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Author: Dr. Roemer Visser
In this episode of Rethinking Leadership, Roemer Visser speaks with ‘Funmi Olonisakin. Her work, shaped by experiences in Nigeria, academia, and the United Nations, offers a perspective on leadership that challenges many familiar assumptions.
Rather than focusing on individual traits or positions, Olonisakin approaches leadership as something relational, contextual, and deeply connected to the communities leaders serve.
A defining moment in Olonisakin’s thinking came during her time at the United Nations. From inside the system, she observed how decisions were made, often far removed from the people affected by them.
“People who occupied positions of authority were not actually influential… they were not speaking for the vast majority of people they were meant to represent.”
This distinction between authority and leadership is central to her work. Holding a position does not mean you are influencing outcomes in meaningful ways. Leadership, she argues, is about shaping change in complex and uncertain situations, not simply exercising power.
This leads Roemer to a fundamental question: can leadership even be developed? Olonisakin is cautious. Leadership, she argues, cannot be reduced to a set of predictable actions that guarantee success in complex, real-world situations.
Instead, preparation takes a different form: “Preparation is about how we think, how we seek to understand our environment and society, and how we build relationships.”
This shifts the focus away from predefined skills toward how leaders make sense of the world around them. Leadership development becomes less about training individuals to perform and more about enabling them to engage with complexity and uncertainty.
At the heart of Olonisakin’s perspective lies a simple but far-reaching idea: leadership depends on relationships. “Your success depends on the quality of relationships you build.”
In structured organizations, hierarchy and formal roles can sometimes create the illusion of leadership. Tasks are assigned, targets are met, and authority appears to be enough to get things done. But as Olonisakin suggests, this is not the same as leadership.
Especially in more complex or societal contexts, leadership cannot be imposed from the top down. It emerges through trust, connection, and shared understanding, and through the ability to engage others in addressing common challenges. Without those relationships, influence remains shallow. With them, leadership becomes something that is co-created rather than controlled.
The concept of Ubuntu captures this alternative way of thinking. “You cannot exist, you do not exist without the other… I am because you are.” Ubuntu emphasizes that individuals are inseparable from the communities they belong to. Identity, success, and even possibility itself are shaped through others. In that sense, leadership is never an individual achievement, but always embedded in a network of relationships, responsibilities, and mutual dependence.
This perspective challenges the idea of the self-made leader. It suggests instead that leadership carries an obligation to recognize and respond to the broader community, and that success is measured not only by what one achieves, but also by how that success contributes to others.
This perspective also reframes what success looks like. In many Western contexts, leadership is associated with individual achievement, visibility, and measurable results. But Olonisakin challenges this narrow view: “Your success may also create insecurities for others around you.”
Rather than focusing only on outcomes, she shifts attention to consequences. Leadership is not just about what is achieved, but about how that achievement affects others. Value, in this sense, extends beyond organizations or shareholders to the broader society in which leadership is exercised.
At this point in the conversation, Roemer and ‘Funmi Olonisakin arrive at a key insight: leadership cannot be understood in abstraction.
“Without experiencing leadership in context, you cannot do right by those people when you're making important decisions.”
Understanding leadership requires engagement with real situations and lived experiences. Theory can offer guidance, but it cannot replace the insights that come from being close to the people and environments leadership is meant to serve.
Taken together, these ideas point to a broader shift in how leadership is understood. Leadership is not confined to individuals or positions, but unfolds in interaction with others and within specific contexts.
Ubuntu expresses this in its simplest form. It reminds us that leadership is always relational and that its impact reaches beyond the individual. In that sense, leadership becomes less about personal success and more about contributing to something shared.
Professor ’Funmi Olonisakin is Vice President, International, Engagement and Service at King’s College London. She is also Professor of Security, Leadership and Development and founder of the African Leadership Centre. Her work focuses on the intersection of leadership, peace, and security, with particular attention to youth vulnerability, governance, and transnational challenges. Together with Michael Flavin, she published Teaching global leadership in higher education: Leadership across cultures in 2024.
Host Roemer Visser is an expert on the human side of organizations and is Executive Professor and Academic Director of the Executive MBA at TIAS.
Deep conversations, fresh insights—leadership, re-examined.
In the Rethinking Leadership podcast, we dive into the complexity of leadership. Whether you’re working to earn trust, to grant trust, or to inspire others with your stories, leadership is always a challenge. Guided by Executive Professor Roemer Visser, we explore new perspectives and deeper insights. Listen to inspiring conversations with thought leaders and discover surprising approaches to leadership challenges.
Ready for the next step and looking to create more impact in business and society? TIAS leadership programs are a powerful way to break through mental models and give you concrete tools to strengthen your leadership and management capabilities. In our broad portfolio of MBAs, Masters, Advanced Programs, and Master Classes, you’ll always find a program that aligns with your ambitions and career stage. We can also deliver all our programs InCompany.
Dr. Roemer Visser
Associate Professor
As Associate Professor at TIAS School for Business and Society, Roemer works with clients from the business world to tap into the enormous potential of individuals and teams and achieve sustainable performance improvement.
