Are You Leading?

BEING A SPEECH DELIVERED BY TASLIM OKUNOLA AT THE 100 DAYS IN OFFICE INTERACTIVE SESSION OF 2014/2015 FUTA STUDENTS' UNION HELD ON 3RD AUGUST, 2015.

All protocols duly observed.

Good day ladies and gentlemen.

Our misconception about leadership is one of the problems we are facing in this nation. Our supposed leaders continue to think they are leading even when they are not. The problem did not originate from the top, it did from the bottom; from our level of leadership. That is why we really need to tackle it from here. Assuming a position doesn’t make you a leader; whether you became the president of a body or the chief executive officer of a conglomerate. What makes you a leader is your ability to lead.

If for you, it’s all about position, control, authority, technical expertise, talking, telling, giving orders, scaring people and being secretive; if you spend more time on politics than achieving a goal; if you assume that communication has happened, retain power, intimidate, drive, rely on reputation and look for short-term gain; then, you are not leading. You are simply a pseudo-leader and not a real leader.

It becomes more dangerous for the people if you are in the topmost leadership position of a body and you are not actually leading. Your team’s productivity reduces drastically and they will start forming cliques. Real leaders would be emerging to take over certain cliques and you will sometimes feel. Hence, the need to take charge and take responsibility; the need to lead!

I would outline the qualities of a pseudo-leader as Dr. Bill Donahue did in one of his writings.

1. You are in it for self-advancement: The success of a leader is not in the number of followers he is able to lead but in the number of leaders he is able to create. If you call yourself a leader and you are not impacting anyone, I'm afraid you are a pseudo-leader. As real leader is able to make impacts; able to create a sustainable chain of leadership and able to help others build their platform.

2. Decision-making is always pragmatic: When you make decision based on what works best for you and not what works best for the people you lead, you are a pseudo-leader. This is what we call parochial or personal interest. Taking decision without observing the wider context of your domain is not what a real leader would do. Remember, you are not leading yourself, you are leading a particular team or organization.

3. Ethical standards are compromised: Like Late Com. Dapo Awopegba said: "What is morally wrong can never be politically right". As a leader, there are ethics and due process you should always follow. Don't take your subjects with levity, involve them in everything you do. Do not take shortcuts to solving problems. Real leaders patiently follow laid down rules to actualize the dreams of their people.

4. Strategy takes priority over relationship: In other words, regardless of the damage a decision or path may do to the team, as long as we “win” or “realize the vision” or can say “mission accomplished” the collateral relational damage is chalked up simply as the cost of doing business. A real leader would rather combine strategy with relationship rather than allowing his strategies to cause relational hullabaloo.

5. Everything has a price tag: Pseudo-leaders believe they can “buy” everything – trust, votes, loyalty, performance, followers, relationships, customers, members, silence and compliance with their demands. Real leaders approach things with intellect. When you are trying to buy over everyone with money, you are not leading them. Instead, you are corrupting them. You may be so rich to buy all these but by doing it, you are definitely not leading.

So we must look at our own leadership habits, choices, motives and ethics and ask ourselves few questions like:

Who are we in this role for?

What are we leaving behind?

What would others say about my leadership?

I would like to end my speech with the word of Google’s Head of People’s Operation, Laszlo Bock when he was asked about leadership by CNN - "The idea is not whether you were president of the student body or vice president of the bank, rather: "When you see a problem do you step in, help solve it," and then critically, "Are you willing to step out and let somebody else take over, and make room for somebody else? Are you willing to give up power?"

Thank you for your time.

Taslim OKUNOLA

Public Speaker, Career Coach and Trainer

taslimokunola@gmail.com

+234 810 397 8338

www.taslimokunola.com

Owerri Agenda: Behind And In Front of The Scenes

Owerri Agenda might sound pretty familiar to my friends and might not to some. To those in dark about it, Owerri Agenda can simply be defined as a name created for everything related to the Digital Marketing part of CFi JAM Summit in Owerri this year. This blog post would probably earmark what went on before, all through and after the event. It was a success story worthy to be told.

The trio: +Taslim OKUNOLA, +Peace Itimi and +Joshua Josh 

It was March and I got a message from +Peace Itimi inviting me to join +Joshua Josh and her in a training event. Her fellowship organizes a summit annually which features syndicate sessions where students get to learn any trade of their choice. Obviously, Peace pushed it and they decided to add Digital Marketing to the list this year. The event was to hold in the Federal University of Technology, Owerri (244 miles from where I live) and I have never been to Owerri before.

I accepted this challenge as part of my GSA project. It was awesome planning how we are going to impact students before the event. I could remember Peace creating BBM and WhatsApp groups to discuss the agenda, curriculum, and the event at large. We got ourselves prepped for the days ahead.

