AURRA KAWANZARUWA
From the beginning of mankind, leadership has been at the core of our existence. The Christian faith tells the story of Adam (the first man) who has given dominion over nature and the creatures that inhabit the earth. He was given the responsibility to name everything and look after his home, the Garden of Eden.
As Adam went about his business God blessed him with Eve, a ‘help meet’. Together they formed the world’s first team.
The ability to successfully drive teamwork, communication, and conflict management, all the while developing your talent for effective strategy development and implementation, are the hallmarks of a strong leader.
But in today’s futuristic present, there is another skill that could leave many C-level executives scrambling for solutions – digital skills.
If you want to successfully guide your company through the next decade of digital disruption, it might be a good idea to learn how to code or, at the very least, hire a C-level executive who can.
However, if you have no base of knowledge of coding, then you run the risk of being misled. That’s why even if you don’t master coding, putting in some time to learn the basics can help you ask the right questions and determine if the person you’re hiring knows what they’re doing.
Zimbabwe has gone through an “awakening” of sorts with President Mnangagwa’s administration trying to embrace and encourage the understanding and use of technology.
This week Finance and Economic Development Minister, Mthuli Ncube, signed a procurement deal valued at $3,6 million with the Japanese government for cybersecurity equipment.
“It is well recognised that economic development is closely related to the level of safety in the country. And the law enforcement authority namely the ZRP is expected to play a central role in ensuring the safety of the country…
The new equipment to be provided, which includes digital forensic tools, face recognition systems, an information system and an information sharing platform, will contribute towards upgrading the capacity of the ZRP and will promote inter-regional cooperation of the responsible bodies under the sponsorship of Interpol,” said Japan ambassador to Zimbabwe Toshiyuki Iwado.
Although this example looks specifically at tech adoption on a national level, it is indicative of a shift in financial expenditure on tech-related infrastructure and development.
Digital skills are not reserved only for tech companies or the Ministry of ICT. In fact, global research shows that half of all programming openings are in industries outside of technology. Among them finance, manufacturing and health care.
With the average age of CEOs in Zimbabwe being 56, one might wonder if they are truly geared to adapt as quickly as their millennial counterparts.
Succession plans have many an executive shifting uncomfortably in their seats, simply because there is still a vast gap of understanding between the baby boomers and millennials. And yet they are the most technologically equipped to steer organisations in a new direction.
Conversations like “I am a layman,I don’t understand all this tech stuff, make it simple for me to understand” is almost a rehearsed line among an uncomfortably significant number of executives walking Zimbabwe’s corridors of power and attending strategy meetings in pretty manicured resorts on the outskirts of Harare.
These conversations need to change. The mentality needs to shift. It’s not enough to spend hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars on “tech infrastructure”, you need to invest in the skilled mind. Your empire will inevitably die otherwise.
Identify a millennial with potential to lead your company who is also digitally equipped to survive the disruption of the fourth industrial revolution, and groom them to take over the most senior positions in your business. The future of Zimbabwe’s economic evolution depends on it.
