I came in contact recently with a story that fascinated me some years ago. That story made me re-evaluate my life and the kind of stuff that I allow to pass through my mind. It also taught me about the concept of fear and the way it paralyzes one’s dreams, ambition and even in the extreme cases – LIFE. Let’s look at the story:

There was a man named Nick – a strong and hardworking rail yardman. His fellow workers liked him and he was very easy to relate with. But he has a nemesis in the working place – Nick had a deep and disturbing fear that he would be locked in an isolated, refrigerated boxcar.
One day, the train crew were told they could close an hour early. As they left, Nick was accidentally locked in a refrigerated boxcar, which was in a yard for repairs. He panicked, shouted and banged on the walls until his voice went hoarse and his fists were bloody. He believed the temperature in the car was zero degrees. He thought, If I don’t get out of here I’ll freeze to death.
Shivering uncontrollably, he scrawled a message to his wife. “So cold, body’s getting numb. If I could just go to sleep…. These may be my last words.”
The next morning the crew slid open the boxcar’s heavy doors and found Nick’s body. An autopsy revealed that every physical sign indicated he had frozen to death. But the car’s refrigeration unit was broken. The temperature inside was never lower than 61 degrees. Nick’s fear became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Note: This account of the story was taken from John Hagee’s book – The Seven Secrets.

I have a reason for using this story to illustrate my point. It is so relevant to many of us especially those who think negatively all the time. These are people I try not to relate with as their unbelief and their wacked believes are detrimental to progressive growth. The bible says that “As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is”. Nothing can be truer and I find this very liberating. Rich people first became rich from their mind and thinking. Same applies to poor people.

The rich people believed first that they can do it, put their minds to it and achieve the goals. Most of the battles we fight to become relevant in this world happens right inside of us. The manifestation of what we see is a product of our thought process and believe/disbelieve in our abilities. In this unique time in history, a time of bleak message being preached all over the World – we need now more than ever to control our thoughts in preparation for a glorious future. Otherwise, the story would not be too palatable. I have the following points which might help.

The emotion of fear can save our lives in the event of responding to the effects of Adrenaline when we see a Lion approaching us. But the spirit of fear can only do one thing – destroy us. In all we do – we must learn to exercise faith and be positive. God bless you as you march forward and conquer.

My last post was focused on the need for organizations to commit more into evolving great organizations by ensuring the development of a great workforce. It is obvious that great people make great organizations. Today, I am going to play the devil’s advocate by bringing another side to this very important matter. We are going to be looking at the second part which is personal performance.

I have come to the conclusion that one must never allow his/her destiny to be put into the hands of an employer of labor. It is very important to take one’s destiny as a personal responsibility. I am going to use the following points to expand my thoughts.

1. Personal Development
Most small companies are very guilty of not providing training opportunities for their staff. Some of them are afraid they might lose the staff to bigger organizations after having trained them and they are not totally wrong for these assumptions. In my opinion; one will only stay in a small company if there is a strong sense of growth for the company and a reasonable career progression for the staff. But one thing that cannot be wrong is the case of personal development. I always use a simple analogy for this. Imagine a company that recruited 5 young people at the same time, it is sure that they cannot be in the same level after 10 years. Some might attribute the growth of the top guy to having a god-father but the simple fact is that organizations respect those who take out time to develop themselves. Bigger organizations recruit from smaller ones and only those who stand out in those places get the juicier jobs. Reading good books, writing certification exams, etc are sure ways of getting a good career growth.

2. Growing in a slow environment
There are organizations people work for that look to me like a death sentence to their careers. These are places where the skills gained are so one-sided and gives no room for continuous improvement (Not Kaizen’s ).
Some people will have no choice than to start their careers in such environments and it is so important for them to start thinking of a way out. The simple way again is to think out of the box. Most organizations can actually do with a lot of innovations to the way they perform their duties. Individuals who work in such organizations owe themselves a favor to take on extra duties aimed at developing their resumes. Imagine a bank worker who after 4 years of meritorious duties can boast of only a 2-paged CV which highlights his/her duty of being a Teller – it can be catastrophic. Now imagine another banker who developed a new system of bringing effectiveness into his branch’s handling of customers; they are miles apart.

3. Learn To Volunteer
Getting that next move might not be a function of the skills u pick from your regular 9-5 but can come about from strange sources. Imagine if you are interested in Project Management but your role in the office is far from it; there is a chance to do same for NGOs and even your church on a volunteer basis. Think about it.

