The Art of Decisiveness: The Art of Decisive Leadership

By Sheunesu E Kasiamhuru

Do you ever feel like you don't know how to be a great leader?

In Sheunesu E Kasiamhuru's leadership book The Art of Decisiveness, we are taken on a blast to the past to learn key skills from the Age of Enlightenment through modern greats in order to move towards a brigh

• Language: English
• Publisher: New Degree Press
• Release date: May 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9798885042130

Sheunesu E Kasiamhuru

Sheunesu E Kasiamhuru-Mutembwa is a Zimbabwean entrepreneur, writer, and a FIFA accredited soccer coach who is a graduate of the University of Pretoria in the discipline of sports management. In addition to this Sheunesu also worked as a field manager for a joint research survey in Zimbabwe organized by the American University and University of California Davis in 2018. Having sampled many diverse cultures in his numerous travels after his high school education at St Georges College Zimbabwe, Sheunesu combines those experiences with his love for history in his debut philosophy book. The Art of Decisiveness provides insights into the traits and principles of decisive leadership. He believes in looking back in time to help solve the issues that lay ahead. He loves to travel, hike, climb mountains and support his favorite teams which are Real Madrid, Arsenal, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the New Zealand All Blacks.

Book preview

The Art of Decisiveness

Sheunesu E Kasiamhuru

New Degree Press

Copyright © 2022 Sheunesu E Kasiamhuru

All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise indicated, Bible verses are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Art of Decisiveness

ISBN

979-8-88504-105-8 Paperback

979-8-88504-734-0 Kindle Ebook

979-8-88504-213-0 Ebook

In loving memory of my inspirations, who lost their lives while this was being written:

Diego Armando Maradona and Dewa Mavhinga,

My cousin, Enoch Kwembeya,

And the Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant. None of you will ever be forgotten in my heart or mind.

Also to my friends, family, and emerging leaders across the world—this one is for you.

Contents

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Introduction:

The Nine Pillars

Chapter 1

Belief

Chapter 2

Adversity + Belief =Decisive Action

Chapter 3

From Self-Belief Stems Responsibility, Sacrifice, and Inquisitiveness

Chapter 4

A Nature of Inquisitiveness

Chapter 5

Solitude’s Serenity

Chapter 6

Nelson on the Waters

Chapter 7

Attention to Detail

Chapter 8

The Moment

Chapter 9

Never Venture into Warfare Unprepared

Chapter 10

Oh Africa!

Chapter 11

Cohesion’s Bridge

Chapter 12

An Mein Folk

Chapter 13

The Importance of Charm in First-Time Interactions

Chapter 14

Empathy First

Chapter 15

The Special One

Chapter 16

Perception Breeds Awareness

Chapter 17

The Joust of Words and Pictures

Chapter 18

The Swinging ’60s

Chapter 19

Just Take It

Chapter 20

Proactivity

Chapter 21

Pick 199

Chapter 22

The Tree of Merit

Chapter 23

If You Abuse It, You Will Lose It

Chapter 24

Recruitment and Promotion: Creating an Accountable and Competent Staff

Chapter 25

Parity in Policy Breeds Clarity of Vision

Chapter 26

Legacy Is the Greatest Motivator

Chapter 27

Lady Image’s Influence on Positive Legacy Building

Chapter 28

Seven-Star Girl

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Works Cited

Introduction

The Nine Pillars

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In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.

—Thomas Jefferson

Take a moment to envision some of the most iconic structures of classical architecture. Wherever you are around the world, you are likely to encounter these relics from the Age of Antiquity as you pace up and down the streets—whether you stroll down Westminster’s hallowed pavements, along Delhi’s cramped and bustling streets, amid the multitude of monuments in New York City, or before the imposing Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

Many of these large granite, concrete, and marble structures have stood for centuries, surviving through a multitude of traumas, both manmade and natural, their foundations as sturdy as ever. If you look at the composition of many of these buildings and monuments, one feature remains a constant: the pillar. An upright shaft structure upon which the structural integrity of the building is assured, the pillar ensures the force is evenly distributed, allowing the building to stand for thousands of years.

