New skill to manage Politicking?

In any organisation be it a school society, private company or an international organisation the concept of politics exist as there are powerbases, influencing mechanism and strong personalities at play.  The challenge is to learn the new skill of how to manage and work through it said Rohantha Athukorala who was the only Sri Lanka selected by Harvard University in 2011 for the coveted “Leaders in Development” programme that selects annually the top 50 leaders globally and update them on the latest trends that successful leaders must have in a modern economy. 

He was addressing the Interact Orientation Seminar of the Board members organised by the Rotary Club of Colombo at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute auditorium.

  Athukorala who has held diverse portfolios in the Government and private sector at very senior level now serves the global community whilst also serving the country on many policy making boards of the public and private sector said this new skill of managing and working through a political culture has been identified as one of the most competitive skills that a modern leader must be equipped with which incidentally has been ranked on par with the technical skill required to perform one’s task in an office.

Learn this skill early commented Athukorala so that by the time you join the private sector you will be mature on this area. Some call these life skills but now it has been cut out to form a curriculum of its own. In fact in business schools there are courses called ‘Working in a Political Economy’ he pointed out.

The youngsters were also challenged by the speaker to bridge the gap between the North and South student leaders; and a visit to Jaffna and meeting the interact clubs of Jaffna schools was a must in this year’s agenda said Athukorala. We as an economy that is getting so strongly linked post May 2009, and now it must filter to the next generation said Athukorala who was responsible for developing the private sector business in Jaffna during the period 2007-2009 at the height of the war. The 1st Industrial exhibition staged in Jaffna was when he was the Director Economic Affairs of the Government Peace Secretariat.