https://www.nation.co.ke...6262-u9dbjpz/index.html

One of his key strengths is his way of connecting with people.

He has done more than just repair the damage done by jaguar. Visiting magufuli's sick mum was a very noble gesture. That is how you touch people's hearts.

I don't think the technocrats in both the foreign and trade ministries could have dreamt of having the road smoothened so fast for them.

True that. It's a great trait for a diplomat, not so great for a manager.

During my employment days,I once had a CEO like that. Extremely brilliant sharp, amazing people skills but lacked the ruthlessness required to deal with Africans.

Then he promoted one of the sadists within the company to GM position. A guy who didn't mind stepping on people's toes. But pushed efficiency to levels nobody could have imagined.

Wish Uhuru can get such a guy and give him kinyua's job.

Nowadays I worry for him. He is a nice guy but the window for securing a legacy is closing fast.

Promoting good relations between countries especially neighbours is leadership.

Ask how thankful the many Kenyans working in Tanzania are today.

Kenya has nothing to gain and everything to lose grandstanding against Tanzania.

Uhuru may have his fair amount of shortcomings, but his power to worm his way into people's hearts is worthy of note.

https://www.standardmedi...b8stsjuytsXa-PIU_8jSW6c

There is something about Uhuru's personality that makes it very easy for him to make friends with whoever he interacts with.

One month ago, we thought our diplomatic relations with Tanzania had hit rock bottom.

He managed to turn it around in record time.

I keep hoping he can hire a ruthless chief of staff to crack the whip in the civil service.

There is still time to secure a legacy.

I watched Uhuru during the opening of the Bidco factory and I think I have an idea why he is not an effective leader. Uhuru gets bogged down with details. He listens to everyone and for too long.

Many people who have met Uhuru talk about how good hearted he is, how warm and down to earth he is. He is a people pleaser at heart. This quality is good for winning votes but it is disastrous for leadership. One of the most critical leadership traits is being able to choose who you listen to and what you listen to.

By being selective and there being only 24 hours in a day means you will have to be saying no and cutting people off more than listening to everything that everyone has to say. You lose focus when you do that. It also shows that you don't have a plan. When you expose yourself like this it means you will only be hearing from the loudest and most aggressive people, the likes of Sonko while you will never have time to listen to more quiet people who may have better analytical arguments.

A president should be seeing and talking more to people that he wants to see and talk to than to people who want to see and talk to him. The president is supposed to be the big picture man. It is OK and even appropriate to be bored by details.

In that Bidco factory tour I would imagine Kibaki would have refused to go round seeing everything in the factory. "Iko haja gani? Hakuna haja!!' he would have said. He would have arrived and gone straight to open the place slept through everyone else's speech and given a short boring speech on something like energy policy, infrastructure development and job growth.