Mai Praises Rodwell Ferguson’s Existing Management Team

Prime Minister Briceño has tapped Rodwell Ferguson to replace Jose Abelardo Mai in the Ministry of Agriculture. But Ferguson comes with a reputation, he’s known for being tough to work with. In his last post at Transport, Sports and Youth, he went through three CEOs in just four years, even stripping his first CEO of all spending power. He also dismantled leadership at the Department of Youth Services and the National Sports Council, leaving both without heads for months. So, what will it take for Ferguson to succeed in agriculture? Former minister Mai says it’s simple, lean on the professionals and resist the temptation to surround yourself with yes-men.

 

Jose Abelardo Mai, Former Minister of Agriculture

“Rodwell Ferguson my colleague. I love him dearly. He’s a good man and he has a good team. People around him are very knowledgeable, very hardworking. The ministry of agriculture, and I’ve said this a number of times, I was fortunate to get one of the ministries with good people. What they needed was motivation and some guidance, and we did that well. And so I – they have a great confidence in them, so they will definitely help Minister Ferguson, although he’s not an agronomist, you can do good things if you are allowed to be guided, if you not be allowed yourself to be guided, then you have problems. And so that is very important because a minister by himself cannot do all these things. It is the people around him. And if you want to be a good leader, you surround yourself with good people. You want to be a mediocre, you surround yourself with people who are only fanatics and technical, you’ll find yourself in problem. Rodwell is in good hands, I can tell you that.”