Gcobisa Mdlulwa, MBA participant at Stellenbosch Business School, South Africa, tackles the question and covers the training and awareness dimensions that are so important for politicians to walk the talk of caring for society. 

What can Politicians Learn from those Leading the World’s most Successful Organisations? by Gcobisa Mdlulwa.

Globally, politicians have influence to safeguard the growth of the country’s economy. The CEO’s role is lead and control a business by managing the resources and have strategic plans in place however, the businesses are governed by government legislations. The question that one needs to probe about politicians is the willingness to learn, and what the criteria is to qualify as a politician that can be elected for the position?

Does government offer opportunities to politicians to learn to be responsible leaders once they occupy their offices to continuously develop themselves as the world evolves? To ensure continuity in business, successful leaders in businesses need to mentor young leaders. The issue of inequality based on gender in leadership roles remains an issue that creates imbalance in society, even though some countries have started initiatives to encourage women to occupy leadership positions.

Lessons politicians can learn from CEOs

Previously, leadership was based on the leader itself and that has changed as leaders are responsible to serve their people not only in business but in the environment where the business operates (Muff et al., 2021). Responsible leaders are required to engage with all the stakeholders that are affected by the action that is done by the organisation to ensure transparency and confident leadership orientation (Doh et al., 2014).

One of the examples is that politicians create and implement policies without considering all stakeholders. Indeed, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa approved the National Health bill (NHI) without the agreement from all stakeholders. In 2022, research carried out stipulated a lack of resources in Gauteng province health department including the specialists due to the lack of funding from government (Mukwena & Manyisa, 2022).

What good does approval do when there is pending court ruling on NHI?  The purpose of stakeholder engagement is to reach a consensus on a certain matter before execution to avoid conflict. Politicians are projected to have more knowledge than the citizen due to the expectation that their role include decision making that have impact to the citizens (Baekgaad et al., 2019). 

However, some leaders influence ordinary people by using populism strategy to be elected in leadership positions. In this light, the role of government is questionable in terms of appointing qualified candidates who can perform the job exceptionally well. In today’s world the belief that leaders are made supersedes the leaders are born argument as there is a lot to learn to become a responsible leader. The world’s technology is constantly changing and countries needs politicians that are well informed of the changes to attract investors and stay competitive.

Are the politicians prepared to deal with AI changes and the impact they have on ordinary people? There are many jobs that will be replaced by technology and that has a negative impact on the high rate of unemployment that is going to cause a decline of government taxes and poverty in the society. What is the long-term plan for survival? Are the schools well equipped to provide the skills required?

Lessons that the new leaders need to learn

Self-Awareness

The viral role of self-awareness is the ability for each person to identify his or her strengths and weaknesses. Self-aware leaders are associated with authentic leaders due to their transparency, openness and consistency. Their character does not value only themselves but their concern is for others as well (Brown & Treviño, 2006). The advice to the newly elected leaders is to ensure that weaknesses does not mean the person is incapable to lead – however, the focus needs to be on improvement. Criticism comes with the position and one of the tools to manage critics is through emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability for a person to understand his or her own values, norms and the areas of interest and others as well. Emotional intelligence helps leaders to deal with their emotions and behaviour during the interaction with others (Maak & Pless, 2006). One would ask if emotional intelligence is about suppressing ones emotions. Leaders are permitted to be vulnerable by being genuine and seek for assistance where necessary (Parsadh, 2025).

Integrity

Leaders are expected to lead with honesty and integrity. By doing so, all the stakeholders are likely to follow their footsteps. Leaders with integrity are associated with ethical leaders. Characteristics of ethical leaders are caring, honesty, fairness, consistency, setting high ethical standards and they ensure that others are accountable (Brown & Treviño, 2006). Integrity eliminates many bad influences such as corruption, bribery, favouritism and inconsistence.

 Visionary thinking

Leaders need to have a vision that has a strategic plan of execution and it is important how that vision is presented to stakeholders. The leader’s role is to motivate and influence the people to achieve the vision. The achievement of the stakeholders must be recognised through incentives, promotions and other rewards. KFC founder, Colonel Harland Sanders is one of the good example of a visionary leader as he started small with his fried chicken by approaching restaurants to add his chicken on the menu in 1955 and due to the demand he later opened his business (Lichtenberg, 2012).

Empathy

Responsible leaders are empathetic and they know what others are feeling without voicing out their concerns or unhappiness by interpreting non-verbal indicators such as body gestures, facial expression and tone of voice (De Klerk et al., 2014). Leaders who fail to show empathy to their internal stakeholders are at a risk of not achieving the required goal as they are seen by followers as people who are arrogant. Moreover, followers might embark on a go slow in productivity and that will affect financial goals.

Sustainability

Economic growth depends on the sustainability of organisations. At some point, the legal age for retirement forces leaders to leave the offices. What is going to happen in instances where there is no plan in place to ensure continuity? It is every organisation’s responsibility to have succession plan in place to ensure smooth transition and continuity. The introduction of Al remains a challenge in developing countries that are not prepared for change.

Leaders need to be innovative thinkers that are curious about what is happening in the world and being proactive costs less than being reactive. Vodacom is one of the organisation that is linked to Environmental, Social and Government (ESG) objectives associated with local and global goals such as local government development plans and the UN SDGs. The progress that the organisation has made on the objectives establish noticeable value to stakeholders and accomplish developing ESG regulations and standards in the business environment (Integrated report, 2023).

Inequality based on gender

Hofstede dimensions associates masculinity with assertiveness, toughness and an emphasis on money and material things (Larson & Gary, 2021). Masculinity power has taken over for decades where leadership roles were associated with men and women were associated with household duties. The change should start with the organisational culture where women must be equipped with necessary skills to take leadership roles and they are treated equally with men. HR policies must be aligned with the organisational culture to ensure that there is no power distance between the men and women.

There have been notable instances of men politicians actively engaging in gender equality politics. To mention just one, Barack Obama actively supported the United Nation’s ‘HeForShe’ campaign in 2014 (Höhmann, 2024). Men in our societies have been considered leaders in their families, providing all the necessities and taking decisions (Van der berg, 2015). Businesses and government are currently in a situation where those leaders need to be trained to unlearn their cultural norms about women, and accept women as leaders and decision makers.

Politicians: The gap between qualification and work experience

The continuing gap between theoretical knowledge and practical experience in the areas of education, recruitment and employability of people has become a major concern for employers (Fisher & González, 2020). Many University students after completing their qualifications seek employment opportunities without experience.

Successful organisations should at least provide extended internship programmes for up to 24 months to ensure that the students are ready to compete for better opportunities in the job market and become entrepreneurs. The mentoring and coaching should be made available at an early stage in order to retain talent in the organisation.

As long as there are not leadership schools for politicians, it is likely that their decisions will not be in favour of other stakeholders. The change that the AI is bringing is as yet not properly addressed for all stakeholders. The world need to focus on closing the gap of inadequate leadership that happened in the past by focusing on grooming new leaders to be responsible leaders.

On-the-job training, workshops, and seminars should be implemented to continuously give the opportunity to learn about the new changes in order to stay relevant and assist those who are newly qualified from school. Each country should also focus on sustainability by appointing researchers that can foresee future changes in the world.

Useful links:

• Read a related article: Divided We Fall: Exploring the surge of political polarisation
• Download this and other articles in the June 2025 special issue Global Voice magazine #32
• Discover Stellenbosch Business School, South Africa
• Apply for an MBA at Stellenbosch.

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