Otumfuo Osei II, the Asantehene, has stated that although the nation has been talking for nearly 70 years, it is now time for it to become a nation of builders.
“We must move from slogans to production, from lamentations to enterprise, from dependency to value creation, from promises to hard road work with discipline, sacrifice and innovation,” he said.
Last Friday, the Asantehene gave a speech to the audience at the inaugural “Ghana Business Leaders’ Conclave” in Accra.
The thought leadership program was planned as the main event by the Otumfuo Centre for Traditional Leadership (OCTL) of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).
The theme of the event, A Time With HRM Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, was “Leading with integrity, negotiation, mediation and ethical governance for business sustainability.”
According to Otumfuo Osei Tutu, the nation needs to focus on serious business in the upcoming ten years, “in which our energies must be directed towards building a strong ethical and sustainable economy.”
According to the Asantehene, political leaders must keep establishing stable conditions and appropriate policy frameworks.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu, a graduate of the UPSA, which was formerly known as the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS), stated that it was the responsibility of citizens, entrepreneurs, professionals, and institutions like universities to develop, innovate, and build businesses, create jobs, and add value to the nation’s natural resources.
“In today’s world, businesses are the drivers of prosperity. Across the world, prosperity is being driven by enterprise, innovation, technology, creativity and bold leadership. “
“Since the beginning of time, leadership has been key to successful societies,” the Asantehene said before a packed auditorium chiefly made up of students, business leaders, politicians and traditional rulers.”
The Asante Monarch believed that nations were as great in peace as they were during war because their leaders not only flew the flag but also developed and sustained the building blocks on which the power of the nation was based.
“Sadly, in Ghana, experience shows how deep and conflicted we have become about leadership. Every four or eight years, we welcome leaders with great hope yet, too often, loyalty is shot wide, trust is fragile and our heroes turn to be disappointed,” he stressed.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu emphasised that the loss of confidence had left society with a deficit that affected business, the banking industry, boardrooms, the marketplace, and even classrooms in addition to politics.
He believed that nation-building required trust, but democracy required elections.
“Democracy changes governance, but trust sustains societies. We may change leaders through the ballot box but if we do not rebuild confidence in one another, we shall weaken the very foundation on which the republic rests,” the Asantehene stated.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu spoke on integrity, saying that it went beyond the definition found in textbooks because it described how a person behaved when no one was around, how a manager made decisions when profit was at danger, or how a leader operated when granted authority.
The six essential foundations of corporate success, according to him, are honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage.
“The first task of a business leader is, therefore, to build trust. The person who has risen to the position of a chief executive must not assume that wisdom begins and ends with him. Arrogance is not leadership,” Otumfuo Osei Tutu stressed.
According to the Asantehene, a leader lacked the necessary skills to run a viable business if he was unable to interact with his coworkers, the board, employees, and clients.
“Humility is a virtue. No matter how high you may be, you must agree that you’re only one in a long chain of actors who must combine forces to produce success,” he stated.
Otumfuo forbade students from appreciating riches without considering how it was acquired and from appreciating authority without considering how it was utilised.
“Do not admire success without asking who suffered for it. Do not measure greatness only by cars, or by all sorts of titles. “Measure greatness by honesty, service, discipline and ready to do the right thing when wrong is profitable,” he urged Ghanaians.
Source: newsthemegh.com