– EQUIP ends 2nd Annual Africa Regional 3T Leadership Conference 2022 today
By: Leila B. Gbati
Vice President, Chief Dr. Jewel Howard-Taylor has stressed that there is a reason why the world needs new leaders as new leaders don’t necessarily mean to strip everyone like God did in the days of Noah and breed a new generation but it means everyone must have a rethink of who and where they are.
VP Taylor also claimed that she believed that the world needs new leaders that will begin to stand in the right place where God wants them to stand and do what is right.
The Liberian Leader made the statement on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, at the opening ceremony of the 2nd Annual Africa regional 3T Leadership Conference 2022, held at the EJS Ministerial Complex, Congo Town.
The 2nd Annual Africa regional 3T Leadership Conference 2022 which started on Wednesday, and is expected to end today, November 18, 2022, is being hosted by EQUIP under the theme; ‘Leading with integrity: transformation begins with me’ brought together 20 African nations, 50 foreign delegates, and 500 local delegates.
EQUIP is a global transformational leadership movement founded by an American, John C. Maxwell who is a, author, speaker, coach, and leader who has sold more than 33 million books in fifty languages. Maxwell is also a number one leader in business and the most influential expert in the world.
Serving as a guest of honor, speaking on the theme; ‘Leading with integrity: transformation begins with me’, VP Taylor said that most people find themselves in churches on Sunday which she think is a good place to start because the integrity and transformation that they need to see their community, homes, family and job site is being hampered when they meet two times a week to talk about their Christian values as it tides into national leadership, progress and development than maybe most countries would have gone further then they are today.
She told the gathering that the topic for this year’s Conference ‘leading with integrity is important because the lesson they have learned over the last 2 years have provided the environment that allows them to become impactful leaders.
According to her, she thinks that they are in the right place because the church is the environment and institution that Christ give to follow his work and to set the tone for how they should live in their nations.
She claimed that it is still for EQUIP to continue to teach and train and to look at how the mindsets can be shifted in a way that they will begin to talk about the transformation of each individual one at a time.
“I believe we need new church, national, family, and youth leaders that will begin to stand in the place that God wants us to stand and do what is right. I want to thank Team Maxwell and all regional and continental leaders and special guests for coming to celebrate the 2nd Annual Conference. Thanks to the EQUIP Liberia Team for asking me to spend a few moments with you to talk about leading with integrity,” she said.
She also told the gathering that the change that they want to begin with them and all of the different things they have learned on what integrity is and how they should be exemplified she believed each of them has it adding that “most of us have different copies of the Maxwell Book which I referred to many times when am dealing with young people, leading with integrity beginning with you sets some basis that as leaders we must be clear on where we stand and not shifting the goal post every time because of challenge”.
She admonished that people should have some consistent Christian beliefs and be trustworthy and honest as such they might have an opinion that may not be accepted around the table but that is their opinion and they should stick to it and believe that they are saying the right thing for change because leading by example is a whole new story and it is not what they do when everyone is looking.
“What do we do when no one is looking, how do we behave in the comfort of our homes, when you look at the level of abuse of children and women across our nation then something is wrong. There is a church almost in every corner of the community, what side are we showing when we are out and what sides do we show when we are actually in our homes, what is it you should be doing, and how we can become impactful leaders by just looking at the way things should be. There are many benefits of leaders who lead with integrity, you ensure trust amongst you and those who you lead, you lead by example so that the vision that you carry can actually be supported by those around you and many other things come as a result of those who have integrity in leadership. How many of us are accountable for the behavior or the personal and national decision that we take,” she asserted.
Giving a statistic across Liberia on leadership paradigm, VP Taylor said from 2005 to 2020 every time there was an election in the Legislature almost 90% of those who are honorable people were elected by their constituents that removing the turnover rate of leaders shows that they are saying one thing and living something else.
She further that your work should impact the community and not individual emphasizing that people have integrity and beautiful things in life that they want to see but the examples are negatives which make people confused.
“As we talk about these issues of integrity beginning with all of us, is easy to look at the Presidency House of Representatives and the Judiciary people say is corrupt, but the mothers in the market that take a pin that should be one cup of rice and put rocks at the bottom and you don’t know that your rice is now 50% and you think that you bought one cup of rice that will feed your family or the schools that asked you to bring 20 rolls of tissue paper and rams of paper for kindergarten kids or those who you go into their offices and they tell you I can’t sign this paper because they don’t ink or pen, it is an entire process that eats into the national fabric and communities. What example do we set even if we talk about the transformation beginning with us, there are two sides to the coin, you might say the government has it responsible, yes but each of us as citizens of the kingdom of Christ will make a determination one person at a time. Be the best you can be regardless of what happens,” she added.
