PRESIDENT of the Graduate School of Leadership and Professional Development in Namibia, Jamaican-born Professor Earle Taylor, has attributed the current global economic crisis to a lack of leadership and management.

Professor Taylor said that the unwillingness of some countries to recognise the need for, and value of effective and sound leadership on a continuous basis, or to ensure that this is facilitated in enterprise and integrated in respective economies, often leads to crisis management.

“This is precisely the dilemma we see so visibly and tangibly today, right across the globe,” he said. “The (global) market is much like any living organism. It has moods. Today, it is angry, angry from years of neglect, mismanagement, and lack of leadership. We must take time to understand the mood, (and) work with the market forces to influence the change that we need. We cannot force it.”

Taylor was speaking at the Management Institute for National Development’s (MIND) Friday Policy Forum on February 20, at the institution’s Old Hope Road campus in St Andrew.

He argued that, in light of the prevailing situation, empowering local leaders and managers to steer Jamaica in the right direction is a crucial development, if the country is to survive the next few years.

“Leadership is not an event. Somehow, we tend to believe that leadership comes out during times of difficulty. It does not just appear, emerge, or occur in emergencies or during difficult times,” he noted. “Leadership is a complex skill that is continuously informed, fuelled, and energised, but more so reinforced by the power of perception and observation, the sense of intuition and anticipation, and the inherent drive to change and create something of value, in the best or worst of times.”

– JIS