True leadership measured by lives touched— Dr Adeyemi
Global speaker and leadership expert, Rev. Dr Samuel Adeyemi, has emphasised that true leadership is about stewardship, not ownership.
He believes that legacy leadership involves influencing and serving others, rather than exerting control or power.
He also highlighted the importance of legacy leaders who can balance the pressures of strategic leadership, noting that it involves anticipating problems, interpreting scenarios, and aligning them to impact others.
Dr Adeyemi shared these insights in a presentation titled 'Building a Sustainable Leadership Legacy' last Tuesday at the Pentecost Convention Centre, Gomoa Fetteh, during day three of the 13th Jospong Leadership Conference (JLC) 2026.
The conference is on the theme "Building Tomorrow's Leaders Today".
The JLC 2026 brought together leaders from business, government, faith-based organisations, and civil society to discuss leadership development and sustainable impact in Africa.
Asking questions
The Global Leadership speaker stressed that legacy leaders asked different questions before arriving at major decisions.
He added that leadership in Africa was under “huge pressure” due to ongoing disruption and widespread poverty and deprivation.
“Leaders in Africa today face a lot of economic p
ressures and public scrutiny because of the widespread deprivation,” Dr Adeyemi stated.
He encouraged the leaders at the conference to focus on achieving results with integrity, pointing out that their leadership should be judged not just by the results, but by how those results are achieved.
“The purpose of leadership is to impact the lives of many, to serve humanity, and to hold the position in trust,” he noted.
Dr Adeyemi stated that while it was okay to be a successful leader, the ultimate goal should be empowering others to succeed.
He, therefore, encouraged leaders to focus on lifting others up, rather than just focusing on their own success.
“When you achieve success, you get recognition, awards, but your success should end up empowering and helping other people to succeed,” Dr Adeyemi indicated.
“Don't measure your success as a business leader by what you achieve, but by how many lives you're touching,” he charged.
Against this background, he urged companies to continually renew their culture to positively impact lives.
Trust
Though trust is a long-term asset, Dr Adeyemi lamented that it was low in Africa, which was costing many companies.
He added that leaders must be consistent, trustworthy, and fair.
“If you are a leader, emphasise continuity not convenience and build a culture that empowers people, stating also the true leaders show up when there is pressure,” the man of God noted.
He, consequently, called for a new generation of African leaders built on values, trust and stewardship across all sectors.
According to him, leadership impact was not measured by titles, profit or applause, but by what leaders left behind and who they empowered to lead next.
