my story
In Purpose to Victory, Balisi highlights the power of envisaging the future and setting goals, lessons learned on his leadership journey, and his special relationship with God, who has been his guide throughout his life.
“In the seeds of today are the flowers of tomorrow.”
“The humble dandelion is a useful metaphor in explaining the power of an idea. The plant’s seeds are able to float in the breeze and travel great distances only to land in the most unpredictable of places. But wherever they land, the potential of a new life begins. The influence of that one dandelion has within it a destiny to influence many.”
When Balisi Bonyongo was a teenager he made several promises to his mother. By the time he retired as MD of Debswana, one of the world’s leading diamond companies, he had achieved nearly all of them. In Purpose to Victory, Balisi highlights the power of envisaging the future and setting goals, lessons learned on his leadership journey, and his special relationship with God, who has been his guide throughout his life.
Humanity is living in the last days. Society is made up more of men, women and children whose attitude to living has become self-seeking, self-centred and egotistic in nature, interested more in what is good for “me” rather than for “us.” Pursuing wealth, self-gratification, power, image and social status can cause extreme pain to individuals, families, communities, and the environment.
No wonder then that our world is struggling with drugs and substance abuse, broken families, sexual immorality, ever increasing incidents of geo-political tensions, worsening effects of climate change and many other social ills. Why are we in this situation today?
About Purpose to Victory
Purpose to Victory – Leadership Through God’s Eyes was written as a guide to bringing about a leadership perspective that acknowledges God as the provider of wisdom to anyone who is a leader in whatever setting; family, community, politics, church, or any other organisation.
The book emphasises that “leading self” is at the core of real and sustainable leadership.
“God works with and through humans, and so anyone who wants to achieve leadership excellence should work and cooperate with Him, to receive His wisdom.”
He argues that the pain and suffering that our world is experiencing comes from humanity’s disobedience to the voice and word of God. In order, therefore, to resolve this, God must be brought at the centre of leadership discourse, leadership training and development. He argues that “purpose-driven leadership” is key in leveraging God’s wisdom to solve problems bedevilling humanity.
The book is centred around a framework developed by the author called the “5-R Framework of Leadership”.
It is a framework for rethinking and framing purpose-driven leadership. Each “R” in the framework occupies a chapter and is intended to stimulate thinking around the origins of leadership, importance of vision and values, the need to continually break the monotony of organisational culture and norms, as well as the criticality of consistent delivery of results through deliberate strategies, plans and actions.
- Revelation – leadership that yields fruit, and fruit that lasts, is revealed by God to the one called to lead. Such leaders rise up to mobilise followers for a cause that only they have knowledge and a “calling” to undertake.
- Resolve – leadership that has the courage to “act” or “execute” on set plans to deliver breakthrough performance for organisations, regardless of challenges encountered.
- Reach – leadership that is always conscious of socio-economic and political obligations and capable of envisioning a world that overcomes all forms of human frailties, adversities and social ills, that believes in unlimited possibilities and challenges people to dream beyond their current realities.
- Rhythm – leadership that “prepares the dance floor and sets the pace” on culture and direction, has low tolerance for mediocre practices and habits, and has the courage to undertake constructive disruption of organisations and social norms to establish new, “progressive, proactive and profitable” ways of work.
- Results – leadership that yields breakthrough results and impacts organisations through collaborative approaches that are underpinned by value-adding conversations with people.
Biblical and non-Biblical characters are used to illustrate perspectives on leadership, highlighting the centrality of God in all their leadership endeavours.
Each chapter concludes with questions that enable the reader to reflect on their leadership perspectives. This will assist individuals to gain a deeper understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, and to develop actions in response that result in learning and growth.