Thomas Sankara was born Thomas Isidore Noël Sankara on 21 December 1949, in Yako, French Upper Volta as the third of ten children to Joseph and Marguerite Sankara. As president of Burkina Faso in West Africa from 1983 to 1987, he brought a ray of hope, however briefly lived, for his people and the continent.
Many leaders can learn from this dynamic leader. Find lessons below you can apply in your life.
Lesson 1: Be a leader of action
Thomas Sankara was a man of action, not an empty rhetorician. He gave Burkina Faso its name- changing it from French Upper Volta to show the country’s total independence and a vision of the future. After condemning and rejecting foreign aid, which he rightly saw as insidious and unhelpful, he gave the peasants land and turned Burkina Faso into a self-sufficient country in 4 years.
Lesson 2: Stop procrastinating, you have no time
Sankara was one of Africa’s youngest leaders at only 33 years old when he seized power in a popular coup. In four years his contribution to African consciousness was enormous. Sankara was assassinated at the age of 38 but by then he had lived like a man on borrowed time and the impact of his life still reverberates throughout the world today.
Lesson 3: Do not conform
“You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future” Thomas Sankara
Lesson 4: Empower women
Sankara identified education as a sure avenue out of the systemic oppression of African women. He argued, “In the ministries responsible for education, we should take special care to assure that women’s access to education is a reality, for this reality constitutes a qualitative step toward emancipation. It is an obvious fact that wherever women have had access to education, their march to equality has been accelerated.”
“Inequality can be done away with only by establishing a new society, where men and women will enjoy equal rights…Thus, the status of women will improve only with the elimination of the system that exploits them” Thomas Sankara
“You are our mothers, life companions, our comrades in struggle and because of this fact you should by right affirm yourselves as equal partners in the joyful victory feasts of the revolution.” Thomas Sankara
Sankara also tackled unfair labor practices which have remained a perennial cause for discontent among women world over. He asked the simple question, “How can we continue to accept that a woman doing the same job as a man should earn less?”
Lesson 5: Lead a healthy lifestyle
Sankara’s commitment to personal fitness was total. He was regularly seen jogging unaccompanied in the streets of Ouagadougou so it’s no surprise that he was never overweight. He initiated fitness programs around the country and always seemed energized.