Most important teaching the world is yet to unravel?

Does the blurry dotted lines of right and wrong equal blurriness of justice? How do we really tell the right from the wrong? How do we decide who was wrong and who was right in a world of plethora biases. The rightest and most wrong of all motives may be difficult to determine by the human order. The Homo sapiens’s court of law may be mistaken at hammering justice but obviously that will not be difficult with whom we have to give account of all our deeds. Differentiating the evil and good will be based on precision by the court of heaven.

When I look back on how justice has been meted out, I feel deeply sorry for the sufferers of injustice. Where I may have been licking my wounds of injustice sufferings, I would quickly hide my sufferings under the brutal relics of concentration camps like Auschwitz, Sobibor, Treblinka, etc. Despite the huge depravity those Jews and many prisoners of wars went through, justice was not meted out appropriately. So, you are tempted to question God about the very reason He claimed the title of Just God? Nevertheless, the greatest judge of all cannot be sleepy. He can’t afford to slumber over justice when eternity awaits the last verdict from Him. The unveiling of Truth cannot be hidden from the TRUTH Himself. Every action will have recompense.

We were taught that our motives will be judge and not mere actions. Yet in order to understand actions, something else must be considered. Most important is that thing which is behind the actions themselves. What are the factors that drive our actions? We know that actions are driven by thoughts, imaginations, beliefs, upbringings, and more. It is vital to give more considerations to how we think what we think. 

When we think of how thoughts originate, we might further look beyond such things like our culture, upbringing, family history, national heritage, environment, etc.  We might just bundle all the aforementioned into: information sources. That is where many reasons for our thoughts came from. Now, variables that drive our thoughts originate from one or more sources.  Such source that drives the information which determined actions are worth considering. As we move deeper and further, we will see why we may have to study the origin of the sources…of what drives the information that drives the thoughts that drives the actions? So, source of sources…of information becomes our subject. We will forever travel back in history to determine that. In digging out many unimaginable things like these, the root cause of events, actions and reactions will not only be known; forgiveness will be easy for the unforgiving.

In other to avert the tendency for excessive digression, I will say that most of the teachings that will rescue the next generations in the years to come will have to look deeper than the present generation’s teachings. 

The frontiers of knowledge will have to extend into areas such as the root cause of thoughts and actions. Beyond the present day’s teachings on such subjects like management, leadership, strategy and more; teachings that will rescue people will be those teachings that help them confront their thoughts and motives.

Certainly training people how to be more effective and proactive are great. Greater than that will be trainings that are able to flip motives like someone frying eggs or roasting turkeys. In other to have an even roast, all sides must be thoroughly cooked. We will have to seriously give more attention to things of deeper meaning like: “what is the end result of all our teachings? For I think that these teachings are like tools with which we really need to achieve a purpose. But humanity is becoming overtly carried away by the end rather than the process to the end itself. In other for humanity to endure and progress, we must give attention to that origin of motives and the rightness of motive. Am I saying that we have not been doing that at all? No. Am I assuming that we have not been using management wisdom rightly? No. I will forever be grateful to management discipline. I will continue to advocate for the need of leadership wisdom. But the question is: to what end are we teaching management and leadership?

So, why are we advocating for effectiveness and efficiency? Why do we want our people to be proactive? Because these skills are not enough in themselves. All they need to be perverted skills are one bill that gets passed in the house, then politically correctness will no longer be what it used to be.

My humble submission is that we cannot afford to assume that skills acquisitions and trainings are the solution to the world’s problem. Why because the Nazi’s were obviously effective group. Adolf Hitler led a German army that were certainly efficient. They were dignified and disciplined in their cause. They had a singleness of purpose, which was extermination of the Jews. So the question is not about training people because that army went through actual military drilling. The question that differentiated them was the motive behind it all. The question of: 'was the cause noble indeed as they were led or misled to believe?' (Depending on where you pitch your tent). It was all about the rightness of motive. This is why the whole question does not lie merely at the door of management books and leadership trainings. It bores down to questioning of motives and weighing of driving force behind actions. 

When we have a vision or a purpose, it is not enough to stop there. There is more reason to ask and confront the motives behind that. How are we sure that our motive is right, pure as crystal, undiluted and faultless? How are we sure that we are right in our causes? Is it by hindsight? Is it by teaching people that their choices will definitely have consequence(s) or there are better ways to determine that so that people don’t wreck their lives and even go further in destroying other people’s lives?

Till date, many of the ninety percent unprosecuted offenders of genocides walk freely. 

