Tribute to a Great Man. Mike Bill

 

Mike Bill. The man I would like to appreciate in this blog. I met Mike in October of 2017 when he was the co-founder and CEO of Elewa Company Limited. Together with Jente Rosseel, I wil one day talk about him, they steered the company while I was an employee. I was an employee from October of 2017 to end of February 2019 at the same company. My role at the company mutated from applying for content manager, to education consultant then moved to relations manager and finally into sales when I was dismissed.

It is almost the end of 2023. Why did I take so long to appreciate Mike? Well the answer is not that simple but in a way easy. It has taken me 3 other roles in two different organizations to fully realize the kind of a person Mike made me to. But most importantly, I had not found the proper terminology or vocabulary to describe him. I am sorry it took me a trip not to a dictionary or Google to find the term, but to Cape Town, South Africa. This shows how hard it was for me to finish this article. I have attempted to describe him 3 different times, 3 different articles but failed.

Mike Bill is an empathetic leader. According to Center for Creative Leadership Empathetic leadership means having the ability to understand the needs of others, and being aware of their feelings and thoughts. They go ahead to give ways of showing empathy as a leader as watching for signs of burnout in others. Showing sincere interest in the needs, hopes, and dreams of other people. Demonstrate a willingness to help an employee with personal problems. Showing compassion when other people disclose a personal loss. I know with that you can guess where my article is going towards. Giving instances that show how Mike demonstrated empathy as a leader. You are not entirely wrong but I am not finished.

Empathy is data. That is what I realized recently. And for us to understand the magnitude of Mike’s leadership, let’s see the amount of data that he had to collect ‘being’ before displaying empathy ‘doing’. A set of questions forms an empathy map. At the core is understanding who the person is? What do they think and feel? What do they do? What do they hope for and what do they fear? What do they see? And what do they hear? It might look simple to answer the questions but let me be honest with you. I tried creating an empathy map for a girl in her late teens and I was surprised how much information I needed to have before I filled the table.

Mike had a way of ‘being’ and ‘doing’ that motivated the team and inspired them to move towards meeting their targets or accomplishing tasks. He was a no nonsense person but at the same time the most humorous, fun person to stay with.

My first encounter with Mike was during my first face to face interview. I was facing a difficult head teacher where I was teaching as Math and geography teacher. Or maybe I was the one difficult to handle. I had to look for alternatives and I got an advert looking for a content manager. The first interview was to create a lesson plan and describe how I am going to deliver the lesson. It was a written interview and we had to share it as PowerPoint Slides. I remember very well presenting a lesson on Photography. I qualified for the second round of interview.

I was still afraid of Nairobi City and its complexities. I had to beseech Ms Isabella, a close friend who we once taught in the same school, to take me to Pine Tree Towers along Ngong Road. I was the last to be interviewed.

When my turn came, I walked into the room and he welcomed me very nicely. He took a warmly familiar approach to greetings and at some point we even switched to local dialect. From his morphological make up, he looked a serious no nonsense man. I can place having seen him somewhere or rather he resembled someone I knew. As we were having the discussion, I could place who he resembled. A parent to a student, Damaris Guyatu, I once taught in marsabit. And I immediately knew the reason why I described him as a no nonsense person. The parent had once gave teachers and admin a lashing in presence of students.

Mike told me he was not going to base my interview on the CV, I thanked God at that instant, but rather on set of questions to he was going to ask. I don’t remember any question he asked all we did the whole hour was to have stories, share experiences like two friends who just met. I interrupted him at some points where I felt he was sharing a familiar experience and he also did the same. The last thing I remember was him telling me we are likely to delay the others who were waiting for next communication. I left the room asking myself why we didn’t have an interview. Tell me about yourself? Why do you want this job? Why did you leave your previous job? Give me an instant you displayed leadership and such were not asked.

I qualified for the second round of face to face interview. With both co-founders. The interview was in Riara Suites, behind Junction Mall along Ngong Road at 11.00am. I had to finish my morning classes before sneaking out. From Joska to Nairobi. I was at Railways Bus Station 20 minutes to eleven. I could not catch a matatu to the venue. I had to take a bodaboda to Junction and I could not trace Riara Suites. I had received several calls from Mike asking where I was. At 11.40 he decided to come for me. He picked me using his bike. I met the other interviewees already waiting for their fate. My interview started at noon and we were done half past noon.

I was nervous. I knew I had failed. I tried to compose myself while articulating issues but behind my back, I was regretting. The interview had structured questions. I don’t remember much but I still remember how my body was frying in my clothes. When interview was over, I made a request that was indicating in a way that I had given up.

On my way back it rained while I was in the Umoneer Bus toJoska. I received a call from Mike. I could not get him, so he asked me to call him when I alight. I was nervous. When I alighted, it was still raining. I went into a ‘kibanda’ and ordered tea so that I can get enough time on the call.

I was hired.

He came through for me, as a person, not an employee in numerous occasions. He always ensured we are comfortable at work and where we stayed. He used to listen to our concerns. Asked what we were struggling with and the goals or projects that we were pursuing other than what we were tasked to do at Elewa.

There were 2 famous gestures of appreciation. ‘Good stuff’ for feedback we provided, task we accomplished, suggestions we had and almost any other instant that required complement. ‘A handshake’ for any other quality task accomplished, submitted or idea. Quality. The latter is what we craved for. If you got a handshake, it was equivalent to getting a head of state commendation or winning a jackpot. Every day at 10 am, we used to have scrum and after that review of what we accomplished the previous day. It was during this time that we were anticipating the handshake. It rarely came. For the entire during I worked at Elewa, 1 year 4 months, 68 weeks, 340 chances to get the handshake. I got only 3.

I remember one time, I was to represent him at an EdTech event at Meta Westlands at 6:30 pm. We started the journey with two other colleagues Mary and Ian. The Uber driver took us to Metameta hardware in Wanjigi before realizing the mistake. I was late, of course, but in time for my presentation. After delivering the less than 5 minutes presentation about Elewa Company, I got the medal ‘handshake’. He was right there when I was stepping down the podium. I got the title relations manager the following week.

He worked on my thinking, chopped the biases and assumptions I had. Built a great presenter out of me. Helped me realize areas that I could naturally thrive in and helped me realize areas of weaknesses. I remember going to sale to a school when I was half prepared. He allowed me to go but when I came back, he walked me step by step to realize every red flag that I omitted in my preparation. Everyone else watching and learning from my mistake. He was patient with us and once he was convinced we are ready, he assigned some of us to Jente. Jente was a busy person that you had to have a convincing reason why he deserved your attention. By that time, we had won his attention.

Mike is now the founder of Verb Education an education innovation company aimed at transforming how education is delivered. Why he decided to opt for CBC, the one I resist, I don't know.

As I conclude this, I realize I need to do a whole 68 chapters of a book to completely describe the man. Words out of mouth or in writing won’t be enough to describe him. Because how can I describe the feeling of the atmosphere he created adding every scent that gives me memory when I smell? My heart is full of appreciation and I usually pray that may favour locate him wherever he is. Those I have worked after him can attest how industrious I am. I wouldn’t have been this way, if I had not encountered him.

Salute!