Christopher Zacca, confirmed this week as president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), will be aware that he is coming to the job under a cloud of controversy.

And, notwithstanding that this may not be of his own making, it will not only place him under great scrutiny but make greater demands of his leadership than any of his recent predecessors. His first task, of course, will be to reunite the PSOJ, the ostensible umbrella organisation of the Jamaican private sector. But in so doing, he will have to articulate a vision for the organisation that ensures its continued relevance in a context of the realities of today's Jamaica, as well as the existing global environment; and execute that vision in the fashion that is credible and capable of achieving broad national acceptance.

He will, therefore, have to reach out across all social and political spectrums to ensure that the policy prescriptions he proposes have the capacity to enhance the conditions of all Jamaicans. Good ideas, therefore, will not of themselves be sufficient; the manner and style of their articulation will also be important if Mr. Zacca hopes to build consensus within his organisation, the wider private sector and across the national landscape.

There are at least two reasons why Mr. Zacca needs to pay attention to this. The first is the poor example of adherence to ideals of democracy offered by Mr. William 'Bill' Clarke, whose aborted candidacy for the PSOJ's presidency made Mr. Zacca a shoo-in for the job.

Mr. Clarke, the CEO of Scotiabank Jamaica, offered a platform of substantial reform of the PSOJ, necessary, he argued, to modernise the organisation, democratise its institutions and to make it more relevant to today's circumstances. It was Mr. Clarke's proposal for radical overhaul of the PSOJ that was the ostensible trigger to Mr. Zacca's decision to break the PSOJ's tradition of choosing its leaders by consensus with an open challenge of Mr. Clarke. When Mr. Clarke's platform did not immediately gain traction, he not only withdrew himself from the presidential race but pulled Scotiabank, the island's largest, and a publicly-traded company, out of the PSOJ.

Mr. Clarke's behaviour may have been puerile and petulant but there is a constituency in the PSOJ that believes that his ideas are relevant. Moreover, Scotiabank is an important company that should be inside the PSOJ. It is Mr Zacca's responsibility as the leader to heal this breach.

Ignoring the niceties, Mr. Zacca knows that there are those in and outside of the PSOJ who will be watching closely to determine whether he is his own man, and if or how his relationship with Gordon 'Butch' Stewart will shape his presidency. For Mr. Stewart is a larger-than-life, charismatic and successful entrepreneur, under whom Mr. Zacca has served for several years, including for six years as president of Air Jamaica, when it was controlled by Mr. Stewart.

Mr. Stewart and the Government have quarrelled over the management of Air Jamaica since its reacquisition by the state two years ago. They have also been at loggerheads over cost overruns at the Sandals Whitehouse hotel, which Mr. Stewart's company partnered with government agencies to develop. Mr. Zacca has been a central figure in these matters.

The question seems to be whether Mr. Zacca can transcend these issues in performing his job as president of the PSOJ. He has, at the beginning, made the right sounds. It is time for the follow-through. We wish him success.

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