Akin to the monuments we erect, mankind too is a structure in and of itself. Just like many of the monuments sitting atop pillars that provide them with strength and stability, so does our success rest on the pillars of principle. These principles form a foundation of resilience which upholds us through the trials and tribulations so consistent in the journey of life. They ensure that decisive action is a given in any endeavor. Nine principles govern the art of decisive leadership:

•Belief

•Health

•Attention to Detail

•Unity of Purpose

•First Impressions

•Perception

•Initiative

•Merit

•Legacy

If practiced, said principles turn men and women of average standing into individuals of great repute, pushing us ever closer to the world we seek to live in. Without them, we could end up living a life of unfulfilled potential, led astray by misguided ideals that emphasize the here and now and make us slaves to necessity. Such ideals may cause us to haphazardly chase after the trappings of materialism instead of the noble pursuits that help us fully enrich our lives and the lives of those around us. As Harry Harrison put it, the principles we live by, in business and social life, are the most important part of happiness. Through principle, we zone in on what is important and minimize our attention to what is not.

Principle + Character =The Monument of Decisiveness

Principles provide the pillars on which success rests, but virtuous traits in character must be cultivated to maintain these standards. This is never easy, but great necessities call out great virtues and just like the principles on which their foundations are built upon, these traits in character comprise the materials which form the monument of decisiveness (Adams, 1780). One only has to look at the example set by Abigail Adams, wife of the second president of the United States and mother of the sixth. A pillar of stability considered bright and vivacious, Abigail Adams provided her son, John Quincy Adams, with wisdom that would shape him into the man he became. We see this through a quote she relayed to him at their Massachusetts farm while the War of Independence raged around them:

These are times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life [. . .] that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties.

First Lady Adams illustrates that character is what makes a man or woman great. Through character, one maintains their principles even in the most trying of times. Character traits like courage, perseverance, ambition, determination, self-confidence, and an analytical mind are vital for providing a finish to our monument of decisiveness. These traits are embedded in the decisive nature, which spurs us forward to perform great deeds in the heat of the moment when principles and character are needed most. If these traits cannot be found in someone we call a leader, I think it’s best we start to call that person something else.

Decisiveness Is the Cure to Divisiveness and Inequality

Many ask why I chose to write this book and why I focus on the stories of old men and women whose heydays passed centuries ago. As the book of Ecclesiastes so eloquently states, there is nothing new under the sun, and history—though it might not repeat itself in full detail—rhymes with age-old values and fruit-bearing principles (Eccles. 1:9). These principles produce efficiency in every profession. They are unchanging and unbroken. For instance, when we look at the Age of Enlightenment, during which many of the anecdotes we will discuss took place, innumerable similarities can be found between that time and our own, both good and bad.

Take, for instance, the massive disparity of wealth during the Enlightenment. Economic inequality in France, which was the dominant superpower of the age, was jaw-dropping. France was set in a rigid class system coined the Estates General, which consisted of three ranks: the aristocracy, the clergy, and the people. This created a dispensation that allowed the first two estates to enjoy a king-like status when it came to issues of taxes, civil liberties, and other privileges, in spite of the fact that they only represented 2 percent of the population (Châteaux De Versailles, 2021).

Fast-forward to the twenty-first century. Just like France during the Enlightenment, those in the world’s richest 1 percent have more than twice as much wealth as all of earth’s seven billion inhabitants. The twenty-two richest men in the world hold more wealth than all the 325 million women in Africa, despite how the majority of women and girls put in twelve and a half billion hours of childcare and labor every day, slaving away for low wages (Whiting, 2020).

This is not a slight against the creation of wealth. On the contrary, can you imagine what the world would be like without business and trade pushing humanity forward with countless innovations? It would be a miserable existence, to say the least. Still, like everything good in life, balance is always an imperative.

In a bid to achieve said balance, the wisdom and craftsmanship that have enabled us to create such riches and sources of wealth must also be applied to alleviate the inequality we see today. The need to do good outweighs the need to excel—if we lose sight of this, we may plunge ourselves into tumult like that which festered at the tail end of the eighteenth century.

