Leadership is about improving what exists, not just creating what’s new

The Mt Kenya Times

From golf club governance to campus elections, real leadership demands vision, accountability and the courage to build on others’ ideas

By Lewis Murangiri

Eric Nderitu, chairman at Nakuru Golf Club, offers a leadership philosophy that cuts against the grain of conventional thinking: innovation rarely means inventing from scratch. More often, it means seeing what exists and making it better.

Nderitu illustrates the point with a simple example β€” a metallic round bin. The original designer may not have perfected it, but that imperfection is not a failure. It is an opening. Change the shape, vary the materials, improve the function. The lesson is transferable well beyond product design: a leader’s first instinct should not be to dismiss an idea but to ask how it can be strengthened.

That principle applies with equal force to student governance. Bresdone, a Communication and Media student at Laikipia University, has taken it into the arena of campus elections. His campaign is built not on spectacle but on engagement β€” listening to fellow students, articulating their concerns and committing to represent them with accountability rather than ambition.

Student leadership is too often mistaken for a title. In practice, it is a responsibility. Students expect leaders who will carry their challenges into the right rooms, defend their interests without fear and create an environment where every voice is taken seriously. A student representative who treats the role as a personal achievement has already failed the people who elected him.

Whether in a golf club boardroom or a university senate, the standard is the same: lead with vision, build on what exists, and never confuse the office with the purpose.

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