News
Lead Without Title (2)
The greatest challenge facing many organizations globally today is leadership. Nine out of ten Chief Executive Officers of small, medium and big corporations view people as their number one critical success factor. Meanwhile, six out of ten employees end up not having the skills or attitude or attributes they claimed to possess at the interview or stated on their beautifully and professionally crafted curriculum vitae.
Lead without title, is a new management concept recently popularized by Robin Sharma, one of the world’s top success and management coaches- to draw the attention of business executives to the inherent dangers in leading with title both for the organization as well as its people.
Principles of Leading without Title:
Lead without title as a management concept focuses on grooming every employee to have a leadership and ownership mentality regardless of such employee’s position in an organization. The question is: how do we make a cleaner or a security guard in Zenith bank, for instance, to have the same mentality like Jim Ovia, the CEO? The success of any organization depends not on its gross staff strength but on how many leaders it has among its employees. Like the slogan we used to paste on the staff notice board of Nigerian Bottling Company some years back says: ‘take this business as your own and 100% of your decision will be the right ones’. The concept of leading without title aims at making employees to have a new mind-set that leadership has little to do with the title on the business card or the size of an office or the rank of an officer. Furthermore, leadership is not about how much money an individual makes or the naira worth of clothes he wears. Neither is leadership about an individual’s family status. Leadership is a way of life, a philosophy or principle; an attitude and a state of mind. According to Robert Joss, dean of Stanford Graduate School of business: ‘’ by leadership I mean taking complete responsibility for an organization’s well-being and growth, and changing it for the better. Real leadership is not about prestige, power, or status. It is about responsibility’’. Leadership in an organization talks about who gets the problem solved fastest and at the least cost, who fixes it before it breaks, who has banana for the monkeys, who has the staying power, who has the strength of character and discipline, who has the persistence, who sees the big picture all the time and live it…Leading without title entails, a paradigm shift; it is a win-win situation for the organization and its people, the goal for all staff from the Chief Executive Officer to the cleaner is one but the responsibility may differ. Lead without title de-emphasizes ‘big-man syndrome’ in an organization.
Against the backdrop of the foregoing, if there is, therefore, any issue that should occupy the attention of CEOs today, more than any other management challenges, it is how to inculcate the concept of leading without title into the DNAs of our respective organizations. A cursory look at the performances of most of the multinationals companies in Nigeria when the indigenous CEOs took over in the 1980s will reveal a sad scenario of win-lose situation in some organizations. And the winners that emerged in the affected companies are the CEOs and the management staff. The big losers are the organizations they presided over as all the key business indicators of most of these organizations took a fast lane southward, while the respective bank accounts of individuals who managed these organizations swell.
Why Companies should de-emphasis Titles:
It is critical and urgent not only for individuals to lead without titles. But it is equally important for organizations in Nigeria to imbibe the new management concept of leading without titles .Of late, especially since the consolidation exercise of banks and insurance companies, the penchant for companies to parade their ‘ titles’ has gone to a dangerous level. Awards that have no meaning or bearing to the business are being sought by several organization from doubtful and obscure corners with a view to looking good. Even, some organization gave themselves awards! But the truth is, the companies that win at the end of the day the biggest share of the mind of consumers will be determined by the consumers based on only three variables: value for money (VFM), fit for purpose (FFP) and speed of delivery (SOD).Title has no place in the winning game! Why then this unbridled quest for titles? What lessons can we learn from the failure of organizations which had led with titles in the past? Can an herbalist anoint a pastor? – If no, why then should a bank seek legitimacy from those who know next to nothing about banking? Organizations need to be careful because many have gone the way of Daewoo company- in the process of leading with title. Not too long ago in Lagos, almost all the management staff of a big multinational were sent parking when the Board found out that the Management team had inflated the revenue and profit of the said company by unbelievable figures just to look good. It will be recalled that this same company and its leadership had been declared as the ‘’best’ in almost every key business indicators shortly before the bubble burst.
Union Bank of Nigeria has secured certification under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) version 4.0.1, a global standard for protecting payment card data.
The certification took effect on August 11, 2026, confirming that the bank’s systems for storing, processing and transmitting customers’ credit and debit card information meet stringent international security requirements.
PCI DSS certification is designed to reduce the risk of payment card data breaches and financial fraud while strengthening customer confidence in electronic payment systems.
