Advertisements for a DG. ICRISAT 41, William Dar 14

MANILA: Smile – and then goodbye to all that?

I'm not applying but I'm a wide reader, so I've been immersed in a pdf from icrisat.org, filename DG-Advertisement-Nov-2013, ICRISAT's ad for its next Director General, its title being "OPPORTUNITY TO LEAD AN IMPORTANT GLOBAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH ORGANIZATION AS Director General."

This story starts 14 years ago actually. The pdf says, "The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) is currently seeking a new Director General to succeed the retiring incumbent." The Institute is looking for "a PhD in a field related to agricultural research for development." A new science leader in the pursuit of science for people. Science with a human face.

The incumbent is William Dollente Dar, PhD, a Filipino, who became ICRISAT's DG on 01 January 2000 and is retiring 15 years later, on 01 January 2015, exactly 365 days from today, so why announce it now? At The Economist, the announcement was posted 19 November 2013 yet and simply titled "Director General" (jobs.economist.com).

Of course it has been the decision of the ICRISAT Board. I'm sure the reason is that it will take the Board a few months to select the next DG, and once selected, he needs a few months more to get acquainted with being the new Director General of a highly successful international research center and keep ICRISAT running smoothly.

The requirement for a PhD I thought strange, because this is a manager's job, not a researcher's. One, you don't need to be a PhD to succeed as a manager. ICRISAT's first Ambassador of Goodwill Bill Gates is the most successful Harvard dropout; he managed Microsoft and became the world's richest billionaire. Two, the PhDs don't study management. The nearest PhD that I can think of that fits a manager is productivity, honesty, and a kindly disposition.

He? I'm sure it will not be a she. In the United States of America, where you have equal-opportunity employers, how many women CEOs do you have? I can name you only one of note: Marissa Mayer of Yahoo! Inc.

A he, because the work of the Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics has turned out to be daunting, demanding, distance-minding; it cannot be a desk job; it was never meant to be. ICRISAT has offices in New Delhi and Patancheru (India), Kenya (Nairobi), Malawi (Lilongwe), Mali (Bamako), Mozambique (Maputo), Niger (Niamey), Nigeria (Kano), and Zimbabwe (Bulawayo). ICRISAT just opened a new country office in Ethiopia (Addis Ababa). The semi-arid tropics are found mostly in the Americas (Central and South), Africa, Australia, and India. A female may like the job, but the work may not like the female.

I have no vested interest in the matter; I can never be an applicant and I don't know anyone who is; I'm speaking here as an amicus conseil, friend of the board, since I admire and have been "all around" ICRISAT for the last 7 years, starting February 2007, when I began writing about the Institute and its Director General.

I'm not worried about William Dar after ICRISAT; after all, he has started his next team captainship in his native Philippines by founding a national movement he calls Inanglupa (Motherland), and I'm in there for the ride. He says Inanglupa works "for a science-based, climate-smart and competitive Philippine agriculture for social and economic empowerment of smallholder farmers." In that quote, change "Philippine agriculture" to "dryland agriculture" and you have a picture of what ICRISAT has been doing in the last 14 years since he became DG in January 2000.

In the ICRISAT pdf file that is the ad for a DG, under the section "Position Overview" or position description, there are 207 words that begin with "The role of the Director General is to lead" and end with "NGO communities in agricultural research" that are enough for this cow to munch on and regurgitate.

Having read those 207 words, if you were the man planning to apply, what do you think? Never mind. Here's what I think:

The ICRISAT Board is looking for a Superman for Science!

I now begin my quotes (all paragraphs in italics), with my comments following:

The role of the Director General is to lead ICRISAT to ever-increasing development impact through its research. Specific responsibilities and activities include:

Nowhere in the Position Overview can I read the words "poor" or "poverty" – so, what does the ICRISAT Board mean by "development" and "impact" now? Remember, ICRISAT is the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics – the SAT is where you find hundreds of millions of the poor. A vague statement like "development impact" is not going to help the Board select the new DG, will it?

· Managing ICRISAT as Chief Executive Officer with responsibility to the Governing Board for the overall management of the Institute. This includes:

– Providing dynamic leadership and vision in a rapidly changing world for creating strategies to meet the demands of sustainable agricultural development.

The CEO is expected to provide the leadership, yes, but not the Vision, which is set by the Team. Remember, the CEO is the Team Captain, not the whole team. It is the Team that creates the strategies. "Sustainable agricultural development" – Gentlemen of the Board, suppose the candidate DG defines this loaded term in a manner different from yours, will you listen?

– Developing strategies and policies for the research agenda and fostering commitment from scientists from various disciplines for implementing the strategies and policies.

Again, it is the Team that develops the strategies, policies, and research agenda, based on the Vision. And fostering commitment from scientists is the Team's responsibility, not simply the Team Captain's.

