Busayo Akanro – Light does not shine in light

I am sitting down on the floor of my mentor’s sitting room writing this post at about 12.09am at night. I’m actually supposed to be working on some content for the website of the organization I work with but I just watched this movie and couldn’t resist the urge to write about it.

The title is as above “The Devil wears Prada”. The lead part was done by Academy award winner Meryl Streep. For those who have watched this movie, I won’t need to explain some stuff, but for those who haven’t, first I need to tell you to go and get a copy, sit down and watch it carefully. There is a lot you can learn. These are some of the things I learnt.

1. There are no limits.

The movie stars Anne Hathaway as Andrea “Andy” Sachs, a recent college graduate who comes to New York City and gets a job as a co-assistant to powerful and demanding fashion magazine editor Miranda Priestly, played by Meryl Streep. She came on the job as a novice. She was not interested in fashion nor did she know the first thing about succeeding in the fashion industry. (more…)

I used to read a lot of western books when I was younger. One thing that used to impress me about native American Indians was their equestrian skills.

• I read about how Indians from before they were teenagers could ride horses bareback. They could mount them at top speed and get off the same way.
• They could literally put their ears to the ground and tell how many horses or riders or vehicles are moving, in what direction they are moving, how far out they are and how soon they’d reach them. (more…)

A few days ago I spoke with one of my mentors about some goals I intended to achieve this year. I had the privilege of asking him what books he read that formed his values and business acumen. They said that if you want to hide something from a black man, hide it in a book. They went further to say, if you wanted to make sure he didn’t find it, buy the book and give it to him. He told me that it wasn’t necessarily the books you read that mattered but the treasures you might have dug up within the books. He summarized it as follows; if you must read a book:

• Make reading the book like a voyage. An adventure to seek out treasure.
• Go into the book with a purpose.
• Look for something definite in the book.
• It is not the books you read that matters; it is what you find in the books you read.
• When you find what you are looking for in a book, you should digest it until it becomes a part of you.
• What you become in life is a result of how much you have ingested and digested from reading, not what you have read.

It’s been quite a while I have updated the public on wonderful personal development opportunities that are available for anyone desirous of making the best of their lives and investments. The quote says that the best time to plant a tree was 20yrs ago, but the next best time is NOW. The greatest and best investment we’ll ever make, is investing in our lives. There are a number of opportunities to help you make the most of your life this year and I’m happy to bring them to you.

180 degrees Seminars

There’ll be a string of personal development seminars this year. There will be different features every week for the span of 40weeks. At the end of 40weeks, everyone that has 10units will be given a recognized certification in a range of personal development topics for each of the modules of 10units. These seminars will features series on Financial Empowerment, Business Development, Finding Purpose, Self Awareness, Public Speaking, Making Money Online, Stock Trading, Forex Trading, Networking to Millions, Business Financing, Social Skills Development e.t.c. The seminars will be featuring the best of facilitators from within the development industry. These seminars will cost N1000, per session but will be discounted for New Nigeria Club members. The first Unit – Introduction to Financial Empowerment will kick off on Sunday the 24th of February. (It will feature seasoned professionals making money with stock, forex, real estate, integrity, networking, intellectual property, public speaking e.t.c.) Attendance is on a first come first serve basis and it’s strictly by registration. To register, send a mail to info@generis-solutions.com with your basic contact details and 180Degrees as Subject of mail. (more…)

Nigeria has been labeled the most populous black nation. It has been said that out of every 4 black people you meet around the world, 1 is a Nigerian. A country of about 150 million people with leaders in every relevant industry of the modern world, Nigeria is undoubtedly ranked as being part of the top 10 percent of known countries in Africa. However, can it be categorized as being part of the top 10 percent of developed or developing countries in Africa? I’d say no.

South Africa is regarded as the only developed African nation so that rules Nigeria out of the category. Even among the developing nations, Nigeria doesn’t have a GDP that qualifies it to be top 10 percent. It’s been said that 90% of the wealth of a certain group of people will rest in the hands of 10% of that group of people. Nigeria has not proved itself yet to be part of the 10% holding the wealth of Africa. Whereas the potential is evidenced by the massive stock of Natural, Human and Intellectual resources, the realization is another story altogether.

The current Managing Director of the World Bank, a vice-president of the World Bank, a former secretary to the Commonwealth of Nations, An Icon of Revolution in Ukraine, a former world’s best computer scientist……..etc. are all Nigerians. I could go on and on. What about natural resources? The largest gas reserves in the world, one of the largest bitumen reserves in the world, the 6^th largest crude oil producing and exporting nation in the world; the most unique granite deposits (sandy-looking) in the world; large deposits of marble and limestone just to mention a few all refer to Nigeria. Why then are we not top 10 percent? (more…)

“Luck = Opportunity + Preparation”

Having learnt and developed key managerial skills, Joseph had acquired the ability to take over the whole empire. He just needed the opportunity. Once the opportunity presented itself, he was available.

What had he learnt?

