Leadership is about trust.
You cannot build trust without a strong investment in relationships. We live in an era of the ‘sofa factor’ risk – people work with folks they know. Today, trust, loyalty, the right attitude, skill, and agility are more important than qualifications. If your attitude is fine, and I can trust you, you are a great candidate for training. And that is the approach state parastatals consider when it comes to recruitment.
If you have the right attitude. You build relationships with people and you are a person of impeccable integrity, you will go places. It is not about mere qualifications.
What is your chosen career? What primary qualifications do you need to thrive? Which skills must you attain to win? Which practising certificates do you need to practice in your target market?
Forget the stories of the ‘global’ opportunities awaits. ‘With xx qualifications, you will work anywhere in the world’. Those are just stories.
If you are a practising Accountant in Uganda, what is the law that regulates your profession? What qualifications does the law state as the minimum one? What are the CPD requirements?
In Uganda for example, practising accountants must be members in good standing with the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda (ICPAU). That is all you need. Attain your CPA qualification and maintain membership. Although you may need to attain more practical training, it is not necessary that you maintain dual memberships with other qualifications. Unless of course, your practice is based in America, in which case, when you travel there, read the relevant regulatory framework for your profession and subscribe accordingly. It would be foolish of you (for lack of a better word), to continue maintaining a professional certification membership for which you don’t need to practice.
You may study and attain the papers. Fine.
But no professional body will remove the knowledge from your head. And those initials after your name, mean nothing. The best way to do away with them is to try to not use them in the first place.
Ask yourself, what law regulates my profession in the country or markets in which I operate? Comply with those laws only.
I have seen people spending a fortune of their savings, to maintain professional membership with bodies that mean nothing to their skills development.
Get me well. It is good to read. To take exams. To explore and acquire new knowledge. Go for it. However, once you get the knowledge, evaluate the benefits for maintaining affiliation. Make a cost-benefit analysis. Surely if you are an entrepreneur, and your employer does not insist on your paper certification but rather on your work quality, why keep spending money that you would otherwise save or use to read another good book or go for mentorship? Think.
To be continued…
Copyright Mustapha B Mugisa, 2020. All rights reserved.