Those who served in the Nazi’s army believed that they were right. They were more convinced that they were doing the right thing by exterminating the Jews. Similarly, the Hutu tribes of Rwanda were not acting under assumptions when they were killing the Tutsi tribes because they considered them as snakes and cockroaches. When a different tribe are considered sub-humans in terms of ethnicity, it was not assumption.  That genocide claimed over a million lives in  Rwanda. Yet those who started it felt they were right. The deception of human hearts could be traced back in history to the time of crucifixion of Jesus. Those who crucified Jesus felt that they were doing God a favor by killing Jesus. Why because this "Joker" from Nazareth is claiming to be God. And that was the highest form of blasphemy in history. So they killed the Messiah of the world. The question is how can we truly tell when motives are right or wrong? I strongly believe that one of the utmost teachings which the world is yet to seriously unravel is this teaching on the rightness of motive, the power behind motivations. Could this be a teaching the ancients missed till date?

Political Transition in Nigeria: Nigerians Awake!

As i peaked through the windows of internet, i peered into the present political transition in Nigeria. I began to wonder. As a speaker, is this the time to speak up? If we are not orientating people in the direction of National change; we may help them to attain temporal individual change, but the policy of the politics will squash that which we have planted in them. Is it true that we may need to review what we are speaking per time based on the immediate societal need? Martin Luther king moved from the pulpit to the Civil right movement..."I have a Dream!".If we sit in our arm chair , hiding in our corner under the guise of fear. We stand to lose all what we got.

It dawned on me that one of the things Nigerians need most at this season is to appreciate the power of standing up and getting counted. You have to stand up for something. And it does not have to be popular. But you got to stand up for something! The question is: Are we standing up at all? And if we are standing up, our stand for something could be our last chance to turn the tide around at this crucial moment. There must be a deliberate move towards democracy in Nigeria which goes beyond who you are standing with.It has to go beyond buying into the common bribery with some Naira notes to win voters' support.It is now a matter of what you are standing for!

I'm just thinking of the power of synergy and what it can create if the new breeds of Aspirants out there can tap into it. We all understand that there is a Global SHIFT. As it happened for Barack Obama & Hilary Clinton in the USA.It can happen in Nigeria beacuse it takes more than one of these New Breed of politicians to chase that devil of disorder & corruption out of Nigeria. I mean our National destiny is about to be shaped and birth afresh. I believe this is an era of the new breeds. There is a global shift in the world's political sphere. Everything that has been like monument is moving...the old order is shifting. It is no longer about the power of incumbency or godfather-ism. It is now about who is the man of the people? Who is that leader with a vision? Who is seeing the change? Who is the Aspirant of the future? And then what am i standing for?
Yes! "Maximus is the son of the future..." (we know according to "The Gladiator") but are we recognizing our own Maximus? Nigerians! Are we seeing the potentials of leadership in our Maximus? Are we identifying the leader with a vision? How are we supporting our Maximus? Do we understand that this impending shift in the global politics must not pass us by? This global phenomenon must rub off on Nigeria, if we don't want to fall in misalignment and out of sync. Going contrary will affect our international trade, economy and more? Hence, we are doomed for the next decade ahead! The moral is: Listen for the Manifesto and follow the leader with a vision. What are you doing to help the new breed of Politicians get into power?

Moments that shaped the world!

There are moments that shaped destinies! If you have ever heard of a saying that: delay can be dangerous? You will understand what I am talking about. The impact of one minute lost and the power of one moment missed can shape entire history; defining both destinies and destitute! It is no longer news that Haiti fell through earthquake. The crux of my writing is this: when the natural disaster left some lives hanging between life and death, who actually killed the rest of the many people that natural disaster didn’t kill? There were people who would have survived the earthquake but the rescue team came late. Some of us who have money refused to donate and therefore not enough aids were sent. As a result, some earthquake victims who were too weak to hold on to the rope of life slowly let go. They crossed the chasm of living and dead. That was the end. Although huge amounts of money was raised and are still being raised, many souls had gone.

If you can still remember how Americans waited for weeks to make up their minds on the Afghanistan war, whether to continue the war or to back out of it. President Barrack Obama did his best among several other challenges he was faced with. The Health Care reforms took tones of his energy. Most precious time was wasted on debate. The clock was ticking. The issue on the House’s agenda was more than the war victims. The US President was unable to make a decision quickly. The Afghanistan war claimed more lives. America later did what seem good for their country by sending reinforcement but many soldiers had already died before the back up arrived. Some great soldiers had lost their precious lives because there was no support, because artilleries were not enough, because war equipments weren’t timely supplied.

