The Future-Focused Female Leader

Dr. Chinyere Almona

Description

When females lead, societies and organizations benefit tremendously. However, females continue to struggle, and finding proper guidance is challenging even when a woman’s heart is in the right place. As we journey into the future, we must facilitate the emergence and success of future-focused female leaders in society and the workplace.
The Future-Focused Female Leader is for ladies intending to develop or strengthen their leadership skills to excel. It is also a resource that can be leveraged to coach and mentor younger female leaders to continue developing themselves and their perspectives.
Dr. Chinyere Almona leverages her 30 years of leadership experience in diverse roles across Africa. She shares her ups and downs, failures and successes, strengths and weaknesses, showing anyone striving to lead successfully that the secret lies in strengthening or developing certain attributes.
The Future-Focused Female Leader is a great read, with insights and actionable ideas. It is a book that will genuinely resonate with female leaders at different stages of leadership. It is personal, practical, and powerful, making it relatable for female leaders in their leadership journeys.

Sujets

• Careers
• Employabilité, métiers et formations
• Career
• Self-help
• Economics
• Business
• Carrière
• Carrière & Mobilité

Informations

• Publié par: Xlibris US
• Date de parution: 16 mars 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669868095
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Future-Focused Female Leader
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dr Chinyere Almona
 
Copyright © 2023 by Dr Chinyere Almona.
 
ISBN:
Softcover
978-1-6698-6808-8

eBook
978-1-6698-6809-5
 
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Rev. date: 03/16/2023
 
 
 
Xlibris
844-714-8691
www.Xlibris.com
831511
CONTENTS
Dedication
Epigraph
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1Be A Lifelong Learner
Chapter 2Be A Reader
Chapter 3Be Adaptable
Chapter 4Be Authentic
Chapter 5Be Courageous
Chapter 6Be Disciplined
Chapter 7Be Ethical
Chapter 8Be Humble
Chapter 9Be Self-Aware
Chapter 10Be Visible
Chapter 11Be Visionary
Chapter 12Be Well-Groomed
Bonus Chapter: Be Tenacious
Conclusion
Postface: Breaking News
References
About the Author
DEDICATION
I dedicate this book to my brilliant and phenomenal daughters, Chidumebi Daniella Almona and Ginikachukwu Ruth Almona, who are future-focused young lea ders.
And to all future-focused female leaders who are determined and will e xcel
I look forward to more formidable female leadership in the years a head!
EPIGRAPH
The Future-Focused Female Le ader
 