We delve now into the Art of Decisiveness—the principles which govern it, the characteristics that make up a man or woman of a decisive nature, and how for the last four hundred years we have seen time and again great men and women of valor practice these principles, creating and shaping the world we live in today.

CHAPTER 1

Belief

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Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.

—The Bhagavad Gita

Belief drives our visions and manifests them into reality. Through belief, a spirit of encouragement—which prompts us into decisive action—is born. As we begin laying the foundations of our monument of decisiveness, it seems fitting to start with the most integral pillar.

Immovable and resistant, the pillar of belief is located right at the center of our monument of decisiveness. Shouldering the brunt of our monument’s heavy weight, belief is built from perseverance, abundance mindset, determination, and a steely resolve. When belief is established, your ability to alter your reality increases tenfold.

Even as a snot-nosed, prep-school kid, belief’s formidable influence was never lost on me. Possessing a thrust like that of a javelin thrower, belief pushed me forward and has proven to be a weapon, entitling me to circumvent the choppy waters of some of the most competitive schooling systems in my country of Zimbabwe.

During sixth grade, as a student at one of the most lorded prep schools in the country, Hartmann House, the unrelenting nature of the Zimbabwean schooling system tested my belief immensely. Having performed poorly in the subject matter of my local linguistics (Shona) the semester before, I faced my earliest nerve-racking situation, finding myself dropped to the second class for a subject in which I should have been an expert. Flabbergasted does not begin to describe how I felt at that particular point in time. Being someone who carries supreme self-belief in their own capabilities, such an occurrence was a signal of inability.

This inability caused me to explore my inner mindset and begin growing a strong set of ideals—ideals that would provide me with an abundance mindset. Because of this mindset, when faced with a situation where many would simply have continued their day and accepted their fate, I urged myself to the office of my tall and domineering Shona teacher, Mr. Mhaka, to persuade him to change his decision.

I appreciate your judgment, I brazenly exclaimed, but I feel that entering such a low class for a language I consider to be my mother tongue would derail my progress learning it. Though my marks might improve, I highly doubt my understanding and grasp of the subject will, too. I believe I will do well if you give me another chance.

Mr. Mhaka was a stern and steadfast man who persistently reaffirmed his decision to place me in the second Shona class. His persistence began to rub off on me, and through perseverance (a trait rooted in the pillar of belief), I urged him to change his mind, granting me a reprieve.

Fine, he declared with a sigh of resignation. I will permit you to return to the first class, and should your performance not improve by midterm, you will have to return to the second class!

I was joyful upon receiving this reprieve and resolutely toiled through the difficulties of First Class Shona before improving my performance to a level that might have surprised many. When midterms arrived, my self-belief was vindicated. At the end of an assembly, Mr. Mhaka called me up to stand before all my peers.

What now? I murmured to myself, thinking more trouble was knocking on my doorstep.

Instead, Mr. Mhaka expressed congratulations on the self-belief I had shown and my ability to soldier through First Class Shona, where my mark had improved to 81 percent.

From that point on, I realized just how quintessential the pillar of belief is to decisive action and how vital it is for an individual. When it comes to any professional setting, establishing belief in your competencies and skills as a leader is absolutely imperative.

Without belief, a leader’s team becomes hesitant to implement the directives issued by their commander. Their will to act on their leader’s instructions will be nonexistent, bogging the entire team down in a state of mind plagued by indecision and needless wasting of time, all characterized by an endless back-and-forth almost tantamount to insubordination. Belief is like an insulin kick, starting the metabolic reactions an organizational body requires to be vibrant and vital. Belief will spread throughout the organization, setting all the necessary reactions for decisiveness into motion.

When the pillar of belief becomes firmly ingrained in your psyche, fear cannot overcome your mind or the minds of your employees. Belief in one’s own judgment can be what leads an individual to prove naysayers wrong and take on the responsibility of pulling their less convicted comrades out of their stupor and into the heat of decisive action.

Belief Is Like the Apple of the Eye, the Father of Revolutionary Feats, and the Protector of Our Dreams and Ambitions

Belief is what spurred Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak forward during great hardships to establish the behemoth we now call Apple. Belief gets Liverpool back into the game, from being down three to nothing in a final to winning in the most dramatic of circumstances via the lottery