09/14/2026
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND: A LEADERSHIP REFLECTION
As I checked out of my hotel in New York this past weekend and prepared to head to JFK Airport, I ordered an Uber.
When the driver arrived, I quickly realized that he was African. We connected almost immediately, and before long, our conversation moved to a subject very close to my heart: Leadership in Africa.
As we drove toward the airport, our conversation became deeper.
He spoke passionately about the infrastructural decay, poverty, unemployment, and other challenges confronting many African societies. In his view, much of the problem could be traced to poor governance and leaders whose desire to remain in power and accumulate personal wealth has sometimes overshadowed their responsibility to serve their people.
As he spoke, I could see the pain and frustration on his face.
It was more than a political conversation. It was the voice of someone deeply concerned about a continent blessed with enormous human and natural resources, yet still struggling to translate those resources into prosperity and a better quality of life for millions of its people.
For me, it raised a fundamental leadership question: What happens when leadership ceases to be a responsibility and becomes merely an opportunity for personal gain?
Leadership is a trust.
Whether you lead a nation, an organization, a business, a ministry, a community, or a family, leadership places something valuable in your hands—people, resources, influence, opportunities, and the future.
And how you handle that trust matters.
Just before my driver dropped me off at JFK, he made one final statement that caused me to pause:
“What goes around comes around.”
He continued, in essence: What you sow, you will reap. It doesn't matter what you accumulate through dubious means; nature has a way of paying you back. It is only a matter of time.
Those words stayed with me: "What Goes Around Comes Around." Yes, it's Prophetic, and equally Biblical (Galatians 6:7).
Leadership has Consequences!
The decisions we make today may outlive the positions we occupy. Power may be temporary, but the consequences of how we use power can endure for generations.
A leader may accumulate wealth, influence, titles, properties, and privileges, but there are things money cannot purchase: A good name, genuine respect, peace of mind, and a legacy worth remembering.
There is a principle of sowing and reaping that reaches far beyond agriculture. We sow through our decisions. We sow through the way we treat people. We sow through what we do with power. We sow through the opportunities we create or deny for others.
Eventually, there is a Harvest.
If we sow integrity, service, justice, compassion, and responsible stewardship, we build trust and leave something meaningful behind.
But when leadership consistently sows greed, injustice, corruption, oppression, and selfishness, the consequences may not appear immediately, but time has a remarkable way of revealing the true value of a leader's choices.
This is why leadership should never be measured merely by what a leader acquires while in office, but by what becomes better because that leader was there.
At the end of the journey, the most important question may not be, “How much did I accumulate?”
It may simply be:
“What did I leave behind?”
Because positions end. Titles fade. Power changes hands.
But legacy remains.
And indeed, what goes around comes around.
Dr. Elvis UKPAKA
Leadership Strategist
Author, Take The Lead