She is a force to be reckoned with
A blessing and source of good to many
Armed with skills, will and vast abilities
She secures her license to affect current and future generations
She is mindful of her integrity, influence and impact
Known for her character, competence, and confidence.
She made it to the top because she dared to climb
While making decisions in the present her eyes are focused on the future
She is a phenomenal future-focused female leader!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I thank God Almighty, who blessed me with a sound and creative mind.
I thank everyone I have encountered in my leadership journey. Everyone has contributed in a small or large measure to the contents of this book. I can confidently say that I have lived, loved, laughed, led, and learned a lot along the way.
I thank all the young female mentees I have had the privilege of walking alongside. I have learned as much from them as they have learned from me.
I thank one of my role models, Chief (Dr.) Mrs. Onikepo Akande, CON. Former Minister of Industry, Federal Republic of Nigeria, Past President, Lagos Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI), and the current Group Chairman, Emerging Africa Capital Group, whose speech formed the foreword.
I thank everyone who has picked and will pick up this book because they validate the need to write it.
I thank my family and friends for standing by me as I acquired and strengthened the attributes I shared in this book.
FOREWORD
At the 2023 International Women’s Day Celebration organized by the Bank of Industry, held in Lagos, Nigeria, on 6 th March 2023, I was mesmerized as I listened to the keynote address by one of my role models, Chief Dr (Mrs) Onikepo Akande, CON. Everything she said resonated with me and related to the leadership attributes and concepts discussed in this book. I subsequently obtained her permission to include an abridged and slightly edited version of her speech in this book: The Future-Focused Female Le ader.
Despite limitations that could have been deterrents, I excelled as a young girl in school and career. My life’s journey explains my devotion to pro-women development initiatives. Appreciating God’s enormous grace, I have devoted my life to motivating and inspiring the girl child, young ladies, and women in Nigeria to become the best they can be in this globalized world.
The common denominators of great Nigerian women are their very high levels of competence, capability, and capacity, as well as hard work, diligence, and integrity. Outstanding Nigerian women present viable role models for the girl child and young females that they can achieve any heights with determination and resilience.
My message is that there are no viable or sustainable shortcuts to the top. Knowledge acquisition through sound education, retraining, skills acquisition and exposure to capacity-building programs are essential for progression to the top. As women, we, in most cases, have to work twice or thrice as hard as our male counterparts to excel beyond doubt in this highly competitive world.
In the wake of the 4 th and 5 th industrial revolutions, brain power and superior intellect, artificial intelligence, and the internet of things are gaining ascendancy over physical prowess. This gradually but steadily bridges the edge that young men used to have over their female counterparts at workplaces. Not mainstreaming our women would amount to operating at 50% of our national productive capacity since women account for more than half of Nigeria’s population of about 216 million.
Being naturally endowed with nurturing qualities that help with team-building capabilities implicitly prepares women for leadership responsibilities. As we were taught in Business Schools, being a good team player and builder are prerequisites for successful and effective leadership. Women are also gifted with a high capacity for insight, foresight, and intuitive and instinctive capabilities. Women are also noted for their patience, tolerance, resilience, endurance, and multitasking capabilities. This explains why women can succeed at home and work by striking the delicate balance between their careers and domestic responsibilities, including procreation and nurturing.
I need to stress the importance of mentoring and handholding. No matter how knowledgeable, brilliant, or skillful we are, a mentor’s guidance and support help us actualize our potential. On behalf of elder stateswomen and female forerunners in the public and private sectors, I assure you of our readiness to mentor and hand-hold promising young ladies and women as they navigate their way to the top in their respective undertakings. I urge us all to seize every opportunity to network, make friends and establish contacts that can be built upon for life.
As an elderly and experienced woman, I like to state some self-destructive practices that have continued to retard women’s progress, especially in our society. I want to make a passionate plea; please let us end the long-held view that women are our own greatest enemies. From experience, I know how we women undermine each other. These negative and detrimental tendencies are driven by envy, jealousy, and petty, unnecessary rivalries. The sky is so wide, and everybody can soar.
Let me summarize with Life Lessons; Ways to Rise to the Top!
A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way. In my own little way, I want to share my expertise and suggest ways to rise to the top:
The qualities of a leader are:
(1) Education, (2) Hard work, (3) Honesty, (4) Transparency, (5) Intellectual and Professional rigor, (6) A winning mindset, and (7) Courage (Confidence).
Apart from these qualities, there are some strategies that one can adopt to get to the top. These include the following:
1. Build networks and alliances
2. Take full advantage of training opportunities: particularly in the early parts of your career.
3. Always sitting upfront at seminars and conferences
4. Watch women who are successful in your organization and industry and try to figure out what characteristics seem to drive their success
5. Play to your strengths.
6. Do not be afraid of fear. ‘Am I good enough?’ ‘Am I smart enough?’ ‘Will I fail?’ Throw caution to the winds. Look fear straight in its ugly face and barge forward.
7. Do not lose your sense of humor.
8. Do not dive into the water if you do not know how deep it is.
9. When women are given respect, the ability, and the freedom to pursue their personal dreams and ambitions, life improves for everyone.
10. Women are as capable, energetic, and aspiring as men.
Undoubtedly, getting to the top is relatively harder to achieve for women. For instance, most countries and large corporations have yet to have female leaders at the helm of affairs. Notwithstanding, the number of female leaders in the public and private sectors worldwide, including Nigeria, has grown significantly and steadily over the last decade. This development and trend are quite reassuring.
Let me, at this point, challenge women, including men, who are in leadership positions across the board, to support more women into electable or other leadership positions. It is time we consciously adopt younger women and mentor them in a manner that will facilitate their moves and quests to leadership ranks and positions
I have listed the qualities of a good leader and the strategies to adopt, and I will conclude by saying, on your way to the top, you will stumble and fall, you will experience both disaster and triumph sometimes on the same day, but it is so important to remember that, like a hangover, neither triumphs nor defeats last forever. They both pass, and a new day arrives. So, just try to make that new day count.
This keynote address validates this book’s importance — thu