Taking Radical Steps Towards Job Creation-Survival Strategies 101...

We use to know an old man who had a farmland in a remote village; where we went to serve the nation during National Youths Service Corp. That man surely needs a hand to operate his big farm. He needs someone to move his Agribusiness onto another level. He is truly an illiterate. He is obviously going to be suspicious of us. May be we have come to take his means of livelihood away from him. Just may be we came to steal his farm through our big grammar.

But wait a second...what if we humbly go to earn his trust? What if some of us decide to step outside our comfort zones, step down into his world and join that old man in his venture of building a means of livelihood for more than just one family but for a whole community. That man has a farmland but his frail body is too weak to cultivate it alone. What if we agree with him to get fed for free while we in turn give our assistance in terms of knowledge, expertise, human capacity and more? I am just wondering if we will have this great number of unemployed university Graduates in our population if we start taking some radical steps!

Okay, I can see you squeezing face already. I don’t have any clue about farming and I don’t know anybody by the name: Old Man living in any village who practise such Agribusiness. Besides, i can not go to live in any village. I understand. All I am talking about is that you look around you. May be there is a Tailoring center with a sewing Mistress on your Street, or there is a Food Canteen with dilapidated structure. Can you see any Auto-Mechanic without helping hands...Okay. You may try to go humbly, submit yourself to this bunch of illiterates! Yes! You mean i should become an Apprentice, No way!

Well.. may be this might be one of the ways you can start adding values to other people`s businesses. They will in turn show you how they do what they do in order to acquire some handy skills that can help you make a living. May be…just may be!  We might cross some boundaries into capacity building! Its an hard, but the only way to survival. I am talking about Survival Strategies 101 for Fresh Graduates who have been waiting for a job for the past five years! I am talking about pragmatic step towards skill acquisition for poverty reduction.

How to Create New Economy from Doldrums in Third World countries.

So we were at this job test in one of the third world countries and every fresh Graduate is waiting outside the test venue to be called in. the norm is that all those with a cumulative Grade point of 2.1 and above are invited here. Those are the smartest brains ever. You see those who graduated with 2.2 and below; they are toast!  They have nothing to offer! They are dummies and as such, they have been weaned out. So they can’t be here except of course by some connection to somebody in power.

But while we were waiting for the Test to kick off. Several connections of old friends, old student unions and fraternities were forming outside the job test venue. We started gisting, talking about so many things. Some of us were catching up on old times, another upcoming job test, and another job advert in the Dailies. We are discussing the last interview which we attended but we were not picked. Out of the 300 percent that was interviewed, the company picked just three people. And it was so bad that it left us sad. They picked someone who they knew. It was not on merit…too disgusting.

 Anyways, did you watch the game between Arsenal and Chelsea?

-Oh! I miss that one because there was no power supply.

We had to fuel our Generator to watch it; the electricity source in my neighbourhood was disconnected

-So did you watch the match between Manchester United versus Liverpool FC in the UEFA?

Oh! That was brutal!

-It was a bloody!

Those guys were Real Red devils!

-O yeah! I saw that…

Just about some few meters from us, there was another group where some folks were interested in the Politics and the Government.

I am no more interested in the Tribunal trial. They are a set up! They are not doing anything to the rogues they caught!

-Oh! Yeah! I am not going to vote for their Party in the coming election.

Those guys are rogues. They claimed to spent 11.5Billion on constructing the new Expressway way.

-Just look at our roads, does any of this road look new…we have no job, there is no good medical facility, no free education system and no electricity.

So we went on and on… blabbing in our circle, creating a niche of unemployed whiners in our small group discussion. Nobody discussed idea or innovation that we could birth in a radical way. We felt we were too small in our own eyes to make a difference in such economy. What can we do? This is the way it’s going to be forever.

This is all true of our life in the third world countries. We were standing in the middle of masses of talents, potentials and human resources but all we know to do was just talk!  We actually exchanged phone numbers and we went away afterwards to our individual home to make some free midnight calls. Guess what our call was all about. It was all about the lady we wanted to date and probably marry but our poor economic state has been delaying such dreams from coming to fruition.  Sometimes, we actually do some conference call and ask: How are you doing.

