AN INTERVIEW WITH Folawe Omikunle
Folawe Omikunle (CEO, Teach for Nigeria, Nigeria)
1. Why is “an approach to leadership that resonates with women” needed?
And so when I think about that question around why defining the leadership that resonates with women needed, I say why not. Why not? Because for the longest time we have been bombarded with literature and with respective ideas of leadership that totally builds on familiarity to women that does not feel authentic and organic to women and how women lead. And we have been bombarded with the idea that leadership is gendered with just having examples of leaders being men and how men show up and how many leads that have reflected. Really just pretty much how many and that is what the expectation and the bar of what we're to work again. So work towards this because that is the end that is the leadership that is popular and popularity doesn't mean that's the best and they play anything and if we're going to solve some of our deepest work problem and it will go into and make sure that everybody leaves a little society that it's free and there we cannot eliminate the 50% of our world population which is women because eliminating them from leadership position starts from just the information and start from educating them as that's from the orientation around the fact that you can be who you are by birth by DNA how you exist in the world and still be a leader regardless and so it's important that other people and other women can see what reflects them can see, what they are familiar with and see what feels more authentic to them than having to pretend and behaving, it certainly just doesn't feel familiar and that would end up draining them because they have to act leadership because the post that the child or the post that description of leadership is and so,I think this really at the end of the day some of why it is Indeed, a timely intervention that this is happening. Now if we're going to Galvanize if we're going to mobilize and catalyse the leadership of all women across our world, now is the time to do that when we're dealing with primary catastrophy to Poverty to huge and insecurity and violence across the world like now is the time to unleash half of the population of this world to equally contribute their quota so that we can advance development, peace, growth, and social ability across our world. So this is timely and this is very important and not just, you know to remain in this group. I'm on this group but to go as far and as wide as possible to diverse groups of women.
2. Halfway through the Expedition what are you uncovering?
I'm uncovering a lot. I'm uncovering the relationship and the interrelationship between diverse aspects and elements, and it's linkage to leadership and uncovering how history, how context, how spirituality how the nature of a woman and DNA from, like a woman, like motherhood, for example, and menstrual cycle. For example, like how that is linked to leadership and how that either you tap strength or you tap inside or you tap power from like all these different things like I'm finding how an uncovery how all of this is linked to leadership. It's been such an interesting Journey just saying all of this. I think another thing that is standing up for me. And another thing that is emerging. For me is the conversation around. Yes leadership that resonates with women, but beyond women leadership that resonates with even transgender or individuals, and it's not just about like we like it's leadership that should resonate with other marginalized people or other minorities.Yes we're here talking about women, but then it's also leadership for all these other people that are also not men, or not women, but it's just leadership for others that are also not women but of others who are transgender, or who are non-gender.
For more about Folawe, click here