Description It\u2019s not about you\u2026. \n\nA few weeks ago, we celebrated African Leadership Academy\u2019s (ALA) 10 year anniversary in Johannesburg, South Africa. We established the Academy to respond to the continents\u2019 deepest need: a generation of ethical and entrepreneurial leaders with a genuine commitment to serving the continent. \n\nWhen I arrived the day before the decennial celebration and walked through ALA\u2019s gates, a funny thing happened. The security guard didn\u2019t know who I was and asked \u2018how can I help you?\u2019. Luckily, someone else recognized me and let me in!\n\nIt\u2019s an odd feeling not to be known at an institution you founded, sacrificed and toiled over for 10 solid years. \n\nOdd, in the sense that I\u2019ve created something that no longer needs me. All of the work, the worry, and the personal sacrifices evolved into not just a set of buildings but a set of principles, values, and goals that extend beyond any one person. \n\nAnd I\u2019m reminded of how in the early days of ALA, back in 2004, after I\u2019d written the business plan for the Academy as part of my MBA at Stanford, it was little more than a vision and a dream. \n\nMy team and I worked for two years initially with no salary (my previous employer had sponsored my MBA and when I didn\u2019t go back to them I had to raise funds to repay $120,000 for the education). I was so broke that I slept on my friends\u2019 couches. To make sure I had 3 meals a day, I made sure I had 3 meetings a day--one around breakfast, one around lunch time, and one around dinner time. I could generally guarantee someone would take pity on me as the \u2018starving entrepreneur\u2019 and pay for the meal. I would pretend to protest but inside I was relieved--I had survived another day. This is how I lived for the first 2 years after graduating from the world\u2019s most prestigious business school.\n\nDuring this time, I traveled to New York City to do some fundraising. One of my prospective donors asked me to meet him in New Jersey, on the other side of the Hudson River. It was just a short train ride away . I made it to the meeting, but I didn\u2019t secure the investment I was hoping for. As if that weren\u2019t bad enough, as I walked to the train station to head back to New York City, I didn\u2019t even have enough money to catch the train back to the other side of the river. I remember walking up and down the promenade, looking at the skyscrapers on Wall Street on the other side, where my classmates from Stanford were busy earning hundreds of thousands of dollars while I didn\u2019t even have enough money for my train fare. \n\nTo this day, I don\u2019t know how got back the city\u2026It\u2019s literally blanked from my memory.\n\nBut that\u2019s where ALA started. \n\nIt started with my daily hustle, but now\u2014 now ALA is mature. It has led to a much larger movement that now includes African Leadership Network and African Leadership University. Collectively, these 3 organizations have already created a network of 4,000 African leaders and aim to develop 3 million leaders for the continent by 2060. We have over 300 staff and have raised $200million. Yet 14 years ago I didn\u2019t even have $2 to take the train. \n\nThat day, when the security guard did not even recognize me, I smiled with pride. I knew I had built an institution that no longer needed me.\n\nAt ALA, we nurture and cultivate Africa\u2019s greatest hope for lasting growth and development: capable, ethical leaders and entrepreneurs. These individuals have the foresight to not only create innovative solutions, but also create institutions that thrive without them. \n\nAs entrepreneurs and strong leaders, we must \u2018expire\u2019 ourselves. We must build ourselves out of work, by creating powerful, self-sufficient institutions. \n\nBut how does one do this?\n\nWell, it\u2019s easy to build the organization around you. However, that will be to the detriment of everyone you support, serve, and employ. Because anything built around you can\u2019t last without you... \n\nI was able to step away from the daily operations and oversight of ALA by slowly delegating my personal responsibilities and creating teams with shared values and norms. \n\nIn other words, I had to step out of the spotlight and build a spotlight. I had to institutionalize ALA\u2019s solution, values, vision, and norms. I\u2019ve done this with previous entrepreneurial ventures like Global Leadership Adventures (which today also operates without me).\n\nThe framework I use for creating a lasting institution entails four things: \n\n#1 Strong Management Team. Build a management team that is empowered to make decisions. They must be guided by the values and goals of the founder. Then, train that team to groom the next generation of leaders to transfer those values, norms, visions, and goals to those who come after them. This constant renewal means that you never run out of leaders who can carry the vision forward.\n\n#2 Systems and Processes. An organization is only as good as the documented systems and processes it uses. It\u2019s vital to any organization to document clear processes, beliefs and values that not only describe what the organization does, but how those things are done. Culture, routines, and rituals must all be clearly spelled out. My friend Strive Masiyiwa often talks about the 3 \u2018P\u2019s of a business--People, Product, and Process. I couldn\u2019t agree with him more about the need for processes.\n\n#3 Robust Financial Engine. No matter what your dream is, you need to find a way to make sure it is financially sustainable--especially if you have a long-term vision like we do at the Academy and at its sister institution, African Leadership University. Read my previous post \u2018Do you have a healthy relationship with money?\u2019 to better understand my philosophy on this point. Don\u2019t be naive and think your dream will survive just on \u2018good will\u2019. The way an organization perceives, plans, and executes its business model will make or break it in the long run.\n\n#4 Good Governance. An institution needs a board of directors to serve as custodians of the long-term vision and strategy, to ensure funds are being properly managed, and to advise an organization\u2019s leaders. A leader is only one; a board provides the perspective of many. Surrounding yourself with a group of wise counselors who think of the medium and long term--not the day to day--ensures longevity. If your board is meddling in day-to-day issues, then you have the wrong board. They need to help you think across years, not months or weeks.\n\nThe hard part of entrepreneurship\u2014true entrepreneurship\u2014is institution building. We must learn as entrepreneurs to encase our ideas\u2014their core essence, underlying beliefs and values, and processes\u2014into lasting institutions that will outlive us all. \n\nBecause...at the end of the day, it\u2019s just not about you.