I
do believe in faith, but I am sure a prophecy that I was going to author a book
this year would have seemed farfetched at the beginning of this year. My lack
of faith as it were would not have been founded on disbelieve but on caution
and pragmatism. I have had three manuscripts on various subjects. Books I never
attempted to publish as I was content with my little blog I have kept since
2011. My first memory of writing was in high school with a poem called ‘My
Love’ and subsequently my first attempt at a book was an anthology of my
thoughts, poems I had collected through varying moments and yet I author a business book, ‘Fate of System Thinking’.
For
the avoidance of doubt, it is a real book. The emphasis may appear humorous but
the subject matter begs no laughter. The book deals with a couple of questions.
The central question however remained, ‘Why has Ghana not produced so many
multinationals?’ I am sure different people will have different opinions but I
draw from insider stories from UT Bank, Capital Bank, uniBank and the Ghanaian
banking industry to learn why indigenous companies are not as successful as we
will wish they were. The book is not a personal rant but an academic piece backed
by hard core verifiable research, data and rigorous thinking.
The
book is fortunate to have Mr. Prince Kofi Amoabeng giving a foreword with a
review from Mr. Steve Williams. If these two names are familiar to you, then I
am sure you are questioning what the content of the book might be. I do not
think anybody can teach the lessons of the failure of these banks better than
the former Managing Director of UT Bank and yet he grants this book blessing
and credibility. Mr. Williams is an expert on so many levels and yet found this
book worthy to be read by all persons who intend to learn.
The
book is the first of its kind in Ghana by documenting the facts and figures
behind the collapse of these banks. If you are an entrepreneur, business
manager, student or a believer in building Africa, then this is a must read. Without
equivocation I will give a money-back guarantee to anyone who does not find the
book useful. I must however caution it is not a story book, it is almost
academic and thoughtfully heady. Weightier matters call for careful
introspection and I hope this book will encourage all readers to take a closer
look at our social and economic structure. For all that it may be worth, do not miss an opportunity to read ‘Fate of System Thinking’, the central
thesis challenges traditional thinking of enterprises, the book reckons that; thinking
of an organization as a system is bound to be suboptimal, we may need an
interconnected approach to thinking but more importantly we need to think of
businesses as biological organisms with a consciousness of its own. Like a
child born and subject to nurturing, so must enterprises be ‘socialized’.
I
like to conclude with a quote from Nelson Mandela in the book, Conversations
with myself, “In
real life we deal, not with gods, but with ordinary humans like ourselves: men
and women who are full of contradictions, who are stable and fickle, strong and
weak, famous and infamous.”
We know without a doubt that all over the world, men and women are born and
die, some may leave no memories of their lives, not even their names, it would
appear they never existed at all and yet others cause generations to pause,
reflect and reconstruct. I have no doubt the lessons in the Ghanaian banking
industry offers us such memories by which we may build a new day.
Grab a copy, let us reflect and rebuild mother
Ghana. Please share this, encourage other to pick a copy, buy it as a gift for
other, invite our speakers to engage through the thinking and together we will
be partners at making Ghana and Africa proud.