Unilever boss advocates humility, operational intensity at work
The Executive Vice-President for Unilever Ghana and Nigeria, Mr Yaw Nsarkoh, has prescribed humility and operational intensity as important tools people must adapt to in order to rise and remain at the top.
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Humility, he explained, was exceedingly important to be able to learn from others because no one was an embodiment of knowledge.
Speaking at the 19th MTN Business World Executive Breakfast meeting in Accra, Mr Nsarkoh said, “The more I reflected about management, the more I have come to terms with the place of humility. Humility is exceedingly important because many people, as they becomne senior in an organisation, become very insecure.”
He said humility comprised the ability to show vulnerability, the ability to fight one’s insecurities and to know that when one’s team excels, it would lead to individual excellence.
“When you are rising in an organisation, part of what you should be extremely happy about is that you have team members who can become bigger than you and you are happy when they excel,” he added.
Mr Nsarkoh explained that it was important for people to be ready to learn when they have no knowledge of something.
“Be comfortable to let people know you don’t know and be ready to learn. Be willing to say you have absolutely no idea about it and hear others views. I studied engineering and veered off into marketing. If I went to the field and behaved like overnight I have become an outstanding marketer, I would probably have gotten disconnected,” he said.
Operational intensity
The second thing he touched on was operational intensity. He said it was important for people to take businesses serious and to ensure that operational efficiency was achieved with the right policies and reward mechanisms.
“Business is not charity so you have to be extremely serious about it. When we go for meetings and we agree to do something, I expect that next time we meet, it should be done,” he said.
He added, “Part of the leader’s role is to ensure that you have systems and mechanisms in place and the reward mechanism for people who are serious about the execution of business.”
MTN Ghana
The CEO of MTN Ghana, Mr Ebenezer Asante, said the breakfast series had over the last years benefited business leaders as it created a learning, sharing and action-oriented platform for new and existing businesses.
“It has been six exciting years of meaningful business deliberations in a cordial atmosphere and I trust we have all benefitted from the learnings coming out of the executive breakfast series so far,” he said.
Touching on the theme, Mr Asante expressed hope that deliberations on “Leadership conversations in management” would provide lessons that managers could dwell on to improve their leadership styles.
“As we exchange ideas on how we use active and ethical leadership approaches in our organisations the lessons we draw from today’s meetings will have enormous impacts on our businesses,” he said.
Profile of Mr Nsarkoh
Yaw Nsarkoh has had a long and inspiring career at Unilever, having held and excelled in many positions. He is the Executive Vice-President of Unilever Ghana-Nigeria at Unilever Nigeria. Prior to his current position, he was the Managing Director of Unilever East and Southern Africa based in Kenya.
He has over 22 years of experience and has contributed immensely to the growth of Unilever businesses in various management positions across Africa, Asia and Europe including serving as Managing Director, Unilever East and Southern Africa, Strategic Assistant to Unilever Executive Member and President of Unilever Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe.
He is also the Director of Changing Lives Endowment Fund (CLEF) in Ghana and a member of the Ghana Institution of Engineers.
