“A good friend of mine Jeff Koinange, invites me to go out for a drink and within an hour, more that thirty people come up to talk to him. Another star is Caroline Mutoko. This one time she entered a place to shop, and everything came to a stand still and she could not even shop. You may not have Celebrities in your team, but any business will always have Stars. How do you mange people like this?” asks Patrick Quarcoo, founder of Radio Africa Group, one of the leading broadcast and media companies in Kenya.

As a leader, do not be a boss. Be a coach.

These Stars always have people praising them. What they need is someone who tells them that hey, that performance was amazing but that part right there was hopeless. And this will be good for them as they will know that this is coming from a good place. 

As a leader you also have to be honest with your Stars. If things are bad make sure to tell them that they are bad and if they are good tell them that they are good. Give them the honest truth. When Stars are aware of what is going on they will work hard to achieve their goals at the work place as they feel that they are part of the Organisation. Patrick however cautions that you should be careful not to get too familiar with Stars. “Sometimes they may take what you say as the honest truth and act according to what you said, and yet you were joking”. Remember, they are still your employees.

Always be on the look out for emerging Stars

Last but not least, do not overlook what the staff are doing no matter how junior they are. Patrick speaks of the impact that an intern has made on Radio Jambo by discovering that listeners enjoy also watching the radio presenters at work. The intern recorded a morning show, uploaded it on the company youtube Channel, and the video became a viral hit! Always keen on great ideas, Patrick has embraced this idea and at the time of writing, he was renovating the studio to make it look better for the online viewers. As a leader, keep an eye out for talent and fresh ideas which help keep the business relevant.

Patrick Quarcoo was a guest at Un.thinkable roast (our monthly 10X Growth Challenges Leaders meet-up) in February 2020. Click here to apply for membership in Un.thinkable.