LEARNABILITY IN LEADERSHIP (Part A)

A while back I was in Accra the capital of Ghana. I beautiful place with easy going people who seemed to obey traffic laws whether or not there was the presence of law enforcement agents. I crossed the road one day when the pedestrian light was on red, while that of cars was on green. I crossed the road the ‘Lagos’ way, meandering through the cars and even waving down a vehicle to stop. The driver of the vehicle I tried to wave down pointed out the traffic lights asking if I was blind not to see that I did not have the rights or go-ahead to cross the road. I tell you I felt very stupid with myself. Seyi you are not a kid, you are past secondary school, past a first degree, past a Masters and moving on to get the next thing, yet you can’t obey a simple traffic light, are you such a dummy? 

I tell you, that was the last time I crossed the road or drove across a junction or through a major road without the go-ahead of the traffic light, not only in Ghana, but in Nigeria. If after spending so many years in formal and informal educational environments and I still cannot understand the traffic light enough to obey it, then there is a problem that is fundamental.
The 

The truth of the matter is that the fact that a person is literate does not mean the person is educated, and that a person has gone to get the best of education is no guarantee that such a person has learnt anything. My emphasis here is on LEARNING, not on the pride of most Nigerians today – Education and Certificates.

The Ability of a person to learn and give him/herself to Learning is a factor that will strongly determine such a person’s Ability to Lead which I call – LEADABILITY (LEAD-ABILITY or the Leading Ability or Ability of a person to Lead).

Leadership is a process, a process that entails and connects so many activities and processes alike. First of all, it is a process of Learning. Anyone who aspires to be a leader in any manner or way or sector must be ready to learn. A learner must by every possible means take time to learn, submit him/herself to learning, not just being taught or reading, but a fine blend of conscious and unconscious processes of learning. This blend may vary from individual to individual and is greatly affected by Family background, Parents, Peers, School, Society, Media (TV, Radio etc) and Self-Awareness.

Such a person must be ready to learn about him/herself (strengths, weaknesses etc.), his/her environments (present and aspiring environments), the people in the aspiring environment, and humble him/herself to learn from people.

Learning is also an activity which could be conscious or unconscious, so we can say that Learning is an ACTIVE-PROCESS. An Activity that actively involves the whole being of a person; It involves; The Eyes, The Ears, The Nose, The Sense of Touch and The Mind (which helps to coordinate the other senses and the assimilation process), as it is a measurable amount of work performed to convert inputs into outputs with the involvement of resources such as the ones mentioned above.

A Process that is a set or sequence of interdependent and linked procedures or/and activities which, at every stage require one or more resources (eyes, ears, hands, legs, mouth, mind etc.) to convert inputs from the real world into outputs. These outputs could then serve as inputs for another stage or another process until learning is achieved. (Adapted from: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/process.html#ixzz2OI8Dz6YT)

So bringing the two; Activity and Process together, we can see that Learning is a Process that is Active, measurable by what is learned.

So it can be said that Learning is an Activity full of different processes that are interdependent and linked together and at every stage (seeing, hearing, smelling .... ) require one or more resources (Eye, Ear, Hand ......)to make use of the data or information being assimilated. What is being assimilated could also serve as one of the requirements to learn something new.

Learning is energy consuming, mind sapping and life modifying. So if a person claims to be learning or to have learnt, s/he does not need to announce it with his/her mouth, rather he will announce him/herself with his/her attitude, behavior, company (friends) kept, kind and type of words used, manner of communication, manner of speaking, way and manner in which s/he treats people, things etc.

This means that it is and activity laden process or a process that entails different activities that are knitted together needing resources to execute these processes.

Part B: Micro Resources and Activities involved in Learning