Lessons from Ivor Machio Wekesa

As the 2012 came to an end, I am reminded of those we lost along the way.

I have lost many relatives and even many more friends but I the sadness I felt at the loss of my former boss, Ivor, who was Director of Risk Management at Safaricom, until his untimely death on 13th Oct 2012, was compounded by the fact that over the months I had received news that his battle with cancer was progressing well and he had even resumed office duties after a very tough period.  News of his death were thus most unexpected. It felt as if a candle had, without warning, gone off, just after the last strong gale of a night storm has ended.  But now that he is gone, it would be good to remember a few things from his life and the ones that, in my view, directly touch on Revenue Assurance.

I will remember Ivor on 3 counts and I hope in 2013 and beyond, his lessons will stand.

(1) Listen to RA, Understand RA, represent RA and question RA
As a member of the Executive Committee, Ivor provided much needed sponsorship for RA activities. He took it upon himself to understand the issues and to drive closure. Sometimes the value of a good RA team is undone by lack of proper representation at the highest echelons of a company. I think it is fair to say, the RA team in Safaricom had the privilege of Ivor’s support. During his time, we had a monthly session where each of the RA analysts would present their portion of the Revenue Assurance KPI report – a fairly detailed report that looks at the performance of monitoring controls over the Safaricom revenue sources. Ivor was in his element, asking what he called “my dumb questions” but which provided the team with different perspectives. Too many C-suite people, especially those who have not had training or background in RA, do not take enough time to understand RA and they are not asking questions. Ivor was not one of them and he sought explanations on the work that was being done. He challenged assumptions and kept us on our toes.

The second thing I remember is attending the 2010 edition of WeDo User Group (WUG) with Ivor. He spent a lot of time asking how other RA teams are doing their assurance. Whatever new thing he learnt, he would mention it to me “Joseph, can we start doing that?” Of course over time, I started feeling as if we were engaging in copy-paste without being mindful of the specific circumstances of each operator. I mean, we could all be in the same industry but Safaricom, Claro, America Movil are all very different. But later, during de-brief in Nairobi, we came to an understanding that some things can be adapted, others can be directly copied and others can be ignored altogether. That was the kind of RA improvement that Ivor pursued. He was open to his direct reports disagreeing and so long as their arguments were rational and delivered clearly, a middle ground was available. The typical RA manager is expected to drive a lot of things, to keep so many balls in the air and to be the Ultimate Mr. Fix-It. Life is so much easier when the C-Suite guy who is responsible for RA is balanced in asking for new things and also understanding the limits of what can be done.

(2) High Standards
I recall the very first performance rating that Ivor assigned to me. It was a rating that I felt was not commensurate with the work that I had championed and I let him know as much. His response was simple. “I rated you on what you have achieved against your potential. I could have just looked at your achievements without considering what you are truly capable of and your rating would be quite high but that would not be fair to you because you are capable of much more”. Of course, I sulked for a few hours but as always, whenever Ivor noted there was displeasure in an employee, he never shied from approaching the person. Promptly at lunch time, he showed up at my desk and offered to buy lunch and I thought, “Dude, you have such cheek!” Over lunch we had a candid discussion – it did not have to be a long chat because I already knew he was right.  The lesson had been learnt – to let an employee perform at a level that is not at par with their potential is unfair to the employee. Later appraisals were of course better because I knew I had to demonstrate that all that was within my power had been done. With the benefit of hindsight, I am not surprised that Ivor was applying such high standards. He lived those standards.

(3) Avoid Illusions
Those who know Ivor will remember that how he dealt with conflict. Always with a chuckle, he would approach whoever appears displeased and ask “My good friend, what appears to be the problem?”
That is one other lesson I would like to remember Ivor for. Sometimes we think there is a problem, yet there is no problem. And sometimes we think there is no problem, yet there is a problem. As we navigate this treacherous RA field, each RA practitioner should exercise due caution in determining what is the problem and what appears to be the problem.

Today, in honor of Ivor Machio Wekesa, I ask that we all question what we do with the aim of improving it, re-apply higher standards and ensure that we are tackling real problems. Rest in peace, Ivor. The lessons remain with us.

Joseph Nderitu
Joseph Nderitu

Joseph Nderitu is a director at Integrated Risk Services Ltd and specializes in revenue assurance. He previously worked as Head of Revenue Assurance and Fraud Management at Vodacom's operation in Tanzania, having previously served in the same role at Vodacom Mozambique.

Before his work with Vodacom, Joseph was an internal audit manager for Airtel, with responsibility that covered their 17 countries in Africa. Whilst at Airtel, Joseph led reviews of the Revenue Assurance, Customer Service and Sales & Marketing functions.

Prior to his stint at Airtel, Joseph was an RA manager at Safaricom in Kenya. He holds an MSc Degree in Information Systems.

