The Managing Director of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB), Edward Ato Sarpong, has painted a vivid picture of the personal sacrifice and relentless hours behind the bank’s ongoing turnaround, describing a regime of midnight meetings, predawn discipline, and hands-on crisis management.
Speaking at the 2026 Jospong Leadership Conference, Ato Sarpong revealed that his journey to lead a bank he initially knew nothing about began with a pivotal midnight consultation, setting the tone for a leadership style built on exhaustive effort.
“On the midnight of the 5th, I called a man… I sent him a message at midnight… I drove to his place. I got there at about 12:30 and I told him my problem,” Sarpong recounted, explaining how he sought advice from a retired banker before accepting the role in February 2025.
Since taking the helm, he said his workdays have consistently stretched to 13 or 14 hours, often involving deep, culture-shifting meetings.
“Yesterday I had a meeting. We started a meeting at what time? 7:30 am. We ended at what time? 3:00 pm. You know what I was doing? I was working on their minds. That was what I was doing yesterday.”
He described a hands-on approach to cutting costs, personally reviewing and renegotiating contracts late at night.
“I have reviewed contracts on my own midnight, and I’ve renegotiated. Not that somebody should go and do that. I do it myself.”
This intensity, Ato Sarpong argued, is fuelled by a disciplined personal routine that begins long before sunrise.
“At 3:55 am today, I was not feeling good to wake up. But I had to wake up,” he shared, framing it as a non-negotiable element of leadership.
Ato Sarpong illustrated his evolving self-mastery with a personal anecdote.
“I told them the other day, my alarm, my alarm used to wake me up. Today I wake my alarm up. It used to wake me up. Now, my alarm is up.”
The ADB boss directly connected this discipline to the bank’s operational improvements, citing a rapid reduction in the cost-to-income ratio from 98% to 57% and the elimination of GHS 18 million in costs within 11 months.
He challenged the audience to adopt a similar mindset, framing leadership as consistent action over fleeting ambition.
“Leadership is not how you feel… You must keep going. Some people, they do things as they feel. You can never win if you are doing things as you feel. You have to do things as you must.”
Ato Sarpong distilled his formula into a chain of cause and effect
“Disciplined thoughts leads to disciplined habits. Disciplined habits leads to disciplined actions. Disciplined actions leads to disciplined results.”
His testimony underscored a central theme of his address: that transforming an institution begins with the rigorous, often lonely, self-transformation of its leader.