Were you picked from that last Job test to come for their next phase of interview?

-Oh! No I was dropped. Hey! Sorry…

 Well I was luckily called yesterday to come for an interview. Just hope it works out. Pray for me.

This is the life out there in the third world country where opportunity is limiting and often overcome by deficit of chances.

Amongst those of us who were standing out there were fresh Graduates from all disciplines. There were Graduates from Banking and Finance, Engineering, Economics, Agriculture, to mention few.

I was just thinking that what if we start a radical approach to job creation. What if we start a Bottom –Up approach kind of revolution?  What if we deliberately synergize as a Company of skilled providers and began to market ourselves better. What if we start a business empire where all we need to move to the next stage is in the team. What if we use each other’s brains to move one another to another level of Job creation? What if we all go home and convince our family members to withdraw all their money from all those big Banks and start investing into us. What if we shun the old banks and start transacting within this new Bank! What if we began to grow, expand, compete and become a threat to those old banks? We started out small but we may end up big if we all convince our Parents to bring in their monies, their middle class salaries and retirement Pension Funds into this new bank.  I know we may not depend solely on the inexperience knowledge of Fresh Graduate Bankers or Lawyers.

We can look amongst for those folks whose Uncles and Aunts were fired lately from those big Banks in the name of recession. We can invite them to run it with us. We can invest into the thrown-aways …and based on their experiences we can create a lasting movement of people who understood the system and are ready to re-invest into the system that spilled them out.

We can start using the money gathered into this small bank to fund new small businesses. And this will bud gradually into an economy. What if? What if?! What if we start doing something intentionally and radically? This Relevance!

Creating Jobs for third world countries:Generational Empowerment.

In 2004, we shot a low budgeted movie:“OBINRIN AJEJI”- The strange Woman; in Olabisi Onabanjo University. At the backside of Ogun Sate in Nigeria, West Africa. It was achieved without an actual start up capital. By bringing  students together from South western universities of learning. We raised a workforce. These bunch of rookies gave their all. They donated whatever they had in cash and kind and hearts towards this noble cause. We had time-delay for lack of capital but we eventually birth a village kind of movie that did not win the Oscar but made it into a microcosm part of history which fueled other dreams and vision today. What are you willing to commit yourself to and what are you dying to do in order to make a difference? 

The "What" question is this: Intentional job creation is one of the 21st century assignment. This is the heritage from hermitage. Is it doable in your record? I know you will agree with me that this is trans-generational and inevitably relevant. Will you be part of it? Oh! you also believe that this will bring empowerment that will  affect economy, reduce crime, corruption and re-shape our race! 

Now mark my words: Wealth creation through Poverty Reduction is The New Wealth Boom that will replace the old Oil Boom mentality! 

Deliberate productivity within the cauldron of increased creativity, will enhance rebuilding of any downtrodden economy. Conceptualization and the art of re-conceptualizing is the key to rise from doldrums of shame.  We can start from the scratch and be restored unto our prestigious state! 

The "Why" question is this: Are you the answer or the problem? Because the questions you ask tells me where you are coming from and where you're headed…

 The "Where" question is answered in these lines:  Where are you right now? This principle can be replicated all over Africa. We can achieve more, where opportunity is inadequate and population is skyrocketing. We are the hope!

The "When" question is answered thus:  Now !  Today!!  This moment!!! for…Faith is now! 

“Any body can gather a mob. It takes vision and action to delineate and differentiate people…” Jesus the Nazarene inserted the kingdom`s vision into some Galilean buddies…who went to replicate Christianity which shaped the world`s civilization even after him.  That Man built no Cathedral ,he had no office and not one building! Cain the murderer built a city… Nimrod became a mighty Hunter before the Lord. He was not a Clergy! How did these folks did it? 

The first world countries survived by adopting this principle. Such things like volunteering to build mutual productive base, value exchange methodology…Creating opportunities through Trade by barter's age-old principles and intentional Networking of skills to birth a communal project. This will Build industry from the scratch!  And wherever there is industry, there is commerce and economy. 

