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Great Leadership or Great Results, Which comes first?

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Anton Oosthuizen Senior Business Analyst / Project Manager| Self Employed Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
My question is triggered on the premise that the predicted population explosion (specifically Africa) will bring about a tremendous amount of PM-related opportunities (see quote below). In underdeveloped countries, the reality is far removed from theory. In order to get to those results i.e. all those houses, hospitals, etc. don't we need great leadership first? In any project, can the PM function and deliver what is required without the backing of proper leadership?

"2050, the population of Africa is expected to be 2.4 billion people. It’s 1.4 billion today.

They have to build 65,000 homes a day, every day, for the next 30 years to accommodate those people. How many hospitals? How many schools? How many roads? Who’s going to do that? How’s that going to happen? And which countries are going to be relevant when that happens? That is a huge amount of project work."
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Anton Oosthuizen Senior Business Analyst / Project Manager| Self Employed Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Thanks for all the replies and opinions and I will now chime in with mine ;)

Funding in underdeveloped countries is a nightmare because of human nature become corrupt in the face of wealth. It is the responsibility of the population to hold their leaders accountable but there lies the conundrum. If you are living on or below the breadline your focus is not next week, next month or next year. It is today and tomorrow. Politicians, so-called 'leaders" use this to ensure that they stay on the gravy train. If you do not know where the next meal is coming from for your family you will accept a quick win (a t-shirt and a burger) to support a corrupt "leader" and not be concerned with next year. I mean these "leaders" have been put into power by the people so how can they not have their best interest at heart?

My conclusion is that before we get all excited about all the opportunity being created by the population explosion in underdeveloped countries we should rather be looking at how to solve the leadership problems which plagues 98% of these countries.
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Daire Guiney Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
Dear Anton,

One thing that needs to change about Africa is it perception and how it is perceived by the West.

I was the generation that grew up with Band Aid and Live Aid and raising money for starving children in Africa.

This is still continuing to this day with many charities actively engaged and on the ground in war torn African Countries.

As a result there is a perception that African people cant look after themselves and everything was fine when a large proportion of African countries were colonies.

This stigma and reputation is hard to shift and I feel that the next growth in African will be exploitation of a different kind. It wont be about natural resources but the next sweat factories, markets for cheap products and locking in to long term contracts to managed a countries national assets.

So I think Africa needs to get its mojo back, realize they have tremendous wealth in their people and see beyond cultural differences and understand that if properly managed Africa should be the riches continent on the planet.

Daire
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1 reply by Anton Oosthuizen
Mar 10, 2020 7:17 AM
Anton Oosthuizen
...
Agree Daire but again it comes down to ethical leadership without which the ample opportunities that are available cannot reach grassroots. Initiatives such as Band-Aid and Live Aid are good examples of how the world opened its heart but the main beneficiaries of these gestures were corrupt leadership. Aids Relieve is another were donated retroviral medicine is being sold at great profit, never to reach those whom it was intended for.

Bringing all this back into the context of project economy - Even without the predicted population growth over the next decade we have many millions of people who need houses, hospitals, food, etc. What is stopping us from exploiting these opportunities by creating jobs to build thousands of houses per day and producing good results? Bad leadership?
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Anton Oosthuizen Senior Business Analyst / Project Manager| Self Employed Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
Mar 10, 2020 6:32 AM
Replying to Daire Guiney
...
Dear Anton,

One thing that needs to change about Africa is it perception and how it is perceived by the West.

I was the generation that grew up with Band Aid and Live Aid and raising money for starving children in Africa.

This is still continuing to this day with many charities actively engaged and on the ground in war torn African Countries.

As a result there is a perception that African people cant look after themselves and everything was fine when a large proportion of African countries were colonies.

This stigma and reputation is hard to shift and I feel that the next growth in African will be exploitation of a different kind. It wont be about natural resources but the next sweat factories, markets for cheap products and locking in to long term contracts to managed a countries national assets.

So I think Africa needs to get its mojo back, realize they have tremendous wealth in their people and see beyond cultural differences and understand that if properly managed Africa should be the riches continent on the planet.

Daire
Agree Daire but again it comes down to ethical leadership without which the ample opportunities that are available cannot reach grassroots. Initiatives such as Band-Aid and Live Aid are good examples of how the world opened its heart but the main beneficiaries of these gestures were corrupt leadership. Aids Relieve is another were donated retroviral medicine is being sold at great profit, never to reach those whom it was intended for.

Bringing all this back into the context of project economy - Even without the predicted population growth over the next decade we have many millions of people who need houses, hospitals, food, etc. What is stopping us from exploiting these opportunities by creating jobs to build thousands of houses per day and producing good results? Bad leadership?
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Stéphane Parent Self Employed / Semi-retired| Leader Maker Prince Edward Island, Canada
Leadership is about providing an environment that fosters results.
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