On June 19, 2025, the African Leadership Academy hosted its 16th graduation. Dean of the Academy, Uzo Agyare-Kumi, delivered a speech that offered a moment of collective reflection—one rooted in wisdom, vulnerability, and the courage to ask one of life’s most pressing questions: What shall we do?
Two years ago, she stood on the same stage with a speech spanning seven pages. This time, she brought those lessons back, familiar, but with more clarity and more weight. “Wisdom,” she said, “is not something we simply carry. It’s something we live, wrestle with, and pass on.”
Ten Lessons for the Road Ahead
Returning to a speech she first gave in 2023, Uzo revisited life lessons, this time with deeper insight. Each one was a moral compass sharpened by time. Dean Uzo urged the graduates to see not only who they are but who they can still become.
“Wisdom is not something we simply carry. It's something we live, wrestle with, and pass on.”
Dean Uzo shared ten life lessons but as invitations to the graduates.
- Leadership isn’t a title, it’s a choice. It’s how you show up in difficult moments. Integrity over attention.
- Mistakes are necessary. Growth happens not by getting everything right, but by how you respond when you don’t.
- Leadership isn’t about being liked. It’s about stepping into the arena: trying, failing, and trying again.
- Growth often feels like struggle. “Sometimes it takes brokenness to develop real compassion,” she said.
- Respect is non-negotiable. She paused and smiled: “Two years ago we danced to Aretha Franklin. Should we do it again?” (They did.)
- Choices ripple. Every decision, big or small, sets something in motion. Consider who is affected.
- Face your fears. Don’t run from your emotions. Listen to what they’re trying to tell you.
- Which wolf are you feeding? Inside all of us is light and dark. Feed the light.
- Live with gratitude. It doesn’t mean ignoring pain, it means choosing to see the good, even in hard things.
- In the words of ALA CEO Hatim Eltayeb, you’re here for a reason.
“We Are Together”
Dean Uzo shared, “You were never meant to walk this journey alone.” Then, echoing something Senior Master Mr. Vincent Tago often says, she invited everyone to say it together: “We are together.”
Her final words were an invitation to slow down. To breathe. To disconnect from the noise and reconnect with yourself. To trust the process. To find meaning, even in pain.
“Be the leader you want to see,” she told them. “Take the lessons and make yourself count in new spaces.”
The question Dean Uzo began with still echoes: What shall we do?
She didn’t give us a final answer. Instead, she gave us something more valuable: a roadmap, a reminder, and a question to carry forward.
And if the graduates remember her words, they’ll know exactly where to begin.
You can watch the full Class of 2023 graduation ceremony below.
