Let's Meet Africa
and Do Business
The window effect method and It’s application for future African Leadership
By Chet W. Sisk
One of the great joys in my life is being a lecturer-in-residence at The University of Kwazulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg and Durban South Africa. During my winter tenure each year, I have the opportunity of teaching a class called “Using Love As A Management Tool” during the Continental African Leadership Conference at UKZN. This class is part of a larger teaching method called The Window Effect Method developed by me and my colleagues. This class is attended by about 70 of the continent’s best and brightest minds who are in leadership positions. In this class, I teach about incorporating the “soft sciences” of intuition, awareness, intention and vision as results-oriented utilitarian tools in a new holistic leadership model. I originated this approach after spending time working with marginalized people here in the United States and how using these vehicles as tools can break the cycle of poverty.
Without exception, those who used these tools in our testing were more successful in making the transition to a better life than those who did not. Those who did not tended to return to a way of living that was familiar to them, whether that way was dysfunctional or not. Armed with this information, we created a leadership model that strategically incorporated these ideas into the way the future leader can support a more holistic development of their constituency. This model puts more of the emphasis of economic and social development back in the hands of the people by creating cultural support.
For example, from our testing we discovered that the reason why so many people regularly returned to non-affirming lifestyles of poverty and crime were partly related to the lack of infrastructure development (lack of housing, jobs and financial support) as well as the lack of personal supporting systems that allowed the person to become more visionary, insightful and creative in solving their challenges. At several homeless shelters in the United States, we created “Vision Parties” where homeless people were able to think about their personal life goals while getting ideas on how to make those goals come true from their homeless colleagues.
This system created a way for people to think beyond their current situations and to create opportunity. At the Leadership Class at UKZN, we provide a method where future leaders of Africa can hear of our results and incorporate them into their leadership style in line with the particulars and nuances of their communities. We, at the Chet W. Sisk organization believe this approach, in compliment to better infrastructure, will create a more sustainable and forward thinking leadership direction. We also believe this model will provide realistic and measurable results in realizing real world change.
Chet W. Sisk
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Chet W. Sisk is an award winning author and leadership trainer who lives in Denver, Colorado, USA. His books include “Seven Steps To Success I Learned From Homeless People” and “Because You Can: A Proven Method To Living Life Like You Mean It”. He provides keynotes, seminars and workshops around the world and has worked in Hungary, Morocco, France, Canada and South Africa as well as throughout the United States.
Chet Sisk will be a keynote speaker at the Let's meet Africa and Do Business exhibition on Saturday 8 November 2008 at 10 a.m.