If you are still asking how do you mean? I mean Team work. Together we can achieve more through relationships… United we stand, divided we fall! Servant hood hearts. Re-orientate youths that volunteering their time in noble causes is better and smartest way to overcome redundancy, talent wastage…those years we’ve lost in time past through inactivity cannot be regained any more... Hey! I got to ask you this: what will you do with this information? "…And throughout those days, men were building and working together as one, until production caught up with reproduction; and doubts got swallowed by freedom of expression, then their generation became so free like breathe!"

(Excerpts from : This is relevance! By Babawale Odunuga ).

Your hidden pseudo life!

An advertiser once posted an ad online, her next door neighbor who thought the job was advertized by a far away employer applied. When she came up to meet with the advertiser who was to interview her, she was so shell-shocked to see how so close to the job she was. Needless to say that the interview went awkward simply because up to that day, she had never been on good terms with her neighbor. She's been putting up impression of superiority and they've never exchange pleasantry as neighbors.We have had several jobs on our finger tips that we've lost because we were never connected. We did not lose opportunities because we did not qualify rather we lost because we overqualified in being distant. It is not that we have applied late but we have never appeared at all.

As I brood over our age, I realised that we have drifted away from not just a mere geographical source. But even from our divine source. My reflection brought me to the realisation of how much we live in an age of denial. We have drifted from home, from other people and our own selves. In my pondering, I see how we’ve shifted. Although we sing: “O Canada, we lean on God for thee” (2ce), it is only in our anthem. It is far from our heart. We tagged the Supreme Being on our money notes. We rejected Him in our hearts. We won’t retain God in our memory as we would have Him on our dollar bills. Yes! “in God we trust” but our values don't speak what our dollar note speaks.
Our hypocrisy made us reel in the pain of recession and nationally we would rather philosophize than come home to God.

Since we are now far in our hearts. And there is no heart to heart connection with others. We've become chained to a spot. We've become "guilty" prisoners of the web in our internet age. And like the Spiders’ web would catch and hold on to some moths and flies, we've been trapped in our browsing. The “browsing job” is our normal work where everyone goes as if employed but we just don’t get paid as we ought to. No one could see through our weaknesses to learn our authenticity. Yes! we poke, we tag, we advertise and sell. With our click of inorganic mouse, we see and share but behold our disconnectedness! Where we used to share some meals, some time and real friendships, we now share but links, some scripts, some java codes and programming languages. And in place of love language and peace songs, we share none.

Our societal disconnectedness is reflected in our attachment to our abstract chat room relationships where we are free to express ourselves to the utmost to strangers from another world. There we blindly date and take, opening up to the one on the other side of the screen rather than to the one on the other side of this world. Dissociated, we rejoice. In pseudo living we smile. Sapped in authenticity, sapped in strength, we cuddle our social networking world of pseudo connectivity on and on.

Stumbling into the miraculous...

In stumbling into the miraculous, this unnamed lame had waited on the same spot for four decades minus two years. He never stopped pushing himself though; but he was always pushing wrongly at incorrect time. His approach was altogether wrong yet he praised himself that he was at least doing something. He jump-starts his engine late, missing the rightness in timing. When he sees others moving, then he thinks he should move too. When he sees objects all stirring around him, sticks flying, kettles dropping, water bottles breaking, pans and plates of fellow sick people falling off in haste; then he struggles to beat the movement. He has been competing like this for 38years. He was on the wrong ground for that long. He did not proactively move on his own for once. He did not fail to take his life’s journey one day at a time. He felt that he has not failed to move but he has taken his journey as a failure unknowingly. He did not move early enough to position himself for opportunity. He did not pick each step of the way, one after the other. However weak he was; he was weaker from weariness and so full of excuses. Then gradually he began to be bitter, feeling resentful and vengeful. Of all the people he had struggled with. He was the only one left who has not gotten there at all.

