Last week, I talked a bit about the Pre-Doctoral Workshop that I led recently at Strathmore Business School in Nairobi. Today, I would like to consider the cultural differences and what our attitude should be like. On the last day of the Workshop, participants received a certificate of attendance that I had to sign. As soon […]
How do the Chinese and Africans mingle?
Chinese investments in Africa have been gaining pace since the turn of the century. And Chinese people have immigrated onto the continent along with their investments. That much we knew. What I didn’t know is that Africans are also migrating to China, according to articles in The Africa Report. One of them, called “People are […]
Talent development and African values
Last week I attended a conference of business school administrators hosted by IESE Business School. The theme was “Quality in context: Management education for the developing world,” and the focus was on Africa. In one of the panels, a leader from one of the most prominent MNCs, which has operations in 13 African countries, highlighted […]
Pygmalion in (African) management
“A lady is a woman who is treated like a lady.” You remember probably this line from My Fair Lady. In a classic Harvard Business Review article, J. Sterling Livingston coined the expression “Pygmalion in management.” The main point of the article was that “a manager’s expectations are the key to a subordinate’s performance and […]
Tribal attributes
In a comment to an earlier post, Christian referred to how strongly Kenyans feel about tribal attributes. I think he has better insights about this than me but let me tell you about what I’ve heard, and maybe he and others will add some comments. Kenya’s ethnic diversity is high. The various tribes can be […]
