Doing Leadership Differently: African philosophies and leadership

Jo Chaffer introduces episode three of Advance HE's leadership podcast with special guest Frederick Ebot Ashu from University of Buea, Cameroon.

This podcast series is for anyone practising leadership, in whatever role or job title you occupy, who wishes to reflect on and possibly extend how you do leadership and to what end.

Advance HE Global Associate Jo Chaffer speaks to six people to understand how their different backgrounds and pathways are shaping their leadership today and asks what people can learn about themselves and their leadership. Listen to the series.

In this third episode of Doing Leadership Differently we hear from a leader who brings together European leadership practices with African philosophies. The philosophies he introduces range from pursuit of truth, order, balance and justice as personified by the Goddess and laws of Ma’at, to the teachings of Ptahhotep and further, to the spirit of Ubuntu. 

Frederick Ebot Ashu, from University of Buea in Cameroon, explains core themes consistent to the philosophies emerging from the African continent and how these themes underscore approaches to education, and specifically the development of educational leadership. His quest is to ensure themes such as being community oriented (in that development is by everyone for everyone), perennialism (perpetuating culture) and learning as something practical and lifelong, are all enfolded in how leadership is developed and enacted.

The conversation moves to Frederick’s personal journey, to where he is today and the many bumps and twists that have shaped who he is and how he leads. Educated in the UK and Germany, his transition back to academia and life in his native Cameroon has been far from easy. The ongoing tensions between the French-speaking majority and those using English medium add an extra dimension to the challenges of living and leading in higher education in this West African nation. Frederick continues to push for integration of African philosophies into the strategies and operations of the University of Buea where he now works.

Themes emerging from the conversation

• Staying connected to philosophies and spiritualities that have shaped our own development and considering how these inform and could contribute to how we do leadership and why.
• Fighting to reinstate philosophies that have been subsumed. Bringing these into doing leadership that supports openness to debate, cooperation, responsibility to one another and justice. Bringing these buried philosophies back into public domains as sources of wisdom and contemplation that complement the more widely known European sources.
• Leadership that aspires to the divine, by which he means, being kind, compassionate and good – being the best you can be.
• The use of metaphors and tales such as that of the Eloquent Peasant to remind us of the moral aspects of leadership.
• Leadership as setting out to fully understand the people around us as an act of liberation, and of finding peace.

Questions for reflection

How do your own spiritual and moral codes or guides show up in your leadership actions and approaches?

• How aware are you of such aspects in what makes you tick and those around you?
• What beliefs (if any) do you hold on whether these have a place in university leadership?With all the pressures to create impact and outcomes in the here and now, how much are you able to step back and consider leadership as something that could have impact on future generations – through time? Or the impacts horizontally – on the wider contexts in which your organisation operates?How important is this to you and how does it shape your practice?
• How important is this to you and how does it shape your practice?

Listen to the Doing Leadership Differently episode with Frederick Ebot Ashu.

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