Additionally, when you say "developing strategies and policies ... and fostering commitment from scientists," aren't you implying that there are defective or no strategies and policies at all right now? This is your Editor in Chief speaking.

And there is no mention of Mission. The Mission is how you can make your Vision (Dream) come true.

– Inspiring trust and loyalty from staff of different nationalities and cultures; leading an internationally dispersed senior management team through modern management methods and technologies.

Inspiration: Gentlemen of the Board, I love your "Inspiring trust and loyalty from staff of different nationalities and cultures; leading an internationally dispersed senior management team" – that's what it will take.

Modern management: Let's be idealistic but at the same time realistic. So, Gentlemen, what will you say and do when the candidate DG proclaims that he believes in Henri Fayol's 6 functions of management, and you learn that these date back to 1949?! Fayol was forward-looking; note his list: forecasting, planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, and controlling (you may want to see my dream essay, "Nagkaisa as the 1st Super Coop. Frank H as the 1st Super GM," 20 November 2013, Nagkaisa, blogspot.com).

Modern technology: And what do you do when the candidate DG knows all about GMO but doesn't know how to indent a paragraph in Word 2007 (or Word 2010 or Word 2013) without tabbing at the beginning so, he tabs all his paragraphs day in and day out? He doesn't know there is a format command for firstline indent that will repeat itself a million times. All he needs to do is ask. To me that shows he's not interested in work efficiency. And not humble enough.

· Policy setting, research planning, fundraising, budget development and allocation, as well as responsibility for global political and public relations both within and outside the CGIAR. This includes:

Don't forget that ICRISAT is a team and not simply the DG, so the responsibility for global political and public relations belongs to the Team and not solely to the Team Captain. What you should be looking for as your new DG is a team player who has leadership qualities that are natural, not learned in school.

– Enhancing and maintaining collaborative relationships involving international and advanced research centers and national agricultural research institutes in developing countries.

I live in the Philippines and Team Captain William Dar has brought several projects to this country, but I see that the collaboration suffers because the public-science-private partnership is not as vibrant as with ICRISAT in other countries. I doubt that my country has imbibed the PSP partnership that ICRISAT has been quite successful with. PSP is what the new DG should be conversant with along the likes of which he is known to be pursuing.

– Attracting sustained financial commitment from donor countries, agencies, and international organizations.

It reflects on the leadership of course, but it is the performance of the Team and not simply that of the Team Captain that attracts financial assistances and sustains them. Go ask Bill Gates.

– Developing amongst governments the long-term interest and support for the promotion and advancement of agricultural research in the semi-arid tropics.

Should read "Developing and/or maintaining amongst governments ..." You cannot separate governments, research centers, donor countries and organizations from the PSP continuum. New long-term interest and support of governments must be developed, but current interest and support developed in the last 14 years under the incumbent Team Captain of ICRISAT must be maintained.

– Conceiving and stimulating appropriate and productive interactions amongst the public and private sectors and the NGO communities in agricultural research.

By enumerating separately, you portray countries, agencies, international organizations, governments, the public and private sectors as independent workers for development – your ICRISAT does not. ICRISAT works with them as partners.

Gentlemen, overall, it seems to me you're looking for a Team in your advertisement for a DG, not looking for a Team Captain. Where ICRISAT is now, at the top of the CGIAR circle of centers, is not the effort of only one man but all of ICRISAT. I think that the outputs of Team ICRISAT in the last 14 years are what you are now looking for as qualities of the new DG. Gentlemen, you're asking too much from only one man!

ICRISAT has been most successful because it goes beyond its mandate of crops and into farming as a poor man's enterprise and, thereby, his tool of emancipation from poverty. Now then, nowhere in the ad is mentioned ICRISAT & Partners' strategy called Inclusive Market-Oriented Development (IMOD). I know about IMOD; I have mentioned it differently in 76 of my essays in my dedicated blog since September 2010 (see my first, "An African Revolution. IMOD Power to the Women!" 22 September 2010, iCRiSAT Watch, blogspot.com). Does that mean that IMOD goes with William Dar? The IMOD is the most powerful idea for helping the poor rise from poverty that I have ever come across with; ICRISAT almost invented it, and now this Institute intends to say a slow goodbye to it as it does to William Dar?

In such a case, don't be surprised, gentlemen, that the poor you will always have with you!

In my opinion, the advertisements for a DG in the Economist and ICRISAT websites both miss the most important quality of the person you Gentlemen of the Board should be looking for: servant leadership. You have been seeing it in William Dar for the last 14 years. What is servant leadership? This is how I define it:

For someone to lead, he must become a follower first, and then all the time.

Don't forget Science with a human face, ICRISAT's mantra for success. Indeed, ladies & gentlemen of the ICRISAT Board, I believe your best bet for your new DG lies not in those 207 words in your Position Overview ad but in these

2 words: Servant Leadership. For a slogan, we have these

6 words: Lead the flock, serve the people