4. Success is everyone’s friend
I am not talking about Master Success, your next door happy-go-lucky guy. I am talking about the situation when you reach great milestones repeatedly. Have you ever wondered why some people resign and their bosses call an emergency meeting to try and stop them and some resign and everybody feels happy? It is most likely because the first set of people add values to the organization while the latter just come to mark the register. Redundant staff think nobody notices their ineffectiveness but the contrary is the truth. Before you complain about your organization’s behavior to you, please review your own ways.

5. The more you think entrepreneurship, the more you are sought after
One thing that has been recurring in the labor market is the tendency for the entrepreneurial in spirit to get the best jobs. They actually want to leave normal employment and start out on their own but keep getting better offers to stay on working for corporations. The reason is simple; it is a matter of giving from those who don’t have to those who have. Some people have as much as 6 offers in a year while some still don’t have jobs, is that not a cause for concerns. The answer is simple and can be gotten from one of my favorite parables – the parable of talents. When you have the spirit of excellence and use your talents well, people will notice and keep needing you. Take a cue.

6. Work Smart
I find myself hating the term hardwork these days because it is highly subjective, A lot of hard work does not necessarily bring the required results. Working smart does that for you and that is why those who find ways of completing their tasks to time and quality get the accolades. The Nigerian work environment most times can lead to a lot of passiveness which makes people lose tough with their smart sides; hence reducing them to a not so quality workforce. It is time to start thinking of improvement not only to benefit the organization but bring personal fulfillment.

7. The word retirement
Many dread this word a lot because they did not prepare for what is going to happen after leaving their comfort zone. Those who had fulfilling careers where they were selfless and got great skills don’t only retire early but retire well into affluence. I have seen former teachers who left government service to start schools that are doing well today because of good vision. No matter what pension scheme you subscribe to; you still need think of what you can do after retirement and that starts from the way you handle your duties at the workplace today. How you handle other people’s business is a good pointer to how your own will operate.

8. Take Charge
If your career is at standstill now or you don’t like your job, you need to act on your own. Do not think anyone will help you out but know that you are the one that can make a change. Start thinking of things you can do for a career change. Be more useful to your present organizations and take the volunteer point to heart. Some of the decisions you will make might be hard but if you don’t do it now; it will never fly.

We will meet at the top.

I personally detest mediocrity and celebrate smart workers who I refer to as entrepreneurs even whilst working for organizations that do not belong to them. These people give their best and are constantly renewing their skill sets and their conscience is linked to the fact that as you do to another man’s business; so shall men do unto you too. The Nigerian labor pool is filled with a mixture of flavors of workers.

Government establishments have their big share of redundant workers whose aim for working is to collect their pay cheques at the end of every month. When you have business with most of these people, they do it as if you are asking for a favor and some of them actually act as tin gods in their respective cubicles. To sign a document, you will be surprised to hear that it takes 4 weeks for the file to pass from Office Assistant A to B before it goes to the table of Mama Typist who types the memo attached to it. This then goes to the Secretary’s table where it spends weeks depending on the level of settlement by the subject in concern. The journey to the big Oga’s table is a matter of miracle sometimes because the almighty office boasts of a high record of lost files.

I am not going to commit a fallacy of hasty generalization, hence I must mention that some government workers still understand the meaning of dignity in labor and carry out their duties conscientiously. These are the exceptions to the rule. Sometimes; I try to imagine where it all went wrong but I guess it dates back to periods before my conception though the erosion is a continuous one which gets worse with each generation.

This problem is not limited to government establishments but also in private organizations. When you see an under-performing business, you need to check the people in the organization. When an office is filled with people who do not even understand the reason they are working apart from the need to eke out a living – then the sun is about to set on such organizations. Sadly, most establishment run into this problems sooner or later no matter how well they started.
I wish to share some insights into some factors causing this.

1. Morale
I mentioned that mediocrity in staff behavior is not an exclusive property of government establishments. Mostly, it is linked to low morale of the workers. When people don’t have goals or visions, it is always very hard for them to perform as every day is like the last one. Morale is not necessarily bought by big salaries but can be tied to challenging duties and other incentive to want to work smarter.

2. Monotonous Duties
It is hard to find people who don’t like varieties in the food they eat, activities and even most importantly – their job. Companies make the mistake of keeping a man for years doing the same thing over and over again. Rotating duties seems a sensible way of keeping workers alive to their duties.

