Companionate leadership: A shemswian perspective

Abstract

Given the calls for theories and models of leadership unique to Africa, I leverage insight from African historical, anthropological, and philosophical accounts to propose one type of indigenous leadership: companionate leadership. It is based on ancient (Kemetic scribes of the Nile Valley) and modern (bards or griots of the Niger Valley) African traditional principles of shemsw which entailed maât and sebait. The model proposes companionate states (constitution, attention, and co-relation) and behavioral processes (communication, engagement, and cooperation) that through complex processes affect organized action, shemsw, to yield group and individual outcomes. Implications of the model for theory and practice of leadership in African organizations especially but also around the world are discussed.