORM YOUR NORMAL CLINICAL
DUTIES IN ADDITION TO YOUR ADMINISTRATIVE DUTIES.
YOU LEARN A LOT BY DOING THIS. POLITICALLY, IT IS
GOOD.
40. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
IN ADDITION:-
DO NOT PLAY AROUND WITH MEMBERS OF YOUR
STAFF AND DO NOT USE CAUCUSES. IT BREEDS
INDISCIPLINE AND THE CAUCUSES WILL COME BACK
TO HAUNT YOU.
TELL THE STAFF AND THEIR UNIONS THE WHOLE
TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH. THIS DOES
NOT STOP STRIKES BEING MOUNTED AGAINST YOU
THOUGH BECAUSE THEIR LEADERS HAVE TO SATISFY
THEIR MEMBERS.
MAKE RELEVANT INFORMATION MORE FREELY
AVAILABLE EXCEPT OF COURSE THE HIGHLY SENSITIVE
41. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
RUN A DECENTRALISED ADMINISTRATION THAT IS :-
WHEN YOU APPOINT COMPETENT PEOPLE TO ASSIST YOU,
LEAVE THEM TO PROVE THEIR METTLE. DO NOT OVERMONITOR
THEM.
LEAVE THE DOOR TO YOUR OFFICE OPEN. YOU AROUSE
CURIOSITY WHEN YOU SHUT THE DOORS TO YOUR OFFICE
PARTICULARLY WHEN YOU ARE NOT THERE.
DO NOT PROVIDE FOR YOURSELF WHILE YOU ARE IN OFFICE
WHAT YOU CANNOT AFFORD WHEN YOU LEAVE OFFICE. IT
MAKES DISENGAGEMENT AFTER ONE’S TENURE MORE PAINFUL.
42. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
DO NOT USE PROPAGANDA TO COVER UP
YOUR MISDEEDS. REMEMBER THAT THE
WORD PROPAGANDA IS A NICE WORD
FOR LIES!
FOLLOW THE RULES, EVEN IF THE
PERSON AFFECTED IS YOUR RELATION OR
FRIEND OR A MEMBER OF YOUR CAUCUS!
43. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
Most 'First Class' students get technical seats, some become
Doctors, some Academics and some Engineers.
The 'Second Class' pass, pass MBA, become Administrators and
control the 'First Class'.
The 'Third Class' pass, enter politics, become Ministers and
control both a and b!
Last, but not the least, The 'Failures' join the underworld and
control all of the above!!!
How was that???
44. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
YES ALL THESE ARE TRUE BUT NOTHING STOPS THE SO-
CALLED FIRST CLASS AND HIGHLY TECHNICAL PEOPLE
FROM GOING INTO ADMINISTRATION AND EVEN POLITICS.
IN FACT SINCE POLITICIANS AND ADMINISTRATORS
CONTROL OUR LIVES WE NEED THIS CLASS OF
INTELLECTUALS IN THESE OFFICES TO EFFECT THE MUCH
NEEDED POSITIVE CHANGES WITHIN THE COMMUNITY.
INTELLIGENT PEOPLE ALWAYS PERFORM WELL. IT IS ONLY
WHEN THEY SUCCUMB TO HUMAN FRAILTIES THAT THEY
FAIL.
45. IMPACTFUL LEADERSHIP
THE REMEDY THEREFORE IS FOR THE SO-CALLED
FIRST CLASS AND HIGHLY TECHNICAL PEOPLE TO GO
INTO ADMINISTRATION AND EVEN POLITICS. THIS IS
WHAT SUCCESSFUL NATIONS DO!
IN THE USA, MOST OF THEIR PRESIDENTS ARE FROM
TOP UNIVERSITIES LIKE YALE AND HARVARD. IN THE
UK , THEY ARE FROM OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE.
