Forum urges leaders to adjust business models for relevance

As technology keeps evolving and has forced a paradigm shift, the need for leaders and organisations to adjust their business models to stay afloat and remain relevant has been underscored.

Making fundamental changes through personnel, processes, and technology, experts say, helps organizations compete more effectively, become more efficient, or make a wholesale strategic pivot.

They spoke at the 40th Omolayole Management Lecture (OML) series, citing long-term gains, community-centric, agile management, collaborative stance, and intellectual capitalism as some of the new perspectives in leadership.

Speaking on ‘Developing a Game-Changing Leader’s Mindset for Business Transformation in a VUCA World, Lead Consultant/Chief Executive Officer, Knowledge and Resource Centre Limited, Dr Mosun Belo-Olusoga, said for effective business transformation, there is a need to reshape the mindset of leaders by sharpening their emotional intelligence, building trust, increased focus on shared purpose and taking tough decisions.

According to her, transformational leadership trends must be purpose, performance, and principles-driven.

However, to tackle business transformation challenges, Belo-Olusoga said leaders must invest in programme talent, build a sustainability drive to value and lead with capabilities.

She said the new normal had accelerated the adoption of technology. Therefore, leaders needed to embrace the new reality, focusing on hiring talents who are tech-savvy and could help accelerate business transformation.

She stressed that being a visionary and bursting myths are core attributes of transformational leaders.

In his address, Dr Michael Omolayole, a management expert, in whose honour the lecture was held, expressed in a sober mood how the celebration was dampened by the fact that the Nigerian economy was in shambles and citizens were in agony, stating that all statistical indices are worse than they were during the period last year.

To address some of the nation’s challenges, he urged everyone to participate in the food value chain, pointing out that food security was everybody’s duty, even as he quoted an adage that “When food is removed from poverty, the rest is manageable.”

He lamented that it was an unfortunate situation that some of them who had lived long were to see some of their predictions happening in their lifetime.

Pa Omolayole, as he is fondly called, recalled how he warned passionately that the country needed to pay considerable attention to the supply and accessibility of inexpensive electricity to the public during one of its programmes four years ago.

Also, on insecurity to lives and properties, as well as the emergence of terrorism, he said their recommendations and warnings fell on deaf ears, stating that, unfortunately, the situation was worse today than it was when the recommendations were made.

President and Chairman of the Governing Council, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management of Nigeria (CIPM), Ahmed Gobir, whose institute organised the lecture, said the OML platform has shaped the careers of many professionals, influenced policy, and set the agenda for the next generation of leaders by igniting debates, fostering collaboration, and inspiring actionable change in industries that form the backbone of Nigeria’s economy.

According to him, over the years, the Omolayole Management Lecture Series has grown from a humble initiative to a beacon of knowledge and intellectual discourse, contributing significantly to the development of thought leadership in corporate governance, human resources, and national development.