The Last One Degree

#Understand #Unearth #Unbound #MakingItImpossible

[Lensa Mekonnen @lensamekonnen]

The Last One Degree of Leadership: Due Status vs. Ego

We are witnessing a generation of brilliant minds mastering raw influence, yet often facing a steep, jarring transition when stepping into the halls of structural, institutional leadership. As we work to bridge this generational divide a challenge I've navigated from the private to public sector, a critical question emerges: How do we know when we are operating from a place of necessary authority, and when we just desperately want someone to carry our briefcase?

In our line of work, asserting your rightful status often gets a bad rap. Expect the level of respect and protocol commensurate with your responsibilities, and suddenly you’re accused of being on an "ego trip." For young leaders finally demanding their rightful seat at the table, expecting professional courtesy is frequently frowned upon by the old guard as unseemly arrogance.

But let’s look at the operational reality. To execute our obligations to drive policy, inject vital capacity into our economy, or steer a national vision, we have to safeguard our standing. This status isn't a vanity metric; it is a functional necessity. You simply cannot steer the ship if the crew thinks the captain's chair is just decorative. We need others to recognize our role so we can cut through the noise and issue directives that are met with action, not just polite nods. Legitimate status commands the room so the work can get done.

Ego, on the other hand, is a sneaky stowaway. It surfaces in toxic little ways, loudly demanding respect not to serve a mission, but to feed internal insecurities and unwarranted entitlement. Ego is the arrogance nurtured by our own blind spots and let's face it, sometimes by the very echo chambers that applaud our worst instincts.

The tightrope walk for those choosing to be leaders, and the ultimate test for the youth stepping into these arenas, is this: How do we fiercely protect the authority required to make a genuine impact, while staying vigilant enough to catch our ego and show it the door before it ruins the furniture?

Moving from raw influence to mature, institutional leadership often comes down to that last one degree of self-awareness and discipline. Master that degree, and you master the room. Let ego take over, and the room masters you.

Have a powerful start to your week!

#ThaLastOneDegree #StrategicLeadership #StateCraft #Futureofgovernance

[Lensa Mekonnen @lensamekonnen]

One of the greatest mistakes a reforming state can make is to confuse political management with national development. Nations do not become prosperous by cultivating talented political operators; they rise by building institutions that reward competence, discipline, execution, and long-term thinking. Every successful transformation in modern history is anchored in this simple principle.

Yet, a candid assessment of the public sector reveals a stark departure from this ideal. Within the machinery of state institutions, performance is too often relegated to an afterthought. Instead, political conformity and loyalty to perceived centers of power have been allowed to dominate the institutional culture.

A serious nation must confront the difficult reality that its institutions frequently reward those who have mastered the art of navigating bureaucracy rather than the discipline of solving problems. Such actors understand hierarchy, influence, and positioning, but they remain fundamentally disconnected from delivery. They survive systems; they do not improve them. When political choreography is valued over professional performance, talent retreats, execution slows, and reform loses its momentum. Consequently, those least capable of delivering outcomes become the most adept at insulating themselves from accountability.

This is not merely an administrative failure; it is a profound developmental constraint that no state can tolerate indefinitely.

The ongoing reforms in Ethiopia are undeniably necessary, and the visible progress across various sectors is a welcome development. However, intellectual honesty demands the recognition that much of this progress represents delayed implementation rather than revolutionary innovation. In many respects, the state is merely executing blueprints that should have been operationalized years ago at the dawn of the reform era.

There is no shame in catching up, but there is immense danger in believing that catching up is sufficient.

The next phase of national development requires a radically different paradigm. A nation cannot merely replicate the developmental journeys of others or celebrate delayed progress as a final victory. It demands continuous, pragmatic innovations that allow the economy to leapfrog traditional stages of growth and compete on a global scale. This trajectory requires replacing cultures of entitlement with cultures of performance, elevating competence above politics, and prioritizing execution over symbolism.

In systems that measure success by political conformity, principled execution will always be viewed as an anomaly. Reformers who prioritize disruptive progress over political preservation are frequently marginalized or labeled as incompatible with the prevailing order. Yet, the true measure of statecraft is not found in the superficial narratives woven by bureaucratic survivors, but in the enduring impact of the work itself. When initiatives once delayed or dismissed are eventually adopted and executed, it is a victory for the nation, regardless of who claims the credit.