If you have ever seen the movie called Titanic, you will understand what I am talking about here. If you can still recall that the hero called Jack and other passengers on board died shortly after that shipwrecked. Numerous souls were lost in the sea because of what? Time! It happened not just because there were not enough large round floaters, to be thrown out to drowning persons. It was not a matter of watertight floaters alone but also due to the fact that the rescue team came in late. The passengers died because there was bureaucracy, ego, pride, selfishness and negligence somewhere along the chain of command. Surrounding the situation of the shipwrecked passengers was a rescue team that was infected with a viral disease called pride!

When leaders, officials, medical doctors, nurses, lawyers, committees and everyday people in the center of decisions begin to see our work as a matter of heaven and hell, as matters of life and death; then we will fulfill the will of God. When we begin to apply urgency where it is needed, we will never drag feet where we should hurry and scurry. In this age of greed where “ego-bloatedness” reigns, crossing the line of decision will continue to require much more than we can imagine. Our mere obedient we not be enough rather a timely sacrifice…Where power and pride conflicts wisdom and common sense conflicts with authority, the only thing that suffers most is people who are the creation of God.

Let it be re-written for future leaders that one most important thing to watch out for in leadership is never allow title displace target. It is not in how we dress up to appear before people or in the media. Crowd of audience may cheer, without fulfillment of purpose it all amounts to nothing. Every future leader must know this that: lives, chance, time, moments and opportunities, will never wait for anyone. This has been before the world began, and it will forever remain so. The clock is ticking. You got to make up your mind. Decide what you would do. The consequence may cost you something but the situations of urgency commands urgent response. And with each tick of the clock, souls are perishing.

Corporate Leadership

To begin this piece, let me tell you a true story. Recently I was talking to Dave; a security young man at a mall on a very cold Saturday morning. I was checking out a book to buy from one of the shops. Dave was going round to see to it that everything was going well around the mall. As he walked briskly alongside me, we greeted.I asked him about his present job, if he was enjoying it. He told me how happy he was. He said he feel so free and independent working as a security than as chef. Apparently, he was a fired chef. This former cook told me that he resigned from the job because of the way he was maltreated. He was being ordered around in the kitchen at his former workplace. So I asked why he is happy here as a security despite the higher risks involved with the security job? To me, securing lives and property when compared to cooking foods are two extremes when based on the associated risks. However, for Dave, the risks were nothing and the reason was quite simple. He has found an opportunity to bloom and blossom here as security than as a Cook. The chief chef had made life so miserable for Dave such that he had to quit. The reason is not farfetched. The initial plan of the creator was for man to subdue all creation. Man was never created to be subdued by his own kind. I have never admired any leader who made me feel so insecure and less important. And I am guessing that the same goes for you too?

The reason why people will settle for less paying job, less dignifying job sometimes is because of the leadership in those workplaces. Business leaders need to understand that their staffs deserved to be respected no matter how low they are on the organization chart. They should never be hauled, mauled or ruled. Staffs determine the strength of the organization and profits made therein. They are partly the powerhouse of the workplace. The longevity of the business depends on them. Hence they are important and must be seen as such.

If I may ask you at this point. Are you a leader or a follower? Everyone needs to know which side on the continuum they fall. If you are not a leader what kind of follower are you? What can you identify as the problems in leadership today? What do you think a corporate leadership should look like? What does a corporate leader require in a business sector? Have you ever worked with a business leader where everybody runs into hiding, pretending to be doing something serious or the other when he appears? What was your experience like? How did you see such “big boss”? What do you admire about him? What makes you envy him? What did you observe in his life that is so unique? If you are a leader? What kind of leader are you? Are you oppressive or supportive? Are you accommodative or a repellant?

What is Corporate Leadership?
“Corporate leadership is any business oriented leadership that believes in team work, harnesses the ability of the team in generating momentum; develops strategies in implementing models; maximizing potentials and building upon the strengths of the team in implementing projects to the intent of reaching exceedingly valuable and precise results.” –( Odunuga, 2009)

Using driving as illustration.
Driving on the highway can be synonymous with corporate leadership. Sometimes your speed on the highway can be determined by the speed of the vehicle directly ahead of you. And the speed limit, at which you travel, can be influenced by the person beside you. The speed, at which the person behind you drives, can also be determined by your speed. In a situation where you cannot overtake, when you have to follow a single narrow lane. You cannot over speed. When the person directly ahead of you is driving on 60km per hour. You cannot drive 80km/hr. If you do that, you would have hit him and you will have yourself to blame. The same principle of speed limit and limitation is observable in leadership. It is applicable in how driving a corporation towards a corporate goal can be a matter of team effort, team spirit, team work and team influence. As a leader, you will need to understand all these because they can impact you adversely if you don’t. They can determine how far your organization will go. They will determine at what pace your organization will go. They can determine whether or not, the people will grow or not.