In conclusion, the Liberian Leader thanked the entire team of leaders, teachers, and mind transformers for continuing the process that Africa needs.
In a brief remark on behalf of John C. Maxwell, the Deputy Director of EQUIP, Ray Popham said he brings a greeting on behalf of Maxwell who is the founder and leader of all the Maxwell Eco-system, and George Hoskins who also serves as their Executive Director.
Popham said they are excited to be in Liberia and other African connections that they are able to partner with and he brought greetings to the delegates, distinguished guests, and coordinators for letting them be a part of what they are doing to change the world.
He indicated that they believe that in national leadership everyone deserves to be treated well and the best way to do that is by helping people experience transformation defining transformation as a lasting, powerful and positive change.
He added that once a person experienced a transformation they will extend it around the world and the way to do that is very simple everything they do simply try to add value to people who will multiply value to others and that is what they are doing.
We are so happy that you allow us to be a part of this in Africa, John has a special heart for Africa, he loves Africa, Africans, and the African continent, many friends here over the year and we are just happy to be able to bring one of our programs here we are celebrating this week and working with our coordinators which is the ‘Beyond Success’ program and helping people move from success to significance those are words from Popham.
For his part, the EQUIP Liberia Coordinator, Benedict Togba in a welcome remark disclosed that the Conference has sold enormous seeds to impact Liberia’s validated leadership development process which was challenging but with the help of God they overcame it together while they kept their eyes on the goal and the impact it will have on the country in the next coming years.
Benedict said through this process they never lost sight of the objectives of today and they all truly believe that the impact of the conference will affect the future of the country in a very positive way.
He said it is going to be a rewarding task for each of them to be at the conference and their goal is that each of them will institutionalize the message that they must lead with integrity, and transformation begins with us.
On behalf of EQUIP Liberia Team, he welcomes the U. S delegates and all guests to Liberia.
Major General Prince C. Johnson in a remark said the topic for the Conference is important for Liberia, especially even the civil war.
General Johnson said his own interaction with EQUIP started 18 months ago when he was asked to appear on a talk show program at the Harvest Church when he met Benedict Togba who invited him to come and speak to some young people of EQUIP and he said to him the best achievement in life is to impact other people and not the work you see around you.
General Johnson added that Liberia, they have had about 15 years of civil war, and 19 years of relative peace and the need for leadership and to aspire those that will take over from them is crucial because integrity is lacking in the country and the best way to do it is at these conferences to be able to express and show the example.
“We that are in these senior government positions should be setting an example for those that will come after us. As the theme says ‘leading with integrity’ transformation begins with me’, the institution that I lead had to play a part because those that led the institution decided to compromise the integrity of the Arm Forces of Liberia, and in 2003 based on the Accra Peace Accord my institution had to be dissolved because the TRC Report says we were considered the seven worst atrocities committed during our civil war. Most time I come to these conferences though I was not part of the old AFL I held the same old AFL today that bears the same name today under this new leadership and leading with integrity our institution will no more compromise good governance in this country,” he said.
Each year EQUIP Leadership through its African regional team bring together Beyond Success Coordinators, facilitators, partners, and other leaders from across Africa and other parts of the world to serve, learn and teach leadership values and principles taught by Maxwell.
EQUIP Liberia/African came to light by EQUIP Africa Regional Director Eric Nyuma who met a friend, Mike Martin, the President of Milton Martin Toyota dealership in Georgia, USA who is a supporter of Maxwell and he give Eric two books written both by EQUIP executives John Maxwell “5 levels of leadership” and encourage Eric to follow Maxwell’s method of leadership. After Eric read the books he got interested and told Mike that he would like to contact EQUIP at which time he (Eric) wrote a letter to Doug Carter, EQUIP Senior Vice President expressing his desire to network with EQUIP and requesting the expansion of their program and services to Liberia. through the letter, Dr. Carter found Eric to be influential, and in 2017, EQUIP send its first team of Associate Trainers to Liberia for an assessment after many assessments and as the program gained prominence in Liberia, in 2021, based on Eric’s vast global experience, servant leadership he was appointed EQUIP Africa Regional Director.