Ultimately, true public service must transcend the politics of personality and recognition. It is solely about what is achieved and how profoundly it elevates the lives of the citizenry.

History demonstrates an unwavering truth: nations are not transformed by those who seek to preserve broken systems. They are transformed by those who possess the discipline, the vision, and the courage to redesign them.

#StatecraftAndService #sovereignethiopia #performanceculture #ExecutionExcellence #EnterpreneurialGovernment #LensaMekonnen

[Lensa Mekonnen @lensamekonnen]

There are moments in the life of a nation when progress itself becomes vulnerable.

As Ethiopia navigates another period of political transition, we must recognize an uncomfortable truth: the greatest threat to a nation's transformation is not always external pressure or visible conflict, but the deliberate cultivation of instability at precisely the moments when progress begins to consolidate.

We have sacrificed too much to lay the foundations of our national renaissance to allow ourselves to be drawn into cycles of disruption designed to derail it.

This demands vigilance not only from government, but from every architect of our national future: our business leaders, our financiers, our development partners, our technocrats, and our professional advisers. In an era where financial influence can serve geopolitical ambition, we must exercise uncompromising scrutiny over the capital, partnerships, and interests seeking to shape our institutions and our trajectory.

History teaches us that statecraft extends far beyond politics. It is practiced by the entrepreneur who builds enduring institutions, the consultant who refuses compromised incentives, and the public servant who safeguards long-term national interests over short-term gain.

No nation achieves structural transformation when its strategic assets, institutions, and intellectual capital become instruments of external agendas. Prosperity, competitiveness, and sovereignty are built when a country's ambitions remain firmly under its own stewardship.

As we undertake the profound responsibility of shaping the next chapter of our national journey, the question before us is not whether pressures will emerge they always do. The question is whether we possess the institutional courage, strategic discipline, and collective wisdom to protect the future we have fought so hard to build.

We are not merely managing a transition. We are designing a legacy. And history will judge us not by the ambitions we proclaimed, but by the sovereignty, integrity, and resilience of the nation we leave behind.

#Statecraft #EconomicStatecraft #SovereignEthiopia #Ethiopianpolitics #DesigningALegacy #LensaMekonnen

[Lensa Mekonnen @lensamekonnen]

Let’s stop talking about Africa's 'youth dividend' as if it’s a passive guarantee. It isn't!

Both the UN SDGs and Agenda 2063 highlight human capital development as our ultimate engine. But let’s look at the execution gap. An unempowered, underemployed population isn't a demographic dividend, it’s a systemic design failure.

We don't need more abstract white papers or committees on job creation. We need structural interventions that align macroeconomic policy directly with scalable youth inclusion frameworks.

The execution gap lives in the final mile, taking brilliant policy concepts and engineering them into operational realities that global capital can actually anchor to.

The next generation doesn't want placeholders in public office. They want architects who know how to build the engine.

Let’s not care who writes the promise. Let’s care about who designs the system that delivers it.
#HumanCapital #Agenda2063 #StrategicPublicSector #ExecutionGap #LensaMekonnen

[African Development Bank Group @AfDB_Group]

RECAP: Quotable quote from the #AIF2025 Opening Ceremony.

Dr Sidi Ould Tah, @AfDBPresident: “The Africa Investment Forum is where the Four Cardinal points converge with a single purpose: Action.

As we gather in the boardrooms to advance projects in transport, energy and beyond, we must remember that this is far more than transactions. It is about investing in our people, strengthening our economic prosperity, and shaping our shared future.”

[Alemayehu Geda/ዓለማየሁ ገዳ. 阿莱马耶胡. 格达 @alemayehuGeda]

During my research sabbatical stay at Afreximbank in Cairo, I’ve been struck by the intense competition over land wr have in Ethiopia, especially after learning that ~95% of Egypt’s population is living on just 5% of its landmass . This highlights how inefficient and unproductivity we are in our land use. Why are we fighting so fiercely over land in Ethiopia when it is possible to develop over such a small fraction of space [ Egypt & South Africa the top economies in Africa with about $400 bln GDP], and how can we rethink land use& the politics of land to address these challenges.

