In his 2001 book, The Essential Drucker, management guru Dr. Peter Drucker said, "The future may be 'post-Western', it may be 'anti-Western.'  It cannot be 'non-Western.'  Its material civilization and its knowledges all rest on Western foundations: Western science; tools and technology; production; economics; Western-style foundations and banking.  None of these can work unless grounded in an understanding and acceptance of Western ideas and of the entire Western tradition."
     I have a PhD from the same private, research extensive university that Dr. Drucker was affiliated with and where the university's school of management is co-named after him.  I believe that his "Western foundations" conclusion is somewhat problematic for people with cultures from Asia and Africa, because many cultures predate Europe, and some of these cultures now also influence many Western knowledges.
     The peril of a sole "Western foundations" point cannot be emphasized enough, because it is quite likely that most people are not aware of how widespread institutions are that overtly and covertly buttress these foundations -- from professional sports to the judicial system to images of Christ to research -- while at the same time invalidating the cultural and leadership foundations of non-Europeans.

KOH PhD (Ife Ukwu)

     The Mensan science writer Isaac Asimov once made the expansion point that "...in 600 B.C.,...the entire Universe known to man was a patch of flat ground, and not a very large patch either."
     Today it is equally necessary for leadership theories to examine, expand, and include theories that are global and African-centered, much in the same manner that the fields of astronomy and anthropology were expanded with the inclusion of the existing myths and visions of the Dogon tribe of West Africa and the Egyptians of northern Africa, who identified the complete Sirius star system years before parts of it were reported by the German astronomer Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel in 1844.  And in the case of the Dogon, the existence of Sirius goes back at least 5,000 years.

KOH, PhD (Ife Ukwu)

     The TALO Leadership Theory re-positions leadership from a pan-human African perspective.  Its focus is on moving the world toward the often discussed 21st century "post-racial" society, as it creatively focuses on one of the strongest and most central components of all people; ethnicity.  The TALO Leadership Theory is based on the point that because of contemporary and historical evidence of the migration of humankind, cultural patterns, and archeological finds, Africa, Africanisms and Africans worldwide are still central and fertile with intellectual and social capital that behooves all people to embrace, rather than reject, deny or pity.  In other words, there is only one race, the African race, which is the human race.

KOH, PhD (Ife Ukwu)

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     All organizations are first and foremost comprised of individuals; individuals who, for the most part, are members of organizations as diverse as the Girl Scouts of America or the U.S. Congress or Bank of America or a university or a mega church.  They believe in the organization's mission and want it to be strong, effective and competitive.
     The TALO Leadership Theory is offered as a means of helping these organizations become stronger and vibrant as they affirmatively expand on the factual strength that all individuals belong to one or more ethnicities (not to be confused with "race"), and that the positive luggage of ethnicity generally outweigh negative baggage.  The TALO Leadership Theory suggests that for all people, regardless of race or ethnicity, understanding ethnic identification and the world's oldest human experience, which is the pan-human African experience, is key to deeper leadership knowledges and desired proficiencies within organizations.

KOH, PhD (Ife Ukwu)

     Transdisciplinarity is defined as "a new form of learning and problem solving, involving co-operation among different parts of society (including academia), in order to meet complex challenges of society.  Solutions are devised in collaboration with multiple stakeholders.  Through mutual learning, the knowledge of all participants is enhanced."

KOH, PhD (Ife Ukwu)

     Regarding ethnicity, all people worldwide belong to one or more ethnic groups; and ethnic groups are usually initially viewed as monolithic.  Monolithic can be defined as massive, solid, uniform, whole, a worldwide movement.  Ethnicity is a less loaded term than race, and can be defined as a segment of a larger society whose members are thought, by themselves and/or others, to have a common origin and who share important segments of a common culture.
     In the United States, for example, although the media now often refer to African-Americans as being the nation's second largest minority group, this is misleading.  In reality, African-Americans are perhaps the nation's largest or second largest ethnicity, surpassing the other six largest ethnic groups; English-Americans (e.g., politician Hillary Rodham Clinton; actress Tuesday Weld, being examples of), Irish-Americans (e.g., priest and author Reverend Dr. Andrew M. Greeley; business guru Jack Welch), Mexican-Americans (e.g.,  boxer Oscar de la Hoya; journalist Maria Hinojosa). Italian-Americans (e.g., politician Rudy Giuliani; author Gay Talese), Cuban-Americans (e.g., singer Gloria Estefan; actress Eva Mendes) and German-Americans (e.g., news anchorperson Keith Olbermann; actress Sandra Bullock).

     A detailed review of major leadership and management theories include thees such as servant leadership, the fifth discipline concepts, emotional intelligence, vision, transformational leadership and appreciative inquiry.  Discussion and implementation of the TALO Leadership Theory should further introduce to thousands of new examiners these concepts and top business intellectuals and management thinkers such as Michael E. Porter, Peter Senge, Gary Stanley Becker, Hal Varian, Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Lester Thurow.
     Yet according to Frank Scruggs and Janet Lilly, at the 2007 HHEW Leaders Conference & Retreat, "Very little research on leadership or management reveals discussions of the roles of race or racism in organizations in the writings of most management thinkers, and when these topics are usually mentioned, they are generally secondarily or lightly touched on."
     Pfeffer (1981) and Bennis and Nanus (1997) introduced power into the leadership equation.  Bennis nd Nanus noted that "we must learn to perceive power for what it is.  Basically it's the reciprocal of leadership.  Our ignorance of this has led to human transactional short-circuitry."
     The TALO Leadership Theory suggests that the lack of mention of racism has similar roots, therefore it is attempting to expand the boxes of leadership and leadership theory by acknowledging the place of power, politics, fear, fit, racism, race a

KOH, PhD (Ife Ukwu)

     About ancient Timbuktu and the future of HBCUs; there is a West African proverb that states that "salt comes from the north, gold from the south, and silver from the country of the white men, but the word of God and the treasures of wisdom are only to be found in Timbuktu.
     Timbuktu was considered one of the most superb scientific centers of the time period corresponding to the European Medieval and Renaissance eras.  How does this relate to HBCUs in general and Howard University specially?  It is rare if ever that one hears Mecca, Saudia Arabia, identified as the "Harlem of Saudia Arabia" or Oxford University as the "Howard University of Europe."

KOH, PhD (Ife Ukwu)