National Leadership Conference 2026

Life Style / Fri, 10/09/2026 - 18:24

Last month, I was in Abuja for the National Leadership Conference 2026, organized by the GOTNI Leadership Centre. It was my second experience with GOTNI this year, after participating in the Leadership and Executive Intelligence Training Programme for University Bursars, Registrars and Librarians in Lagos this past July.

Coming back felt different. This time, the room was larger. Two days with leaders from government, diplomacy, business, finance, media and development sectors. At some point, I noticed something shift in how I was seeing myself in the space. I was not observing from the outside. I was in the room, listening, contributing, connecting. That recognition alone carried a lesson: leadership development sometimes begins with expanding your own sense of where you belong.

One moment from the conference will stay with me for a long time. We were asked to write on a reflection wall the kind of leader we wanted to become. I wrote:

'To be an intentional leader and lead with empathy and humility'

Writing those words out loud, in that room, made them feel less like an aspiration and more like a commitment I was making to myself.

A breakout session pushed that further. We examined an organisation where the vision was clear, but results were not following. Managers had become reluctant to make decisions because they were frequently reversed. Different parts of the organisation were pulling in different directions.

My reflection went beyond structure. I found myself thinking about what that kind of environment does to the people inside it. When people are repeatedly excluded from decisions that affect their work, genuine ownership becomes very difficult. You cannot demand ownership from people while withholding the authority to act. Responsibility has to be matched with authority.

That principle will stay with me.

I left NLC 2026 with new perspectives, meaningful connections, and questions that feel more important than the answers I arrived with. Do the people I lead feel heard? Do I create room for others to exercise judgement? Am I developing leaders around me, or creating dependence on me?