[The Last One Degree @LastOneDegree]

The Last One Degree is back with a new episode this Thursday, August 14th!

Tune in: 🎧 Spotify & YouTube: Last One Degree

More: https://t.co/4kP8PbTxhu

#Podcast #Tourism #Land

[Lensa Mekonnen @lensamekonnen]

Japan-Africa match is a potentially promising https://t.co/MP5gINcZHn needs billions of dollars of capital investment.Japanese financial institutions have some of the largest balance sheets in the world&have been looking for better way to invest their cash
https://t.co/W5ZFDga1cl

[The Last One Degree @LastOneDegree]

The Last One Degree is back with a new episode this Thursday, August 14th! We're getting into the nitty-gritty of "National Development: The surprising link between land, tourism & national development.
Tune in: 🎧 Spotify & YouTube: Last One Degree
#Podcast #Tourism #Land

[Ethiopian Capital Markets Authority @CMAEthiopia]

Reminder!

Applications for the ECMA University Students and Young Professionals Summer Camp 2025 are still open; but not for long!

📌 Deadline: August 10, 2025
Don’t wait until the last minute apply now!

Full details here: https://t.co/pZMdWJgUWI

[The Last One Degree @LastOneDegree]

“True liberation begins when we rediscover the revolutionary truth that sovereignty is never granted – it is seized.”

#insights2025 #foodforthought #EcoTalk #lastonedegree #MakeitImpossible #interestingread

@lensamekonnen
https://t.co/EtCJ9S0xET

[Lensa Mekonnen @lensamekonnen]

“Africa has lived through the limitations of GDP-centred development—from structural adjustment programmes to the undervaluing of communal systems,” she said. “But these gaps present a new frontier for African leadership.”
#foodforthought #LeadingAfrica
https://t.co/BD8lutit9E

[Alemayehu Geda/ዓለማየሁ ገዳ. 阿莱马耶胡. 格达 @alemayehuGeda]

Wow, 180 degree - politics, ha! The President has a point though. Without govt procurement contract ( eg NASA), Space X wouldn't have survived tge market. However, this is a general pattern & notvunique to Elon; & the fact is the so called free market is a myth ( lesson for #Africa) - a reminder of Mariana's book about "The Entrepreneurs State".👇

[The Last One Degree @LastOneDegree]

Beyond the headlines: unveiling the untapped Potential of Ethiopia

Tune in on Spotify and check out our inaugural episode : https://t.co/9nLaMJHzeV
Subscribe and join our learning journey!

#EntrepreneurialGovernment #EconomicInsights
#DevelopmentalTheories

@AidaTola

[Lensa Mekonnen @lensamekonnen]

“The world is rich in resources, yet we have cultivated a mentality of scarcity—one that prioritizes material accumulation over holistic well-being.”

#ReflectiveThoughts #MakeItImpossible #WeeklyReflection #LMT

https://t.co/L41x2ISfIM

[Lensa Mekonnen @lensamekonnen]

Loving the vibe today!
Work hard, have fun & say Alhamdulillah. Feeling blessed and productive.

#moments #Vibes #Alhamdulillah #Blessed #MakeItImpossible #LastOneDegree

[The Last One Degree @LastOneDegree]

“…receive “commercially oriented” support, as opposed to relying on grants from aid agencies, may ultimately prove to be more durable and create more impact.”

#AfricanBusiness
#EcoTalk #EconomicInsights #MakeItImpossible

https://t.co/AR1V0I9fej

[The Last One Degree @LastOneDegree]

TheLastOneDegree : Let's challenge the status quo, one degree at a time.
Watch this space: https://t.co/lCGZ4wKOvw

#EntrepreneurialGovernment #EconomicInsights
#DevelopmentalTheories #podcasts #MakeItImpossible

[Lensa Mekonnen @lensamekonnen]

“A common pitfall in economic strategy lies in the blurring of lines between branding, marketing, and lobbying. Each of these functions serves a distinct and vital purpose:..”

#WeekendReflections #MakeItImpossible #Foodforthought

https://t.co/w91lzbMlOC

[The Last One Degree @LastOneDegree]

The Last One Degree!

#Understand #UnEarth #Unbound #MakingItImpossible #PodCast #TransformativeSpaces https://t.co/1zwkA3SMOD