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6 COMMENTS

  1. Eric,

    Ivor’s way of managing you was brilliant — true leadership. He chose the tough course of being honest with you and in so doing inspired you to greatness.

    It recalls an experience I had as a young Ensign in the U.S. Navy. Ensigns are the lowest rank of officer and just about every seasoned sailor knows that Ensigns can be easily fooled. So it’s your job as an Ensign to get through your first two years and more or less earn your sea legs, so people can no longer pull the wool over your eyes.

    Well, it was time for a crews quarters inspection by the Captain of the oiler I was on out of San Diego. A Captian’s inspection is a pretty formal deal. He would actually wear white gloves, and often climb on top of bunk beds and the like to rub his glove finger on ledges to see if he could find any dirt.

    So when it came time to inspect the toilets, he found a stain in the urinal. And he said: “Ensign Baker, why was this stain not removed?” Being a dummy, I simply repeated what the petty officer told me, that the stain was rock solid and could not be taken out.

    At which point, the Captain instructed the petty officer to get some steel wool and cleanser and to meet him with me back in the toilet in 10 minutes.

    When we returned, the Captain took the cleanser and steel wool and proceeded to clean the urinal himself. Within a couple minutes of hard scrubbing, he successfully removed the stain, at which point he said, “Ensign Baker, don’t you ever tell me you can’t do something again.”

    A sadder but wiser man, I rose the morrow morn :- )

  2. Dear Dan,

    Thanks for the comment. Looking at the work you are putting together at http://bswan.org it is clear that the lessons you learnt as an Ensign in the US navy have stood you good stead. Your anecdote also brought out something else. Repeating that the stain is rock solid and cannot be taken out (because the petty officer had said so) is funny but unfortunately it is also so starkly true in many of our lives’ situations. We sometimes give in to easy, common, zero-foundation and untested positions on the strength of “somebody said so”.
    Until somebody comes around and reveals the truth, often by not taking the easy road.

  3. Joseph,

    Thanks for your kind words. I guess my Navy experience was more educational than I imagined at the time.

    When I first got out of the Navy after 9 years (I was passed over twice for the rank of Lieutenant Commander so I had to leave), I had zero experience managing a product or marketing/selling anything. In the Navy all you did was operate the systems already in place.

    Actually I was in the “black shoe” Navy, the part of the Navy that operates ships. Now if you talk to John Brooks, the product strategist for Subex, he was in the “brown shoe” Navy, the guys who operate jets and helicopters. Talk to John some time because he’s got some great stories to tell about flying jets.

    Though I struggled to get a job when I first left the Navy, my experience there was positive in other ways. I got to see a lot of the countries in Asia. I got to live in three great places: San Diego, Hawaii, and Japan. And I think the emphasis on understanding shipboard systems has carried over into a curiosity on how the telecom industry works.

    As far as the excuses we hear so often at work, my executive officer (kind of the COO of ship) on a destroyer I was on had a list of 14 excuses on his wall. And when he called you in to ask you about some mistake you made, he would say, “Don’t explain, just tell me which number excuse it is.”

    I can’t remember what the 14 excuses actually were, but if I ask my wife, I’m sure she can come up with at least 100 different ones I have used :- )

  4. Hi Joseph,
    thank you for sharing this remembrance on Ivor Makesa.
    I was heavily involved in the WUG and I remember well that the volcano ash cloud over Europe almost didn’t let you travel. It’s very sad to know about this loss.

    Regards,
    Miguel

  5. @Dan

    In deed, it is always in hindsight that we realize the value of lessons from the past. The list of 14 excuses is actually a nice point. It’s amazing how we sometimes confuse reasons for excuses.

    @Miguel
    Great to hear from you. Those were in deed trying times . Who would have thought that volcanic ash from a mountain that has very difficult spelling would cause such havoc! Nevertheless, we had a blast at beautiful Madeira. And the podcast that Eric posted (which has folks like Tony Poulos, Susan McNiece, Nick Mann, Eric – ably steered by Alun Lewis) remains my favorite. Such good debate. It can still be found here: http://talkra.com/archives/1736

    What most people may not know is that we had almost cancelled our flight from Nairobi. WeDo’s Pedro Mariano Teixeira called up Ivor and told him even if we had to be driven, use chartered planes on “unregulated” routes, we had to attend the WUG :)

    I am not sure Pedro had a real way out but that kind of can-do attitude resonated well with Ivor.

  6. Your words remembered me a poem from Fernando Pessoa:

    Was it worth doing? Everything’s worth doing
    If the soul of the doer isn’t small.
    Whoever would go beyond the Cape
    Must go beyond sorrow.
    God placed danger and the abyss in the sea,
    But he also made it heaven’s mirror.

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