Principles of corporate leadership.
In business, profitability edge does not come except by corporate leadership principles and more. When people identify with an organization, they work until such organization is strong enough to adequately pay their bills. They can stand by the organization even in recession. I have seen a situation where a business was about folding up and the staff refused to go on strike for not being paid simply because they understand and they have bought into the corporate vision, such that they would slog it out together through the crisis until the bad season is over. Loyalty is easily commanded in such situation.

There are certain conditions which must be present as prerequisites in corporate leadership. The best businesses that will thrive exceedingly well in the 21st century are the businesses that will rely on these principles of corporate leadership. These principles are as follows:
1. Strategy must be synergistic: they must continually be structured to build upon previous efforts and continually aligned with other team efforts.
2. Corporate leadership is a process. It must be seen as a process that can not be arrived at in one day. And we cannot graduate from the discipline thereof.
3. Indispensability: It is indispensable, if there must be a positive result in the organization.
4. Unison: Most business relies on the brain of the board of directors or the Chief executive officer. They usually feel the hardest blow when such leader leaves the organization either by resignation, death, or retirement.

A Case study of a corporate Leadership
I was privileged to visit one of the leading automobile companies in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. After a tour round their factory, observing and asking questions about regulatory standards, their corporate goals, their sales, social responsibilities, their best practice, their new management plan on marketing, their newest strategies and more. I asked a twisty question in an interview session with their president. Having been aware that his predecessor failed and the company was nose-diving when he took over the leadership. I asked: “How were you able to turn this business around? What was the secret of your success in this company?” He humbly said that the credit goes to all the people on his team. “Team work did it!” he replied. He was a man who understood how to redirect praise and give credits to others. Some CEO believed that people should not be praised because they will stop putting in their best. They don’t want their people to think they have arrived. The contrast is true. People want to be seen as priceless despite the fact that they are receiving salaries from the organization. They don’t fancy being equated with their paystub. Appreciating people who worked with you to make things happen will encourage and inspire them to do more. The president of that automobile company I mentioned refused to allow his picture appear on any column or magazine profile page dedicated to heroes in their industry. As the one who deserved the credits; he shared the glory with the average people on his team. It was the picture of a team of people who worked on the tool benches, sits on the security table, answered the telephones at the reception, and typed on computer in offices; that appeared on the profile page of the popular magazine column. These were the heroes! This was the secret. Little wonder they were all smiling and feeling accepted and happy with their job regardless of what happens.

Acronym of the ethics of corporate leadership:
1. Commitment: the leader is committed to fulfilling his promises to his team once he pronounced it. Broken promises breed doubts, discord and discouragement. It wanes people’s strengths.
2. Outstanding: The leader is exceptional. He is extremely result oriented.
3. Resilience: the leader is able to weather the storm for the organization rather than seek a bail out. He is not a quitter.
4. Productivity: he is effective and industrious. The people take a cue from him. He never loiters around the corridors or stays longer on break.
5. Openness: the leader is very transparent and accountable.
6. Reward: the leader sees win-win for all on board per time. He tries to ensure the team gets their raises at the right time.
7. Affirmation: the leader gives approval and acceptance. The leader understand that the mind of man is able to conquer any form of obstacle or challenge where there is a force of encouragement in guise of a pat on the back from the leader.
8. Trust: The leaders have faith in his people. In cases of unexpected melt down, in the face of bankruptcy, in times of mergers and acquisition; he tries to protect their interests.
9. Effective: the leader is able to bring success through. He maximizes resources in the organization.
10. Loyalty: the leader is the first person to sow the seeds of loyalty before he reaps it from his team. When the people see that he can be relied upon they follow him all the way through thick and thin.
11. Eloquent: the leader is well expressive. He has the ability to move an audience back to work in cases of union strike.
12. Ambitious: the leader is a go-getter. He is optimistic. Always seeing the positive side of things.
13. Determined: the leader is strong minded, unwavering. Once the target is set, he makes sure that the result is delivered on the due date and not excuses.
14. Extraordinaire: the leader is excellent and outstanding in his work.
15. Retention: Usually it is the man behind the big desk who decides if the people will stay or go. The leader believes in investing in people, developing people rather than laying them off.
16. Service: he sees his role as a servant leader. He is not bossy or oppressive.
17. Humorous: the leader is entertaining, he is able to slow down and play in the face of tension. He is able to handle a stressful situation with wits. He can easily accommodate people and he can go along with the team as well as the public.
18. Intelligent: the leader is smart. He is a thinker.
19. Persuasive: the leader is able to persuade, win sales, negotiations and deliberations for the corporate good.

