Gallup Poll: Leading Beyond GDP

editorial

World leaders, and especially African rulers, must pay attention to the “Global States of Mind” survey made public recently by Gallup. US-based Gallup, one of the world’s leading firms on global surveys and opinion polls, concluded that leaders of today must rely less on their countries’ GDP to gauge the mood of their people. They must pay attention to what the followers think if they want to lead well and prevent unrest, instability and revolutions.

Specifically, the influential firm said world leaders must pay attention to what the followers think about law and order, food and shelter, institutions and infrastructure, unemployment, well-being, brain drain and quality GDP growth.

Gallup said last year’s revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt where GDP was rising, shows that world leaders need more than just GDP and other traditional economic metrics to run their countries. We agree.

Economic data are becoming less and less valuable because they tend to be outdated by the time they are made available. More significantly, GDP is less valuable because leaders now need to know much more than what people are spending — they need to know how their people are feeling and what they think about them.

Related News

GDP is not enough if leaders are trying to figure out levels of hunger, hopelessness, or suffering. The survey found that about 94 percent of Nigerians seem to have lost faith in their government and now believe that there is widespread corruption in the leadership of their country. This is dangerous and can lead to unrest.

Generally, the figures released by government agencies about reduction of poverty, unemployment and well-being are often irrelevant to ordinary people who watch daily as life gets harder for them.

In Africa, life has continued to get harder and the trust in leadership has continued to crumble. Many Africans are now hopeless and flock to embassies everyday to escape from the harsh realities in their countries.

African leaders do not seem to be paying attention. They continue as if the feelings of their people do not matter. This is a huge mistake.We call on leaders to have their ears to the ground and pay attention to what their people think rather than listen to their aides, ministers and sycophants who deceive them that all is well. If the leaders do not pay attention to the feelings of their people, it may be too late when anger and hopelessness into bloody revolutions.

Load more