3. Unclear Career Path
Most employers are selfish and not really interested in their workers’ career plans and progressions. Those who have such plans are not truthful to the implementation. The few companies where these plans work testify to the effectiveness of such practices and have stood for ages. Wonder why there are not many old Nigerian institutions? It would be sensible to make this an important part of the company policies such that each employee knows what is expected of him and where he will be in years to come if he keeps to it.

4. Hazy Performance Measurements
Organizations have different ways of measuring their employee performance using different terms like KPI, IPF, etc. The bad news is employees think they are very subjective ways of measuring their performance and that their managers cheat them. I bet HR practitioners are yet to understand this part of their job very well and it continues to be a big problem. A situation where companies decide from the start that only a certain percentage must score A and B even before carrying out the assessment does not make any sense and the smart workers of last year who were not favored will definitely have a rethink for the next year.

5. Compensation
This is a big issue especially in the public sector where we have civil servants and teachers. Teachers are the worst hit by this as they have no one to give them any ‘encouragement’ compared to their civil service counterparts who regularly have someone ‘thanking’ them for expediting their files lol. That is corruption and a matter for another day but it all starts from bad compensation packages aka salaries and allowances. Those of us with teaching parents would testify that our first salaries were most likely fatter than theirs after working for decades. Why would you expect so much from them. Sometimes, I wonder how they even managed to take care of us.

6. Motivation Theory
Some of the major motivation theories point out to the fact that some workers would be happy if simple things like understanding the need for self-actualization, responsibility, recognition etc and not only by the salary they are paid. Organizations who learned this secret reaps from it massively because their employees have the feeling of being a part of the growth and are proud of their achievements.

7. Leadership
This is a very important factor. If a permanent secretary resumes in the office at 8.00 am each morning, woe betides any staff who come late. A smart working leader also passes on a good work culture to his subordinates and they tend to follow in his footsteps. The greatest factor to a paradigm shift in the Nigerian work culture and many other problems is leadership.

Organizations are at a defining moment in their existence because they need to keep a dedicated workforce of not many people but efficient ones. Today’s post talks about the role of employers. In my next post, I am going to point to the fact that employees have more to lose by being mediocre in their daily duties.

Once upon a time in the land of Ikesere; it was a mixed fortune for all. Some were very rich, some can’t complain while some lived below comfort and others in abject poverty. Ikesere was layered into divisions according to the collective perception of its people’s wealth. Hence; we had such divisions as developed, developing and under-developed.

It did not imply prosperity for all in the developed division, neither did it mean that everyone in the under-developed parts were poor. The only constant factor in all the lands was that the rich seems to be getting richer while the poor were getting poorer. Only a few of the lower strata through dints of hard work and perseverance were able to move up and take charge of their lives.

The developed parts were more forward looking and did a good job in providing amenities for their citizens while also maximizing their hold on the economy of the other divisions. Most of the economic policies in the part is geared towards a free economy which made a lot of sense until greed set in. The suit and tie professionals who formulated these policies and ran big corporations forgot decorum and the leaders were not wise enough to provide a lot of oversight functions.

Some parts of the developing divisions started noticing the trend in the developed parts which include their citizens asking for too much wages for jobs perceived to attract less remuneration and did something about it. In conjunction with some big corporations; they got some jobs outsourced to their developing divisions at lower rates and faced the task of developing a vast pool of skilled resources. This improved their economy a great deal. Note that some of the developing parts did not key into this as they relied on their natural resources.

And then a giant rose up in the far east. This giant is blessed with a huge population and hence cheap labor. Production companies in the developed west got into trouble as most goods were now coming from this giant. Jobs were lost, positive financial indices turned to negative and the problem started.
The developed west did not learn but still continued paying huge salaries for redundant ideas and were granting credit without sense. The bubble started bursting and the developed west is in big debt in favor of the giant from the east.

Back to the developing parts – some of them were wise enough to take care of their affairs. But sincerely, when there is a problem in the developed parts; everyone would suffer from it. Trading reduced as less cash were available and those who were used to aids from the developed parts were in big problems. The whole of Ikesere is in turmoil!

The giant from the east was also thought to be insulated from the problems but alas they were also hit hard. Their factories started closing as the developed west could not afford its past flashy lifestyle of buying a lot of things from them. It thus became a case of producing without selling in the same proportions. This confirms that everyone is in trouble.