The assessment covered key areas of Union Bank’s operations, including network infrastructure, card issuance, ATM and POS transactions, payment processing, reconciliation, settlement, chargebacks, dispute resolution and retail banking.
Union Bank was assessed and certified under the Service Provider category.
The certification process lasted a full year and involved quarterly assessments, with support from departmental, business and functional heads across the bank. Digital security firm Digital Encode supported the process, while the final independent audit was conducted by CyberCube, an accredited Qualified Security Assessor.
Yetunde B. Oni, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Union Bank, said the certification demonstrates the bank’s commitment to protecting customer information.
“The security of our customers’ information is central to everything we do at Union Bank. This certification reaffirms that our payment systems and processes meet a rigorous global standard, and it reflects the discipline of colleagues across the Bank who work every day to keep customer data safe.”
The renewal also ensures that Union Bank maintains continuous PCI DSS certification, in line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s requirement for banks to sustain compliance without interruption.
New data from CFA Society Nigeria is reshaping how the country’s financial sector thinks about talent development, with Access emerging as the single largest source of CFA candidates in Nigeria, distinction industry watchers say signals a deeper shift in how leading institutions are building investment expertise from within.
In its Where Nigeria’s Finance Professionals Work series, published in a national daily, CFA Society Nigeria placed Access first among employers of CFA candidates nationwide, with 82 candidates enrolled in the programme, more than double the 38 recorded at the next-placed institution and well ahead of every other bank or financial services firm on the list.
Access also ranked second among employers of CFA charterholders, with 11 professionals who have completed all three levels of the Programme and met its experience and ethics requirements.
For an industry that has long measured itself by balance sheet size and branch count, the rankings point to a different kind of competition: one over who is building the deepest bench of certified, globally credentialed talent.
CFA Society Nigeria compiled the data from its Salesforce Membership Database as at June 2026, and described the exercise as a way of recognising employers whose people “bring rigour, integrity and global best practices into the workplace every day.”
Analysts following the sector say the outcome is notable less for the ranking itself than for what it suggests about talent strategy across Africa’s financial services industry. A single institution developing more aspiring charterholders than the rest of the market combined raises the floor for professional standards nationally, not just within one balance sheet.
Every candidate who advances through the CFA Programme adds to a shared pool of ethics-trained, analytically rigorous professionals that Nigeria’s capital markets, pension funds and asset managers all eventually draw from.
Access Holdings Group Chief Executive Officer Innocent C. Ike, commenting on the rankings, framed the achievement in terms of institution-building rather than recruitment: “Every candidate on that list represents our commitment to building institutions and professionals that endure.”
The remark echoes a broader thesis increasingly voiced by market observers, that talent depth, not scale alone, is what will determine which African financial institutions earn lasting global credibility.
That distinction sits at the centre of Access’s stated ambition to become the World’s Most Respected African Financial Services Group. If the CFA numbers are any indication, the Group’s route to that goal runs less through square metres of branch network and more through the calibre of the people sitting inside it, a bet that Nigeria’s finance professionals, and the institutions that will one day hire them, are already placing alongside Access.
Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has announced plans to introduce Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) baggage tracking technology across domestic and international airport terminals to tackle the growing problem of delayed, misrouted and missing luggages
Michael Achimugu, director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NCAA, disclosed this at a stakeholder engagement forum in Lagos.
Achimugu said the RFID-enabled system would replace the traditional barcode-based baggage tracking framework and provide airlines and passengers with real-time visibility of checked luggage from check-in to final collection.
According to him, the technology would improve baggage traceability, reduce mishandling and strengthen accountability across the baggage-handling chain.
Unlike conventional barcode systems, RFID technology allows baggage to be automatically scanned at multiple points without requiring direct line of sight, enabling real-time tracking of luggage throughout its journey.
Achimugu said issues involving short-landed, missing, lost or damaged baggage had remained among the major complaints from air travellers, alongside flight delays.
He said the introduction of RFID technology was therefore aimed at improving baggage-handling standards and restoring passenger confidence in the aviation sector.
The NCAA said the initiative also aligns with IATA Resolution 753, which requires airlines to track baggage at key points during the passenger journey.
The authority expects the technology to provide more accurate information on the location of luggage, facilitate quicker resolution of baggage-related complaints and improve the overall passenger experience.
The NCAA said the initiative would also strengthen accountability among airlines and other stakeholders involved in baggage handling at Nigerian airports.
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