Innovation killer

Innovations get rejected when they are not well presented. Innovation killing can be said to be the situation whereby good ideas get dropped; sometimes for dumb and awful ones. This sometimes happen when the innovator won’t lick the shoes of the project leaders or s/he won’t submit to herd mentality on the project team. Rejection of ideas and innovation can be minimized when we develop the art and the science of presentation.

Another way is to be able to identify ahead of time what makes the people on your project team excited. If you want any idea to really have great impact. Tie it around sensitive issues. Look out for the emotional part, political aspects, or religious aspects of the society. Wrap the innovation around the most defining moments. Or tie the invention around diseases like cancer, HIV/Aids, Swine Flu, et.al. You can also tie the idea around celebrity. Tie it with gossip. Think of life and death. Make a big deal out of it and elucidate why it is a matter of life and death.

Some example of how to tie ideas and innovation around causes are as follows: You can start a cause that may be in favor of some victims of pollution in industrial sites, safety concerns, factory injured people, people who are unjustly punished, and soldiers who fell in war front and how to help liberate their families. Proposals for project such as these will sell. Move the cause farther by amplifying, elaborating and exaggerating the importance of such cause. Make media noise concerning it. Advertise it. Make the Government pay for it by registering it as a non profit business. You can then get donation from people all over the world.

The root for your innovation may be far apart from the cause but in a way try to tie them together so that it won’t get killed. Once dissociation, divergence are observed or done to the idea; it is as good as a killed invention even before it is introduced. Once you are able to tie the ideas together in such a way that they are inseparable; you will get funding, sponsor, grants, et.al for it.

Another way is to wrap your invention or idea, around history, gender, politics, race, religion, historical sites, heritage, sensitive culture, et.al. This is one of the ways to save your idea or innovation from getting killed by critics. Tie that idea around people’s emotion. Tie it around repressed and depressed minds. Tie it upon the oppressed groups who are searching for meaning. Tie it on the vagabonds who are waiting to escalate. They can be equally used. You can use their energies. Redirect their passions. Ride upon their negative anger by positively turning them around, do a reorientation for them and engage them in a more noble cause.

A leader must be able to motivate the entire team. A leader must be able to move his people to corporate action. For instance, look at the case of Holocaust. Could it be that Adolf Hitler was smart enough to be able to do all what he did to the Jews because he was able to work on people’s minds? He was able to use their emotion for his own greed? There's a way to tap and use some silent energy in people. Locate those repressed passion, those shut off anger and unearth them. That may be one certain principle used in Germany to mobilize those Nazis against the Jews?

Nations, businesses, families and individuals need to prevent innovation killings. Their bright ideas can only be realized if they are ready to protect their invention come what may. You can't afford to watch innovation killed wherever you find yourself. That is why it is not a bad idea to desire to be a part of leadership of any organization you may find yourself. Leadership determines if an innovation, idea will be killed, snuffed out, quenched, or not.

I’ve seen organizations where their leaders don’t have the required skills, strategies, or understand how systems can be built or run. Worst still, Ideas and gifting of the ordinary members, employees are even shunned. The bridge to move the organization forward is consequently cut off. Their visions get stuck and the organization cannot move to the next level because of pride in leadership. It is so amazing how much we can achieve together, individually, corporately once we set personal ego aside. Once we realize that this is beyond us, pride will not stop us from reaching our corporate goals.

Rather than stooping to conquer, I have seen leaders walk away from the people carrying the required solution. Sometimes those gifted people may even be on their very team. Yet they prefer to outsource for "the right person" and thereby missing on opportunities. Due to fear of losing control, supervisors, leaders, managers have stuck to their guns and refuted the idea of change. Sometimes, best practices in guise of innovation are put forward by colleagues in an organization but due to office rivalry. They are rejected. This is an art of Innovation killing.

When leaders are afraid of losing control; they are forced to hold on to traditions, old methods, obsolete systems, outdated information and principles that had been proven inefficient and ineffective. The outcome is not far fetched. It is gross failure. The clue is to allow freedom of expression, cooperation amongst team members...Instead of wearing uniforms or dressing strictly formal; some organizations usually wear business casual dress code just to break such stringent barriers and bureaucracy things as protocols and inability to socialize and solve corporate problems easily and as quickly as they arise. And your organization will skyrocket immediately.