I am sure you know the story I am trying to tell in a very simple form. The present economic crunch which is proving to be the biggest in the history of humanity. Jobs are being lost at an alarming rate and hope is dimming on a lot of people by the second. I am not interested in painting the gloomy picture any darker than it already is but talk about an unobvious chance that is starring us all in the face at the moment.

I will put it in a very simple way. Corporations, medium sized businesses and even small enterprises are all looking at ways of cutting cost. That is the reason a lot of companies are retrenching their work force and finding ways of reducing costs. A lot of these companies are used to the big times and their lifestyles stink of wastefulness. It is very hard for them to adjust to the present realities and it might actually be too late for them to balance.

An example is a company that provides IT services. Most of them start on a good note but become too big and complacent. A lot of the companies they offer their services might be contemplating finding better deals now that they realize they have been paying too much for bad service. There was no problem before because the money was enough to go round but now it is a case of Egypt where the prime minister – Joseph, stored food for 7 years and managed the proceedings for another 7 years of prosperity for Egypt. I am sure he was sharp enough to ration things very well to ensure huge productivity. I am sure he won’t go for big consulting companies to get their strategies but young brilliant guys who are ready to work. This applies to any industry.

I think this is time to make impact. This is time to take over from complacent big boys. This however is not for everyone. It is for those who have enough skills and confidence to tackle challenges and not for the faint hearted. It is for those who have prepared and are ready to conquer. If you have a very comfortable job at the moment; don’t rejoice too much because things can turn at any time. Better start looking at how you can provide the same services you offer to your employers as a solo business. That is the future of world enterprise.

If I need a website now; I can either give the job to a very big company with a very big overhead which does not necessarily translate to efficiency or a good design or look for a small set up with talented young men and women. Such companies exist now and they are getting the jobs and churning out good stuff. My advise for them is to be careful about how they grow big. It is good to grow big but it must be done in a way that increases efficiency and not over head.

The post is getting too long. I will stop now and continue later.

PS: My one and only celebrates her birthday tomorrow. Please join me in wishing her a very happy birthday. Love you baby!

For some time now, I have been having an internal debate on an interesting topic. I have always been fascinated by books and other forms of writing. I personally believe that many other forms of art are built on the foundations of an idea articulated in a written form – from movies to songs, etc.

It is saddening most times to discover that authors are not well compensated for their masterpieces. Some who are in the fictional genre get it better due to the fact that most people tend to enjoy stories that are intriguing and they can relate with. In actual fact; some of these authors paved way for great movies. The success of the Harry Potter series was phenomenal and catapulted J.K Rowling from obscurity and penury to fame and wealth. The book series gave us some excellent movies that will remain etched in our memories. Another author who got huge success from his books getting adapted for the screen is John Ronald Reuel Tolkien who wrote Lord of the Rings. I must also mention a man I respect so much because of my love for legal intrigues – John Grisham. Some of his books like Pelican brief, a time to kill, etc have done well in the films. Robert Ludlum’s Bourne Identity and the sequels are another testimony to this fact. I must also remember the latest big movie of recent times – Slumdog millionaire which was adapted from Vikas Swarup’s book – Q & A.

These books have one thing in common. They were the basis for movies that shook the years they were released and still command respect till now. This brings me to the issue I am trying to raise. Most people have watched these movies but have not even seen a copy of the original book before. I will say that they are missing out a great deal as from my experiences from having read many books that were translated to movies – I can confidently say that the best representation is found in the books. The books can never ever be correctly depicted by the screenplay.

I guess it is an issue with our reading culture. If people don’t even read fictions which are mostly easy to decipher; how can they proceed to the level of serious books that do much more in advancing the intellect? That is the salient question and I am challenging all to review this.

Another point I want to raise is recognition. The authors I mentioned earlier are part of the few select who enjoy huge readership and succeeded on the screen. They were also wise enough to have good agreements with the producers of the movies maybe due to hindsight or luck. Many other authors are not that lucky and some with great works were neither recognized nor enjoyed financial rewards for their works.

Let us come home. Growing up, I read a lot of nice books and I can say that it was a great experience for me. The African Writers Series did me a lot of good from Chinua Achebe’s books – Arrow of God, Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease to T.M Aluko’s One Man, One Wife and One Man, One Matchet including Ngugi Wa Thiongo’s The River Between and Vicious Cycle. Can I forget Peter Abraham’s Tell Freedom? Nopes and many more books from that wonderful collection. If I can recollect very well – only Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart has made it into the screens from the above list. I watched part of it but I must say that the original is far far ahead.

