‘Insightful’, ‘encouraging’ and ‘thought-provoking’ – that’s what people thought of From Hippos to Gazelles: How Leaders Create Leaders, when the book was launched at a recent British Council event.

The book, launched in Tanzania and Uganda, co-authored by Philip Goodwin and Tony Page, is about the merger of the British Council’s independent East and West African country offices into one Africa unit. The title refers to the change in the way people had to operate.

Goodwin, the British Council Regional Director for East and West Africa, teamed up with Page, a leadership consultant, to write the real-life story of a leader and facilitator working together to achieve change in the complex reality of the British Council.

‘It’s about sharing ideas and experiences,’ Goodwin says. ‘Having gone through the merger, we are reflecting on what’s happened.

‘Tony and I are passionate about Leaders Create Leaders. We want to prevent people from being victims of change and instead get them to embrace change.’

Goodwin says the book has been well received by those who have read it and organisations have expressed an interest in implementing some of the strategies it describes.

He says it is a real story, filled with ups and downs, and written to be easy to read. ‘It doesn’t have a management tone. It shows how we feel,’ he says.

Goodwin has this to say about working for the British Council: ‘It’s exciting when you see change in people’s lives. You immediately see the impact of your work when you meet young people – the services we provide immediately transform people’s lives and it’s great to see that on their faces.’

John Adair, an internationally acknowledged authority on leadership, says: ‘This book will encourage debate on how leadership at all levels can be developed. The chief executives of today and tomorrow are essentially ‘leaders of leaders’. This is a stimulating case study within an African context to build an effective strategic leadership team and, in the process, to change old-style managers into inspirational leaders – hippos into gazelles.’

Lilian Akot, communications manager of the British Council Uganda, says the book talks about ‘the changes in management [during the merger] and how people operated as a group as opposed to individuals. This book shows what took place, the resistance that people had towards change, and the difficulties they had in adapting from operating as an independent region to operating as a part of the Africa unit,’ says Akot.

‘It made me realise that change takes time because moving from working as an individual to functioning in a group is not easy. The book also shows what went on behind the scenes. Local staff weren’t involved in any decision-making before, but now, because of the merger, they will be involved in the decision making process. There were much bigger things taking place that we were not aware of.’

The book has been launched in Tanzania and Uganda and will be sold by the British Council in East and West African countries.

From Hippos to Gazelles has already made an impact on the lives of some of those who have read it. Miriam Kawuma, principal of a leading private school in Uganda, says: ‘It’s an insightful book. It tackles familiar situations and offers well-researched solutions. It makes me believe that properly managed, lasting change is possible.’

Stuart Fysh, executive vice-president for Africa, Middle East and Asia for the BG Group, says that for him, the book is ‘a traveller’s guide to the universe of organisational change, which resonates strongly with what I have learned throughout 25 years of change in the international resources industry. [The authors] show how each of us must shift and shape our style and agenda if we are to produce a wave of performance delivery that ripples back and forth throughout the organisation, and in order to become truly effective leaders of change.’

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