He had waited for just a single dip in a pool where miracles happen once in a year. He had desired a plunge in a place where others commonly ran into. He had tried where strength determines success just about to discover that by strength shall no man prevail. Hence, he had come to resign to fate, since he was never early enough to plunge in for healing. Such a miracle was not meant for everyone. At least for someone like him, it might be his cross to carry. He had come to kiss beauty goodbye while he sits waiting and watching others. He would try to force a smile while watching others making it, getting there, and winning all. Since, he had by now missed too many opportunities; it was very easy to merely recant stories. And rather than being the subject of great story, he was the narrator of other people's stories to new comers at the pool of healing. It was now 38years; with precisely 38 trails, at 38 times out of 38 stirrings at the pool of healing. He had resigned that it was too late to happen. He had concluded that it will never happen again.

At times, God orchestrations of some people’s lives and destinies are unique and mind-blowing. Sometimes, God ensures that such delayed miracles come in extremely different package and in a very unique way. Sometimes they are even larger than their contemporaries’. He was there for 38 years until this physician teacher from Galilee came by with his special package of healing. He was the unknown healer of Old. The unnamed lame had seen others healed. He had experienced raw miracles happened to other people. He had even recounted many stories of healing of others. He never knew that his own miracles would not happen in the same way as others. He did not realize that his own miracle would be different. He did not know his healing would never be from where he was gazing for 38 years.
Alas! You and I might be like this unnamed lame. We may have been looking the same way for years. We may have been expecting the right thing from the wrong place. We may have been expecting from the wrong person. The truth is: God’s ways of doing things are different. God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts... His ways are past finding out.

Just like you, the unnamed lame also saw people relocating, changing jobs, leaving base, buying new homes, getting married, putting to bed a new born, moving up the corporate ladder, buying stocks, owning businesses, starting corporations and more. But lo! You have had to stay back mowing lawns year in and out; watching others move. Like the unnamed lame, your life revolves around the same community of lawn mowers. The unnamed lame man’s life has revolved around such things too. The unnamed lame rejoiced with others. He was happy for them but he was still in his own personal struggles and aches. Such inability to own a personal miracle of oneself does not usually leave a long lasting imprint of happiness on people’s faces. We all wanted to know what is it; that is ours. We hardly believe in the Hutterite's principles of communal ownership or in some communism where everyone in the society owns everything and nobody own nothing personally.

Things began to happen, but not necessarily the way this unnamed lame wanted. Firstly, there were few contestants left by the pool. He was thinking someday, may be he would be the last man waiting in line. At least, then he will get the pool to himself alone at last. Sometimes I wonder why he did not push himself enough. He should have moved closer, moving himself, an inch at a time. Moving daily until he will be able to stay there resident for the time of stirring of the water. If he was aiming for actual healing and not for the pool itself, he should have been moving closer. And then stayed immovable until the healing comes; for in that case he can wallow without competition and win a free gift of healing, a cheap grace, so cheaply. Looking for cheap stuff? We’ve all been there.

Surrounding him were weaklings. A helpless man among helpless men; sometimes, it can be so difficult to change your association deliberately even if you want to; it will take the supernatural to achieve that at times. If God does not emerge in the guise of an angel; you may waste away waiting. But alas! Motivation doesn’t come from within all the time. They don’t even come from without sometimes. In such cases, impetus has to come from above! When I asked why Jesus had to appear to the unnamed lame? It was probably because he was trying to get his situation changed even though all his trials were wrong ways of doing things. He however, wanted something to happen. When unexpected help comes to a man who is trying out something. It comes in form of Grace. It’s like a result that provokes thanksgiving. For actual success to be stumbled into, a man who is doing his best must encounter the supernatural. Then he would see the reason to do more…for God rewards diligence.

Some of the fewest comforting gifts of life is the courage to strive responsibly. Sometimes, it's better to "stumble" into surprises and miracles than to sit idly waiting for some free gifts or expecting some things to happen to you freely... Lord! Grant me courage…but let me never sit idly waiting for courage to come in total tranquility. For the true worth of peace is known in war, the measure of true courage is known in the face of fear! Most of us pray those kinds of prayers that even God would question us if we actually understand His workings and His ways? We serve a God of responsibility. He worked for seven days. He rested on a single day. One out of seven means something. We grumble how much we needed a raise when in points of fact; He might be waiting for us to take on some volunteering in order to unlock certain bigger doors of opportunities in our career. He sacrificed all for nothing as one who lives in Nothing Hill. He gave all to reign over all. When we claimed why we are tired? Why we need a break? Why we need a vacation? Sometimes, He wonders if we will only push some more the very way he pushed himself: in how he pushed those logs through the carpentry saw with sweats, hauling through the dusty workshop somewhere down in the plains of Bethlehem.