A cross-section of students learning Digital Marketing

It was so awesome to get to Owerri and see lots of students interested in learning Digital Marketing. +Peace Itimi did an awesome briefing of the training and students were so thrilled. Indeed, modern technology is finding its way into the hearts of Nigerians with the help of advocates like Peace.

Behind The Scenes

+Joshua Josh and I would stay up late in the night in our hotel room to work on slides and other stuffs for the event. +Peace Itimi also stayed up late to send mails and coordinate the follow-up mechanism. We argued at some point just to ensure things work out.

After all, we also had fun. Josh and I played a prank on Peace even though it didn't really work out :)

In Front of The Scenes

+Taslim OKUNOLA handling a session

The training sessions were cool. At the beginning, we had hitches with sound, time and projector, we had to split the class into two to get the session going. We had an interactive and interesting class. They were eager to learn and asked so many questions to get things straight.

About Peace and Josh

I spent four days working with +Joshua Josh and +Peace Itimi and I learnt a lot about them. I would be summarizing all I learnt about them into a characteristic each.

+Joshua Josh and +Taslim OKUNOLA 

+Joshua Josh is a typical problem solver. He thinks everything is possible and he believe no problem is the worst. Just bring the problem and he would solve it.

+Peace Itimi handling a session

+Peace Itimi is a workaholic. She loves to work and she works a lot. She believes in impacting her immediate environment with quality hard work. She works so hard to get things done.

They are both inspirations. You cannot spend a day with them without getting inspired.

We were the youngest facilitators at the event and we trained more than 100 students about Digital Marketing and Google AdWords.

This is basically what we do as Google Student Ambassadors. We come in at any point possible to ensure that students get informed about modern technology. We travel as far as possible to impact and inspire students. I have come to know that we are not working for Google, rather we are working for our society.

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2014 - My Year In Review

Today is the last day of 2014. Thanks to God for seeing me through to this day. Much gratitude to everyone that was part of my 2014. I had fun, made new friends, initiated new ideas, and learnt lots of new stuffs.

2014 has been a long year for me. So many ups and downs as usual. I have learnt a lot within the 365 days that I thought would be great to share some of the stuffs I learnt.

In everything you do, be determined. Determination is a key ingredient of success. When you are not determined, you give up easily. You need to be able to stand your ground in all situations. Tribulations are bound to happen. Life is not a bed of roses like they say. With determination, you can turn your defeats to blessings in disguise.

You should remember this popular story where a donkey fell in a dry well and the owner lost all hope. He ordered that he be buried alive to ease his death as he will surely starve to death if left like that. As shovels of sand were been thrown into the pit, the donkey kept stepping on the sand till it was full enough for him to jump out of the well.

It seems like it was the end for this donkey but he turned the end to a start. When your life hit a 'pause', it is your choice to 'play' or 'stop'.

Passion goes a long way when coupled with skills. If you have passion for something, why not get the required skills? You have passion for photography and all you do everyday is talk about photography. You remain in the dreamland of being a photographer without attempting to jump out of it into reality. Nobody sees your dream until it is a reality. The best you can do for yourself is learn about photography and who knows, with you passion and the skill you can land big jobs.

For your dream to become a reality and not just a wish, you need to push it forward. Get some skills and you will understand what you have passion for the more.

My name is Taslim OKUNOLA and I am progressive Nigerian youth.

HAVE A PROSPEROUS 2015!

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2015: Make It Count - by Samuel Bada

“When purpose is not defined, abuse is inevitable”.
 Hence, the need to “widely” intimate ourselves about the gravity which 2015 brings, particularly with the #2015 #Elections.

It goes beyond electing a leader or leaders that will steer the wheel of this nation for the next 4 years.
 To be factual, 2015 is tantamount to establishing if 'Nigeria' will still mean a country after 2015.
It is tantamount to determining if the “Dream Nigeria” will be buried or born.
The outcome of the 2015 election will definitely have more than a 4-year effect on Nigeria and Nigerians.

Marc Levy said:
“If you want to know the value of one year, just ask a student who failed a course . . .
If you want to know the value of one minute, ask the person who just missed the bus.
If you want to know the value of one second, ask the person who just escaped death in a car accident . . ."

Unfortunately, these ones knew the value of time after facing the consequences.

Nigerians shouldn’t realize the gravity of “2015” after the die has been cast.

At present, the abuse is evitable.

So, carving from John Wesley’s, I admonish: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, to any length you can, for as long as you can, as a Nigerian and make 2015 count”

God Bless Nigeria!

