Renowned Nigerian leadership expert and global speaker, Rev. Dr. Sam Adeyemi, has urged African and business leaders to move beyond short-term success and embrace leadership as stewardship, warning that decisions taken for quick gains often erode long-term trust and weaken institutions.
He made the call during a presentation titled “Building a Sustainable Leadership Legacy” on Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at the Pentecost Convention Centre, Gomoa Fetteh, on day two of the 13th Annual Jospong Leadership Conference (JLC) 2026. The conference is themed “Building Tomorrow’s Leaders Today.”
According to Dr. Adeyemi, leadership is not ownership but stewardship, stressing that leaders do not own power, institutions, or people but hold them in trust for a season and must pass them on stronger than they found them. He said this mindset distinguishes managers from true legacy leaders.
“Short-term fixes can give results today and create serious problems tomorrow,” he cautioned, noting that many organisations struggle because leaders prioritise performance over people.
Drawing on his consulting experience, Dr. Adeyemi explained that some high-performing managers often become major challenges for organisations. While they deliver results and generate profits, their harsh leadership styles damage people emotionally, leading to high staff turnover—especially among young professionals.
“Losing talent is losing money. Losing young talent is losing the future,” he emphasised.
He challenged leaders to balance present-day pressures with responsibility for the future, referencing an African proverb that says elders give the past, but the future is borrowed from children. He urged leaders to intentionally involve young people in decision-making and leadership development.
Using a biblical reference from 2 Timothy 2:2, Dr. Adeyemi highlighted the importance of mentorship and leadership continuity, stressing that leadership must be deliberately transferred from one generation to the next without obstruction.
A key focus of his presentation was values under pressure. He explained that values are easy to profess when business is good but are truly tested during crises.
“True leadership shows up when values come at a cost,” he said.
To illustrate this, he cited the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol crisis in the United States, where the company recalled millions of products after product tampering led to deaths. Though the decision reportedly cost about $100 million, it earned the company long-term trust and reshaped industry standards.
“Trust is a long-term asset,” he noted, adding that in Africa, where trust levels are often low, integrity has become a critical competitive advantage.
Dr. Adeyemi also shared a personal story about dishonesty driven by desperation, stressing that poverty and pressure should never justify unethical behaviour. He explained that low trust forces organisations to spend excessively on controls, bureaucracy, and monitoring systems.
He further referenced Microsoft’s cultural reset under CEO Satya Nadella, explaining that the company focused on mindset, culture, and people—not just strategy—demonstrating that even successful organisations must continuously renew themselves to remain relevant.
He concluded by calling for a new generation of African leaders grounded in values, trust, and stewardship across all sectors, stressing that leadership impact is not measured by titles, profit, or applause, but by what leaders leave behind and who they empower to lead next.
The Jospong Leadership Conference 2026 brought together leaders from business, government, faith-based organisations, and civil society to deliberate on leadership development and sustainable impact in Africa.