Could there be a whispering sound from our supernatural Coach that despite all we’ve been through, thinking we’ve done enough; actual diligence might still be beckoning unto us that we can still do better? That we should still do better for there is an undying capacity in human spirit which seems to stretch itself in commensurate with the external goals and challenges. Go onwards; go forward in spites of all odds. For you are more than able to take hold of it. When we think we’ve done enough. Then we may need to recount these things: that we will soon get to such age wherein vacation will actually become boredom; where the term retirement will sound so sickly. Then the moral lessons would have been better phrased and learn thus: It’s better to work now while it’s still day for the reason that the night comes when no man will be able to do any work. There is a kind of responsibility that attracts greatness! There is a kind of Grace that catches the attention of diligence...

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.

So close to greatness...

“Whatever your hands find to do, do it diligently with all your heart”
-Scripture.
Working faithfully and quietly on a job you dislike sometimes may seem discouraging. The length of time you spend there may be like forever. It may look like there is no way out of the rut you got yourself into. I will tell you that when you are faithful there in that place. Promotion is certain…if you are faithful in little, God will make you master of many. You must have come across that scripture that said: “promotion does not come the south or from the east or west. Promotion comes from above.” God is a promoter and a rewarder. He rewards the diligent man and woman come what may.
I was at work going somewhere on bus when I met a certain lady who happens to be the Vice president and a Human resource manager of a reputable company in Manitoba, Canada. Sitting close to me on bus, she smiled like an everyday people. She was not dressing extraordinarily. Only heavens know what she was doing on bus. I would expect her to drive her own car around. Was she trying to conserve gas like me? Did she leave her car at home with her husband as I did with Ken? In a nutshell, we exchanged contacts and I was humbled that God can bring greatness to you right where you are. He knows your address. You need to understand that you are serving God and people… In that tedious job, work whole heartedly as a CEO or a clergy would do. Whether you are sitting on the board or serving God in the pulpit; put up a good attitude. You never know when greatness is closest to you.
Sometimes you never know who you are sitting next to. We come so close to greatness oftentimes than we can ever imagine. You can never know how much of greatness you may have snubbed on a certain day when you are having one of those bad days. You don’t even know who you are talking with or who is listening to you. Sometimes, somewhere close by is a stranger who is actually quiet but more interested in your conversation at times. That is why it is of utmost importance that we try to always show a good attitude. It is good to reflect the best side to people as much as we can. We should leave first timers and outsiders with a smile at any time we are parting from meeting. First impression always lasts longer. We should try to put up a good attitude everywhere we go. Being kind ambassador wherever we find ourselves is very important.
What really left an impression on me concerning my Vice president friend whom I met on bus was that, the humble lady happens to be so simple despite her reputable position in business world. She was just sitting by trying to engage me in a conversation. She already started talking to my company on bus. She was just being friendly, warm and pleasant to us. As she was being kind and friendly through her conversation, I was indifferent on my part. I was just there as though I was not there. I was not present minded as such. I sat tiredly on the bus thinking and reflecting… I was not really interested in talking with any one. I was interrupted by her question. “So how are you enjoying your job?” “It’s okay…it is all about being able to do something meaningful with your hands, investing your time and more. It’s a matter of having the gut to appreciate the dignity of labor.” I said. Sometimes it is not so much as what kind of job you are doing. Rather it is how do you really see what you are doing? Do you see it as an opportunity to pay bills, contribute your quota to the world, serve people and make a mark thereafter? These are what really matter. It is not that job in itself. It is how you see it. It is all about you. It is how you see yourself in that job. It’s about your ego... it is important that you take time to appreciate the opportunity to do, and to give something where some others can’t. When there’s a layoff here and there. It is vital you look beyond the brand of job to getting something to do which will bring in the money you need. As you do so diligently; God will look at your heart and bless you in turn...