There is a professor and author called Chukwuemeka Ike. His books were published under Fontana books if I am correct. I read two of his books – Toads for Supper and the Potter’s Wheel. Both books will forever be printed on my mind because they addressed a lot of Nigerian issues but tinged with wonderful humor that makes you ask for more. I heard that he just came out with a sequel to Toads for Supper titled Toads For Ever. I must look for the book.

Chinua Achebe and some few Nigerian authors are known to some of us. The list should include the Nobel Laurette – Wole Soyinka, Elechi Amadi (He was kidnapped in the Niger Delta recently and released later) of The Concubine fame, Zulu Sofola, Cyprian Ekwensi and lately Chimamanda Adichie etc. But just a few of them can really say they gained much apart from the sparring goodwill here and there and the satisfaction that comes to the man/woman of artistic abilities. To be sincere, a lot of graduates might not even know these names, which is a big shame and the pointer to the level of rot in the educational systems and the disdain we have of books.

The Americans should thus be praised for being wise enough to understand the wisdom of using great books as materials for their booming Hollywood film industry. One of the problems with Nigerian Nollywood films is content. Most of the films are total nonsense with no intellectual or reasoning stimulation at all, you can actually know where the films are going to end from seeing the titles alone.

I guess a way to reward our talented writers is to use their materials and pay accordingly. That is where producers like Tunde Kelani got it right from producing plays like O le Ku written by Professor Akinwumi Ishola. I know a lot of people who went to buy the book after watching the film. This might also be a way of improving our reading culture. I will be very happy to see Potter’s Wheel and Toads for Supper on the screens.

As we try to salvage our continent from underdevelopment; the role played by the acquirement of knowledge cannot be over-emphasized and there must be a conscious effort aimed at improving our intake of intellectual materials. It is only then that we can move ahead as a nation and a continent as a whole. Read a book today and it will save you some embarrassment in the future.

Before people start thinking I have lost my humor – nopes, I am not all serious o. I enjoy a good joke and know how to laugh very well ha ha ha ha ha …. In the spirit of this – I will share some jokes for the day. Enjoy!

High Tech Vehicle Security System

1. Losing all your friends

Man comes home, finds his wife with his friend in bed.
He shoots his friend and kills him.
Wife says “If you behave like this, you will lose ALL your friends.”

2. Brother wanted

A small boy wrote to Santa Claus,”send me a brother”….
Santa wrote back, “SEND ME YOUR MOTHER” ;….

3. Meaning of WIFE

Husband asks, “Do you know the meaning of WIFE? It means ‘Without Information Fighting Everytime’!”
Wife replies, “No, it means ‘With Idiot For Ever’!!!”

4. Importance of a period

Teacher: “Do you know the importance of a period?”
Kid: “Yeah, once my sister said she has missed one, my mom fainted, dad got a heart attack & our driver ran away.”

5. Confident vs. confidential

A young boy asks his Dad, “What is the difference between confident and confidential?”
Dad says, “You are my son, I’m confident about that. Your friend over there, is also my son, that’s confidential!”

6. Anger management?

Husband: “When I get mad at you, you never fight back. How do you control your anger?”
Wife: “I clean the toilet.”
Husband: “How does that help?”
Wife: “I use your toothbrush.”

And for the Gbosa part!

The only cow in a small town stopped giving milk.
The people did some research and found that they could buy a cow in Bloemfontein for R200.
They brought the cow from Bloemfontein and the cow was wonderful. It produced lots of milk all of the time, and the people were very happy.

They decided to acquire a bull to mate with the cow to produce more cows like it. They would never have to worry about their milk supply again.

They bought the bull and put it in the pasture with their beloved cow. However, whenever the bull tried to mount the cow, the cow would move away.

No matter what approach the bull tried, the cow would move away from the bull and he could not succeed in his quest. The people were very upset and decided to ask the Vet, who was very wise, what to do.

They told the Vet what was happening. “Whenever the bull tries to mount our cow, she moves away. If he approaches from the back, she moves forward. When he approaches her from the front, she backs off. An attempt from the side, she walks away to the other side.”

The Vet thought about this for a minute and asked, “Did you by chance, buy this cow in Bloemfontein?”
The people were dumbfounded, since no one had ever mentioned where they bought the cow. “You are truly a wise Vet,” they said.

“How did you know we got the cow in Bloemfontein?”
The Vet replied with a distant look in his eye, “My wife is from Bloemfontein.”