After a few months of discussions and various engagements. DaySeven Group has put together a short thought piece on leadership in the dynamic context of Africa. The thought paper considers proposed dimensions that would be ideal for African leaders. The paper is guided by a wider Pan-African movement around empowering Women and Youth as future African leaders and the ideologies put forward in AU Agenda 2063 for the Africa We Want. We are open to further engagements on this and will be using some of this thinking on leadership in a series of events planned for 2018. The events will be driven by conversations on various topical African matters that can be tied up into the concept of African Leadership.

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African Leadership Capacity Matrix

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Contents
Leadership Matrix Overview...................................................................................................................3
Leadership Dimensions...................................................................................................................3
Measurement Matrix Overview......................................................................................................4
Leadership Matrix Construction .............................................................................................................4
Measurement Matrix Construction ........................................................................................................5
Our Contact Details.................................................................................................................................6

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Leadership Matrix Overview
As the context, and dynamics, of the African continent evolve, there is a need to understand and
redefine leadership. The African Leadership Capacity Matrix is a tool designed to measure the
inherent characteristics that would be required for a potential leader within the African context.
The African context is unique and as such a unique set of measures in required to determine the
level of awareness potential leaders have across a predefined set of 5 dimensions, and the level of
influence that these dimensions have on their decision making and hence effectiveness as leaders in
the complex African environment.
The matrix uses the following 5 generic dimensions as the basis of measurement:
1. Political
2. Social and Cultural
3. Economic
4. Environmental
5. Ethical
The above dimensions are measured against a set of questions that indicate the level of awareness
and influence on decision making. Ideally potentially successful leaders are required to have a high
level of awareness and these dimensions should have a high level of influence on their decision
making.
Leadership Dimensions
1. Political – This measures the awareness a potential leader has of the political climate in their
specific country, and across the continent, and the impact this has on the decisions they
make presently and in the future.
2. Social and Cultural – This measures the awareness a potential leader has of the diverse
social norms and requirements they are exposed to and how they navigate these in order to
achieve their goals effectively. This would include religious considerations.
3. Economic – This is a critical measure for any potential African leader as it covers their
insights into Africa’s economic challenges and how they can, or should be, resolved using
uniquely African solutions. Aspects such as intra-Africa trade and investment and
considered.
4. Environmental – This measures how in tune a potential leader is with the impact of current
activities on future sustainability and generations. A leader that does not care about the
future generations cannot have the best interest of their people at heart.
5. Ethical – This is the basis, foundation, upon which the other dimensions are built, and
measures to what level a potential leader will sacrifice in order to achieve the other 4

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dimensions, and in so doing the resultant cause-effect relationships both internal and
external to the country.
Measurement Matrix Overview
The leadership dimensions are measured using a matrix to determine how various potential leaders
match up against the various dimensions. The matrix has 2 measurements, which are ranked over a
predefined scale range:
1. The level of awareness that potential leaders have of the 5 dimensions (Low or High)
2. The level of influence these dimensions have on their decision making (Low or High)
The measurement matrix is used to identify what skills, and skill levels, potential leaders have and
can be used as a baseline to determine areas of improvement.
Leadership Matrix Construction
The matrix is constructed on the basis of ethical behaviour as a central expectation of potential
leaders in Africa. The other dimensions in the matrix are measured individually and in relation to the
ethical challenges posed by each dimension. This relationship can be shown as follows:
Ethics
Political
Social &
Cultural
Economic
Environmental

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Measurement Matrix Construction
The matrix has a multi-tiered measurement approach, based on a high-level measurement (overall
measurement of awareness in comparison to decision making influence across the 5 dimensions)
and a detailed measurement that looks at each dimension based on a set of standardised questions
and a predefined scale for the answers.
The high-level matrix can be represented as follows:
A B
C D
Based on the high-level measurement matrix, the potential leaders Africa should be seeking to
identify are those that can transition between quadrants B and D dependent on the forces at play
during a given time period, the changes in relationships and their circle of influence.
The detailed measurement of each dimension can be presented as follows:
In the context of this matrix, Influence purely indicates the importance a potential leader places on
each of the dimensions and how this affects their decision making. This will vary from country to
country and from time to time. As such, influence is a dynamic aspect based on the prevailing
context.
Politcal
Social and
Cultural
EconomicsEnvironmental
Ethical
Awareness
Influence
Dimension Awareness
Low High
Dimension Influence
Low
High

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Our Contact Details
DaySeven Group (Pty) Ltd
Tel: +27 (0) 81 247 5246
Fax: + 27 (0) 86 416 8358
info@dayseven.co.za
www.dayseven.co.za