Chief Executive Officer of BOND Savings and Loans Plc., Mr. George Ofosuhene, has underscored the importance of business owners making effective investments in people for the growth of their businesses and the economy.
The veteran investment banker and entrepreneur tasked Ghanaian business leaders to adequately resource their employees in order for them to effectively drive the vision of the business successfully.
Stressing the importance of investing in people, the well-read Mr. Ofosuhene quoted British-American author and motivational speaker, Simon Sinek, saying “100% of customers are people. 100% of companies are made up of people. If you don’t understand people, you don’t understand business”.
“As a leader, what you are expected to do is to take care of your people”, the BOND CEO stated in an interview with this reporter.
Find the people, motivate to drive vision.
Mr. Ofosuhene tasked entrepreneurs to have and own a vision, adding, the Chief Executive Officer of BOND Savings & Loans PLC said, the only way to ensure that the vision materializes is to put together a team that will share in the vision and at the same time will give off their all to ensure that the said vision sees the light of day.
He stressed the importance of leadership communicating the vision, its meaning and how it intends to achieve it to every member of the team. He added that it was critical for business owners to find the right kind of human capital, train, resource them, create the necessary congenial work environment, culture to give them the space to innovate.
“It is important that you find the people who will drive your vision; it is critical that you train the people, inspire them so they can be self- motivated and prepared to move in the direction you, the leader expect them to go; without you continuously showing the way”, Mr. Ofosuhene noted.
Building a brand that attracts innovators
According to Mr. Ofosuhene, investing in building a strong and resilient brand will attract the right kind of human capital which will ensure long term success.
He explained that a brand which is not visible, not attractive or worth investing in can only draw people who will not commit to the achievement of success for the company but will “do things anyhow to satisfy their parochial pursuits”
Good leadership for business success
Business leaders must show good leadership to achieve success, Mr. Ofosuhene stated. “When I talk about leadership I’m referring to what you can do with people to ensure that certain things are achieved; leaders must know what their roles in their organizations are and stick to those roles”.
He bemoaned the phenomenon where leaders of the organizations bark orders at their employees and expect them to follow through, “This is not the way to do it; you don’t have to force people to follow you”. Leaders must inspire the people into action by leading by example.