I will like to talk about trust in leadership and how it has helped me from the one car business to our current status. John C. Maxwell said, “Character makes trust possible and trust makes Leadership possible”.

I remember last year when YOKS was bidding for a project at Kempinski Gold Coast City Hotel with other well-known international brands, we got shortlisted and we had to provide a minimum of 30 vehicles. We got the bank to finance it but they said we had to pay 15% of US$1.2million security deposit which we did not have at that time. So my General Manager suggested we back off from the transaction but I told him that we will do it. A week before I signed the contract, I called one of our banks and told them I was about to sign a contract and asked them if they would be interested to finance it. I added that if they would be interested, I would want them to get me an offer letter within three days so that I could insert their name in the contract before signing.

This bank agreed to do it and they issued the offer letter within three days and we were able to sign the contract. I told the bank I did not have the 15% security deposit available. I proposed a Treasury bill which I would start and build it up over the period on the three-year facility. My first contract which was with the West Africa Gas pipeline in 2006 was financed by this same bank. We honored all their terms and conditions.

This background made it easy for us to request an offer letter from the bank in three days because of the capacity we had built. So the required 15% security deposit was taken off and approved by the Board because of my track record with them. This happened because the bank had trust in me and my firm because we kept our promises.

So I think that in leadership, trust is very important. When we won the contract and bought 30 cars, my workers were like how were we able to pull it through? This made my team gain trust in me and my leadership. My team then came to the conclusion that when I say something, I can achieve it and that worked for us.

I think we need greater internal resource than the physical resources to be able to lead and get extraordinary results.

There is something everyone has in him or her to be a great leader.

As a leader, you should be able to identify and know your strengths. You should know what you can and cannot do. What you cannot do, you need to bring people on board to help you fill that gap. Everyone has something unique that you can use to your advantage. You might not have all the capacity and knowledge but once you can imagine it, you can get it done.

I was talking to some students and I asked them to close their eyes and imagine how they would want to see themselves in 5 to 10 years from now. I was a trotro mate, I was a driver, I sold stationery but it was all temporary. So your position today is only temporary but if you want to go forward, there is something in you that would push you to achieve it. Once you can think about it, you can do it. You may need others and some resources to execute your ideas.

Your vision makes you creative. In leadership, it would be very difficult to lead without vision. Let us assume that when driving to Kumasi, you have to think about the road you will use and the car to use. If you do not know where you are going or the road is not tarred, you would check your spare tires and jerk because you must prepare for the journey. So it is with leadership and business; you have to know where you are going so you can lead your people to that destination. So without vision, leadership would be challenged. One of the definitions of vision is the ability to think about the future with imagination. You have to apply wisdom and you have to know when to take risks and when not to.

Life is about progress and not survival. We have to make progress wherever we find ourselves.

Normally, when we talk about leadership, our minds go to the leaders of the nation like the president and ministers which should not be the case. Even if you are not leading anyone, you are leading yourself and you should not deceive yourself. You should know that you have to make progress and be able to measure your progress as you go along. You will become on the outside what you believe inside you because we command what we think about yourself.

Never lose your hunger for success!

Seth Yeboah Ocran
CEO, YOKS Investments