God Bless You!

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Open Letter to Boko Haram - by Biyi Agboola

Dated 4th December, 2014

DEAR SHEKAU,

After a lot of pondering and ceaseless thinking with evolving questions with no answer, i find it mandatory to write to you in the hole where you live to orchestrate your evil deeds.
just as i was about to lay my heads on my pillow last night , i decided to check up my news site and to my utter surprise i saw in the news another terrible attack of yours in yobe state.

Shekau i want to affirm the fact that you and your co-alliens are foolish, stupid and cowards. You go about attacking and killing innocent and defenseless bloody civilian like me in our hundreds and thousands and assuming you have victory. stupid thought.

If you really want to show us you are not a coward, why don't you go and attack our sieged National assembly,hold our legislators into ransom, go to the Aso villa hold the commander in chief into ransom and stop your clueless act of killing innocent Nigerians.

I dare you to stop your attack on we defenseless Nigerians, i dare you to come out boldly and tell us your demands, i dare you to come out boldly to tell us your ideology, i dare you to come out and tell the world what Nigerians owned you.!!!!!!!

I dare you to attack the men who are always sieged in NIGERIA.
dear shekau stop your clueless act and stop attacking and killing defenseless Nigerians.

You have no ideology, you have lost this battle , Nigerians have won, you have lost, our soldiers have out powered you.

You can only kill our body, i dare you to stop killing our body and attack our spirit.

Shekau i hope and am sure you will want to act bravely by giving me a prompt reply by being dared.

But am sure you have lost and you and your agents are cowards.

signed.

THE VOICE FOR THE VOICELESS.
eden cantonment

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Responsibility - by Samuel Bada

Permit me to start with this short story:

There was an Israelite, just as you are a Nigerian. He died many years ago. But before he died, he had an experience that made him an hero in his country, made him change the situation of his country and also gave him an unpaid-for, unprayed-for popularity. He met an angel who called him a mighty man of valour. His immediate reaction to this was “if God be with us, why have all these befallen us? And the reply he got was “GO IN THIS YOUR MIGHT”.

credits: simplyg

He was passionate about the situation of his country, he did something about his passion and he saved his country.

Do something about what you’re passionate about!

You’ve been complaining about the politics of this nation, that’s your passion; do something about it.

You may need to affiliate with a political party, get the necessary requirements . . .

You’ve been complaining about the entertainment industry; “Nollywood is not even trying”. That’s your passion, do something about it.

“Your design influences what you see”………………………..Sam Adeyemi

If you are wired to be a fashion designer, you’ll be the first to notice a mismatch of colours.

Responsibility, in the simplest form means being responsible; being answerable to a cause.
My question is, are you responsible as a Nigerian?

Nation-Building is not the responsibility of 1person, it’s not the responsibility of 36persons, it’s not the responsibility of 744persons. It is the responsibility of all.

Thou Passionate Nigerian, Go in this your Passion!
God Bless Nigeria! God Bless You!

P.S: Samuel BADA is a Situation Analyst, Public Speaker, Freelance Writer, Project Manager, Entrepreneur and Pedagogue.

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The Future - By Samuel Bada

“The future is not a timezone that is yet to come. The future is everything we can be but have not yet become. The future is everything we can do but have not yet done. The future is here, the future is now . . .” -Fela Durotoye.

“Vision 2020”, “Vision 2025”,
“The Nigeria in 2050”

. . . We hear these everytime and we all are tired of timezones that may never come.

For so long, the “FUTURE” has been thought to be a later time. The timezone we are right now was the "future" we looked up to 10 years ago and nothing has significantly changed within that timespan.

We need to consciously change our mentality about our definition of the future of this Nation - Nigeria.

Until we accept the fact that the “future” is not a tomorrow that is yet to come and measured in time, we will continue to postpone what is meant to be done today to that “tomorrow”.

As Fela Durotoye rightly put it, “the future is everything we can be but have not yet become”, if we can therefore be a nation where the votes of her people count, that is the future, and it has to start now. There is no timezone.

If we can have a Nigeria where the masses won’t - in the name of a political party, ethnic group or religion - fight and kill each other to fulfil the ambitions of godfathers, then that is the future and it has to start now.

If we can have a Nigeria where her citizens are patriotic enough to stand still whenever they hear the National Anthem, that is the future and it has to start now.

I envisage a Nigeria of Dutiful, Patriotic and Obedient citizens.
I envisage a Nigeria characterized by practical Democracy, Peace and Orderliness.
I envisage a Nigeria where the watchword of every citizen becomes Due Process Only.

I officially welcome you to the FUTURE.

God Bless Nigeria! God Bless You!

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