The Mo Ibrahim Foundation - Their role in Africa

A snippet about the Mo Ibrahim Foundation that is at the forefront of developing leadership capabilities in Africa. Exemplary work!

The Mo Ibrahim foundation was created by Dr. Mo Ibrahim, an entrepreneur in the telecom industry who sold his organization, Celtel for $3.4 billion in 2005 .

The aims of the foundation are :
1. Stimulate debate on good governance across sub Saharan Africa and the world
2. Provide objective criteria by which citizens can hold their governments to account
3. Recognize achievements in African leadership and provide a practical way in which leaders can build positive legacies on the African continent

The other major objectives of the foundation are to reduce poverty in Africa and support aspiring leaders of the continent through scholarships, guidance etc. The foundation is committed to governance issues in Africa as means of improving the quality of life on the continent. It believes that only good governance focused on issues like healthcare, education, environment and citizen rights will improve the socioeconomic life of the African people .

The foundation has instituted an “Ibrahim Prize” which awards African leaders who have governed as per the limits set by the constitution of their country and transferred power in a democratic way to a successor in the last three years. The prize provides an incentive to the chosen leader to continue as role models for good governance without any economic liability. The prize awards a sum of $5 million in the first year and then $200,000 for life. In a way it provides aspiring leaders an economic incentive to not indulge in corruption and bad governance. It also provides a high level of respect and recognition for the chosen leaders and provides them with a platform to reach out to the masses with their model visions.

In countries like Egypt and Tunisia, where democracy is just taking hold after years of dictatorship, it can be instrumental in providing a guiding path and role models for upcoming leaders.

Apple: Think Different - Here's to the Crazy Ones :)

Came across this brilliant motivational piece and a very old Apple advertisement. Just my way of telling everyone...All of us have the chance of one lifetime to change the world...Lets be crazy enough to do something about it!!

Apple's original "Think Different" ad from 1997: "Heres to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. Theyre not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you cant do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."

Order of appearance: Albert Einstein, Bob Dylan, Martin Luther King, Jr., Richard Branson, John Lennon (with Yoko Ono), R. Buckminster Fuller, Thomas Edison, Muhammad Ali, Ted Turner, Maria Callas, Mahatma Gandhi, Amelia Earhart, Alfred Hitchcock, Martha Graham, Jim Henson (with Kermit the Frog), Frank Lloyd Wright, Pablo Picasso, and Shaan Sahota (young girl).

When Charismatic Leaders are at their worst (My Weaknesses)

• If we are in danger, we may brutally destroy everything that has not conformed to our will rather than surrender to anyone else
• We can be Vengeful, barbaric, murderous
• We develop delusional ideas about their power, invincibility, and ability to prevail
• We can have megalomania, feeling omnipotent, invulnerable. Recklessly over-extending self for something we want to do
• We will defy any attempt to control us and become completely ruthless, dictatorial-"might makes right."
• We become highly combative and intimidating to get our way: confrontational, belligerent, creating adversarial relationships
• For us everything is a test of wills, and we will not back down
• We use threats and reprisals to get obedience from others, to keep others off balance and insecure

When Charismatic Leaders are at their best (My Strengths)

• We become self-restrained and magnanimous, merciful and forbearing, mastering self through their self-surrender to a higher authority
• We are Courageous, willing to put self in serious jeopardy to achieve their vision and have a lasting influence
• We will probably achieve true heroism and historical greatness
• We are Self-assertive, self-confident, and strong: have learned to stand up for what they need and want
• We have a resourceful, "can do" attitude and passionate inner drive
• We are decisive, authoritative, and commanding: the natural leader others look up to
• We take initiative, make things happen: champion people, provider, protective, and honorable, carrying others with their strength

Charismatic Leader - An Introduction

Leader, Protector, Challenger - Enneagram Eights are motivated by justice and the desire to be in the right. They worry about self-protection and control. They are natural leaders, who can be capable and passionate or dictatorially manipulative, ruthless, and willing to destroy anything in their way. Eights seek control over their own life and their own destiny and fear being harmed or controlled by others. The corresponding "deadly sin" of the Eight is Lust, while the Eight's "holy idea" or essence is Holy Truth. Under stress, Eights express qualities of the Five, and when flourishing, they express qualities of the Two.

THE CHALLENGER
Enneagram Type Eight

The Powerful, Dominating Type:
Self-Confident, Decisive, Willful, and Confrontational

Characteristics
• Passion: Lust
• Fixation: Vengeance
• Virtue: Innocence
• Holy Idea: Holy Truth
• Basic Fear: Of being harmed or controlled by others
• Basic Desire: To protect themselves (to be in control of their life and destiny)

Happiness Equation – What brings Happiness to me?

Happiness = (3P + 5E) * H¹⁰

Where,

P equals Personal characteristics such as outlook on life, resilience and adaptability.

E stands for Existence needs such as health, money and friends.

H is for Higher order needs like a sense of humour, ambitions and self esteem.

My happiness equation is like that because –

1. I have a pretty high expectation that my future is very good and I will be able to adapt to any situation and challenge that is thrown at me. I will be strong in the face of any adversity that comes my way and will be able to succeed in spite of them. Doing this will make me happy thus I have multiplied P by 3. I would like to increase my happiness by 3 times when I am tempted by the above mentioned characteristics.

2. E has a higher value for me in the happiness equation as I value my health and longetivity over a lot of other things. Money is also very very important to me and my personal state of happiness. The more the money, the higher is my happiness although this is to a certain extent. After that it becomes immaterial how much I have as whatever I have will be sufficient to satisfy me. Again my life very much revolves around friends. I will be dead if I don’t have friends or I am told to live a life alone. I want to have a large number of close friends with myself in my hour of need and also when I am happy. Due to all these reason I have multiplied my E by 5 as friends, money and long life will bring me greatest of pleasures, definitely more than the characteristics of P.

3. What brings me the greatest pleasure above anything else is my personal growth, my ambitions and the visualization of myself seeing them happening in my dreams and to a certain extent in front of my eyes. I probably am one of the most ambitious people around. I want everything I this world to be mine. Although I realize that for that to happen, I will need to work hard and I am prepared to do that. My need for recognition in this world is very high. I want to be recognized as one of the great people in the modern times and all my actions are self directed towards that course. Again humour is extremely important in my life as that is what enriches my life. Because I am so ambitious, I can get depressed or angry very easily. To not let this happen, I rely on humour to make myself smile and keep myself happy. Due to these reasons I have given H the most weightage, it is an exponential weightage as for every combination of P and E combined as mentioned above I want my life to be enriched by H ten times over exponentially. Only then will I be happy probably.