Leading at the Leadership Academy

My name is Zéf-Osée Muteba, and I am an instructor in Transformational Leadership at the Un Jour Nouveau Leadership Academy.

From the time I was a child, my family noticed that I was very influential in the circles I was placed in (with friends, at church, and school). When growing up, I always wanted to organize peers around tasks that had to get done, but I did not realize that organizing people and leading them towards a common objective was leadership.

In my early twenties, I started taking an interest in the topic of leadership, not only to lead but to teach others what it means to be a leader.

This interest led me to participate in the Young African Leadership Initiative in Nairobi, Kenya, where I was trained in Leadership with a focus on Public Management. Then, I participated in the Mandela Washington Fellowship, where I studied Leadership at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

However, teaching this course at the Un Jour Nouveau Leadership Academy exposed me to how the concept of Leadership is understood in the context of DR Congo, where people have been exposed to many vices but still must come up with the exemplary contribution toward a peaceful and prosperous Congo where everyone is part of the solution.

Teaching awoke me to the reality that if we do not change and invest in leaders who will challenge the way things have always been done, the most probable thing that is likely to happen is that we will go from bad to worse.

Being an instructor made me understand the role I have to play in writing a new story for Congo. My responsibility is to be the difference and invest in difference makers.

I understand my role to be that of Creating Leaders and Leading Change.