Ken Giami, Founder and CEO of the African Leadership Organization, has called on leaders, professionals, and policymakers across Africa to rethink traditional assumptions about power, authority, and impact, warning that excellence alone is no longer sufficient to shape outcomes.
In a public reflection shared on LinkedIn, Giami argued that official titles, technical competence, and strong results do not automatically translate into influence. According to him, many highly capable individuals and institutions remain sidelined not because they lack substance, but because they lack strategic influence—the ability to shape decisions before they are finalized.
Giami defined strategic influence as deliberate positioning within key decision-making spaces, control of narratives that define value, and alignment between perception and reality. He emphasized that influence is not manipulation, but a disciplined understanding of how power operates, how credibility is built, and how trust compounds over time.
Drawing from experiences across boardrooms, government ministries, multinational organizations, and social movements, Giami noted a recurring pattern where less capable but more visible voices dominate agendas, while competent leaders struggle to gain traction. He warned that even world-class institutions and transformative policy ideas can be ignored if they are not supported by intentional visibility and narrative framing.
Focusing on the African context, Giami described the cost of this gap as particularly high. He pointed to situations where African leaders deliver measurable impact, yet foreign narratives continue to define the continent’s value, and external actors become interpreters of African realities despite local expertise.
Reflecting on his own journey of building institutions, engaging global partners, and navigating policy environments, Giami said he learned that outcomes improve when influence is approached deliberately. He stressed the importance of designing visibility and perception with the same care applied to systems, programs, and strategies.
Giami announced that over the next 30 days, he will share practical lessons drawn from years of leadership across sectors. The series, he said, will focus on strategic influence, leadership visibility, narrative control, stakeholder alignment, and institutional credibility, offering real-world frameworks rather than motivational rhetoric.
He concluded by urging leaders, founders, policymakers, and professionals to recognize that while impact remains essential, influence ultimately determines whether that impact can scale.
“In today’s world,” Giami noted, “impact is not enough. Influence determines whether that impact scales.”