LEAD FROM WHERE YOU ARE

We have reiterated severally that the problem of our dear country, Nigeria, is leadership. Someone once said that “the Tsunami of Nigeria is our leadership”. I think this assertion is right about our country, but the salient underlying context of referring only to the few persons in power at different power level as the leaders being referred to as the problem of Nigeria is what I don’t agree with. I believe that in some way, everyone is a leader and as such, everyone that is a Nigerian has in some way part of leadership problem in Nigeria.

It is therefore the collective responsibility of all Nigerians at different levels to take responsibility for Nigeria, after all Leadership is about responsibility. We as Nigerians must in our individual capacity have a resolve to change our nation from this path to gloominess. I heard someone say, if this generation does not rise up to address the decadence in our country, then Nigeria is doomed! It should be the responsibility of every living adult Nigerian today to ensure we do something positive to change the course of things in Nigeria. We all have to take on the problem of leadership. We all have to exhibit and manifest leadership in some way to move our nation forward. We have to make leadership our responsibility. My call in this note is to lead from where you are.

Responsibility is the heart of leadership. We all should begin to take responsibility for Nigeria we want to see tomorrow. Leading from where you are is a call to be responsible, a call to re-build our waste places and institutions in our own little ways. Where do we start from?

One key attribute of leaders is being assertive. Leaders must be assertive. Being assertive means standing up for right or making known legitimate needs, concerns and differences. Many times in this country, we the people have been quiet, and we look another way when others make unethical choices or behave in inappropriate ways. In so much as it doesn’t affect us directly; we feel it’s none of our business. Nigerians and Nigeria’s resources are our business! We are part of the ecosystem. Every individual decisions and actions affects us all one way or the other.

To lead from where you are, you must stand up for what you believe is for the common good of all. Not in violent or derogatory ways but with love. We have all benefitted negatively from our not been assertive. We have kept quiet for too long. We all should be on the look out to uphold Godly standards as appropriate in policies, responsibilities and relationships in our community. We must develop courage to tell people in our circle of influence and at our different levels the truth in a loving way whether they want to hear it or not. Truth is powerful in its nature, its potent enough to bring about change, positive change! All we need to do, and consistently do is SAY IT!

God has given everyman a gift for the betterment of their individual life and that of the community they find themselves. That is the truth! It is our responsibility to give expression to this truth. Say the truth, act out the truth and live the truth! The truth will itself bring about change. By saying the truth, I mean giving expression to your God given potential, assert it, and make it known! When you act out the truth, you act out your potential; when you live the truth, you live your potential and when you live your potential, you are leading from where you are and manifesting God’s idea. God’s idea for your life is the potential he put in you for your good and that of your circle of influence.

It’s time to stand up for our dear nation. Live right and do right! It’s time we take responsibility to make Nigeria a better place for us all! It’s time we speak out! It’s time to correct in love! It’s time we form pressure groups with common goal to tell those in authority to do the right thing and respond to the needs and concerns of Nigerians in a peaceful and loving way! It’s time live our full potential!

Fixing Nigeria is our collective responsibility. It’s not for a collective few. It’s for all of us to be assertive where we need to. Lead from where you are today. It’s for the good of all Nigerians. Have you heard about the Let There Be Light Crusade? See what it’s all about at www.lettherebelightng.org

A key Lesson on Leadership

Ralph Waldo Emerson, the famous nineteenth-century poet and essayist, was out one day trying to get a calf into the barn. "But he made the common mistake of thinking only of what he wanted: Emerson pushed and his son pulled. But the calf stiffened his legs and stubbornly refused to leave the pasture.

"The Irish housemaid saw their predicament. She couldn't write essays and books; but on this occasion at least, she had more horse sense, or calf sense, than Emerson. She put her maternal finger in the calf's mouth, and let the calf suck her finger as she gently led him into the barn."

(Curled from Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People; New York: Simon & Schuster, 1936)

The lesson is simple but profound: The best way to influence others is by considering their desires, not just your own. Think of how many areas of your business you can influence by applying this principle...

You will Succeed!

Lessons to Learn From Warren Buffet

There was a one hour interview on cnbc with warren buffet, the second richest

Man who has donated $31 billion to charity. Here are some very interesting aspects of his life:

1. He bought his first share at age 11 and he now regrets that he started too late!
2. He bought a small farm at age 14 with savings from delivering newspapers.
3. He still lives in the same small 3 bedroom house in mid-town omaha, that he bought after he got married 50 years ago. He says that he has everything he needs in that house. His house does not have a wall or a fence.
4. He drives his own car everywhere and does not have a driver or security people around him.
5. He never travels by private jet, although he owns the world's largest private jet company.
6. His company, berkshire hathaway, owns 63 companies. He writes only one letter each year to the ceos of these companies, giving them goals for the year. He never holds meetings or calls them on a regular basis.
7. He has given his ceo's only two rules. Rule number 1: do not lose any of your share holder's money. Rule number 2: do not forget rule number 1.
8. He does not socialize with the high society crowd. His past time after he gets home is to make himself some pop corn and watch television.
9. Bill gates, the world's richest man met him for the first time only 5 years ago. Bill gates did not think he had anything in common with warren buffet. So he had scheduled his meeting only for half hour. But when gates met him, the meeting lasted for ten hours and bill gates became a devotee of warren buffet.
10. Warren buffet does not carry a cell phone, nor has a computer on his desk.
11. His advice to young people: stay away from credit cards and invest in yourself.

I am sure you can catch an inspiration from these facts about Warren Buffet to move our life forward. You have what it takes to start your own business. Study to locate your own strategy to build your own businesses and financial dynasty. God is on your side.

You will Succeed!

Life is a Product of Personal Adventure

Life is a product of personal adventures. I have lived to discover that you don’t become great by relying or depending on fellow mortals, no matter how willing they are to help. If you place the responsibility of your success into another man’s hand, you have signed in for disappointments and failure in life. The lasting success you desire can only be your making. It doesn't matter who you are or where you come from, the ability to triumph begins with you. Man is the architect of his own fortune. The things that pertain to growth in living things, that is, feeding, breathing and body waste disposal, for example, are all processes that have to be performed by the individual himself. No one can breathe for you, no one can eat for you, no one can ‘pee’ or ‘pupu’ for you, you have to do it by yourself. The point I want to make is that a convenient life (and an inconvenient one) is a product of personal adventures. We are the creative force of our life, and through our own decisions rather than our conditions, if we carefully learn to do certain things, we can accomplish the dream about ourselves. You are all you need for the breakthrough you expect in life.

You need to set yourself loose! That’s what I want to help you do to yourself as I do to myself too, to wake up the creator in us. Take a trip inward, let “you” call “you” and make a decision to set yourself free. Those business ideas you thought about or that you’re thinking about are waiting for you to give expression to them. Our government is not thinking about you, you have to think for yourself and make your relevance known to the government. Those ideas want to cease from being in thought form to something physical. It is high time you moved from working for a living to creating a living. Understand that you earn a living by working with what you learn or trained to do, but you make a living by exploring your potentials. Be self reliant.

I once read an article by Ralph Waldo Emerson on Self Reliance. This article, among other resource, consolidated my quest to do something with my life in an entrepreneurial spirit. That I am more than I think I am.

I will be writing on these in next couple of weeks. These writs are my thoughts and what I choose to do with myself, and I will want people to read and set themselves loose along with me to create a new you, a new society, a new Nigeria, and a new world.

Welcome!