The Chief Executive Officer of MasterCard Foundation, Reeta Roy has asserted that investing in relationships with experienced people is the best way to make oneself substantive in an emerging world of public leaders.
Reeta Roy said, learning from the mistakes of peers and experienced individuals enriches the younger generation to become better versions of themselves.
In an engagement with fellows at the Emerging Public Leaders series dubbed “By The Fireside” , she affirmed that the only way to move forward is to bounce back after mistakes have been made and most importantly lessons taken.
She also urged the fellows to learn from their peers as their experience is essential to their growth and development as public leaders.
“Invest in a group, a group called your peers; people who are also travelling the same path, moving more or less the same speed. Those who will be there to celebrate victories pick you up when you are down, people who will keep you true to your beliefs, your values”.
She also advised the fellows to invest in those who look up to them, and those they look up to.
“Start to think of the people who are following you or just coming up. Sometimes we forget that we serve as role models and others look to us for inspiration. We are sometimes so caught up with what we are doing and forget. But when we remember that there are others, make them know that quitting is not an option.”
“We have to remember that we stand on the shoulders of people who have come before us, who cleared the path, who have done a lot of work and they’ve tossed the baton to us. So while we may be running a marathon, we need to think about our marathon as a relay and we have to maintain a sense of urgency while we are holding that baton. Because the issues that we are working on affect your lives and anything this important, anything this unique and this profound means that it is also incredibly consequential.”
She intimated how young people are sick and tired of corruption, further calling on the fellows to bring the change to their little corners.
This engagement was part of the EPL’s ‘By the Fireside’ series where fellows meet a prominent person in the work industry to share their stories and experiences that inspire and motivate them.
EPL’s By the Fireside has previously hosted the MD/CEO of Ecobank Ghana, Mr Daniel Sackey, renowned journalist “Over To You” Mr Joe Lartey and Mr George Owusu, scientist, businessman, and philanthropist in Ghana’s energy industry.