• He learnt how to dream.
• He learnt how to serve.
• He learnt how to manage people and resources to achieve a particular goal.
• He improved his dreaming skills to interpretation of dream skills.
• He learnt how to network.
• He learnt integrity.
• He became a visionary – he could recommend solutions to interpretation of dreams before they came to pass.
• He learnt to make himself relevant wherever he found himself.

What if Joseph had accepted his fate as a bond servant without hope for a turn-around? What if he had frowned on and despised opportunities to develop himself? What if he never had seen the cup half-full instead of half-empty? He probably would not have prepared himself for the place of prime minister.

Prime Minister – The Prize of Relevance

Joseph paid the price and won the prize. He had been learning all that was necessary to stay relevant in his environment (Egypt). He found out that dreaming didn’t add value to others. Only the dreamer was gratified by the dream. So he learnt how to interpret other people’s dreams. (more…)

I returned yesterday from a trip to a major city in a south-western state in Nigeria. I went to the city on three platforms. One was to facilitate a training program at an institution of learning within the city; another was to stage a seminar on the New Nigeria Club ideology and marketing presentation; the last was to accompany my mentor to his alma mater to present awards of excellence to the best performing students at every level of the school.

While the training went well, I am not going to be writing about it now, nor will I be writing about the NNC seminar which was also a success. My highlight here is the presentation of awards of excellence to the best performing students. Typically, being the best inferred that such students were currently ranked the first position in their respective classes.

After a motivating lecture delivered from the depths of his heart (the lecture was titled – 10% percent), my mentor whose name was also in the academic hall of fame proceeded to confer on these deserving students their awards. Those that were given awards were the best three students in each class and the most outstanding and/or creative students in sports, arts and the likes. The best overall student in each class was given a full scholarship for 1 year. (more…)

I ended up writing about Joseph’s management training in the previous post, titled PREPAREDNESS – 3. Joseph picked up this lower level training at Potiphar’s house where he ran a small organization (potiphar’s estate). The human resources at his disposal were slaves (lower cadre personnel). In Potiphar’s house, his integrity was tested with his master’s wife and having passed, he was promoted to the level of Senior Manager – The Prison.

Prison – Senior Level Management

After Joseph was sent to prison on false charges, he continued exhibiting relevance in the area of excellent managerial capabilities. He was so organized, adept, knowledgeable and skillful that he was made the deputy controller of the prisons. The difference between this kind of slavery and the one in potiphar’s house is the type of people he was relating with.

While in Potiphar’s house, Joseph’s mates were slaves; right here in the prison, Joseph’s mates were the high brow in the society who were there because they had fallen out of favour with the emperor (Pharaoh). Notice that Joseph was so exceptional in his abilities and skills that his master found it impossible to remand him in a slave prison. If he must be remanded at all, then he must be imprisoned with men of timber and caliber.

He need learn at this level how the high and mighty operated their lives. How they spoke, how they ate, how they held wine glasses, how they dressed, what they talked about, games they played, places they visited, who they knew, who they loved, what they dreamed………….In fact, Pharaoh’s former butler and wine mixer were present in prison at the same time Joseph was. He attended to them and polished his etiquette. He asked and found out how the palace ran, how Pharaoh looked and how he spoke. He found out all that was required of a man who would someday not only live in the palace but run an empire.

Joseph had his final preparation here for the BIG STAGE and provided value/services for top of the pop clients (Pharaoh’s chief officers). Little wonder he fit into the role of prime minister smoothly as  soon as he left the prison.

What are you learning where you are now? Your location is not directly proportional to your opportunity to learn. It’s your situation that is directly proportional to your opportunities to learn. Don’t stop learning. When you stop learning, you start dying. Live deliberately anywhere or everywhere you may find yourself.  

I thought I’d have rounded up this topic in two posts only but it seems the more I write, the more I have to write. In preparedness 1 and 2, I wrote about Joseph’s sojourn in life through some P-Junctions and how I drew inspiration from his experiences in Padan-aram (the plain) and the pit. From the pit, Joseph was sold into slavery to work for a man named Potiphar. He was the captain of the Pharaoh’s guard.

Potiphar’s house – Management Training

Joseph got into Potiphar’s house as a slave at 17years of age. Not long after he started working there, it became apparent that he had an exceptional ability to manage resources effectively. This was evidenced by his been made the chief slave who controlled all that his master had exclusively. At some point, even Potiphar lost an account of what he truly owned because Joseph was running everything.

I like to say Joseph needed to come to this place to learn low-level management. He only had control over bondmen like himself; men of humble status. He was able to learn their needs, responses, reactions and work ethics. Since he was a slave himself he was able to understand the slavery mentality and to rise above it. He was a leader by position but he learnt to become a leader by influence so much so that when when his master, Potiphar’s wife lied against him to get him arrested, no one in the household (estate) of Potiphar could arrest him until their master himself came.

Joseph learned the rudiments of leadership and management and management in Potiphar’s house. He learnt how the production line ran. He learnt about processes. He learnt how to deal with semi or stark illiterates. He learnt to empathise with the labourers who were at the bottom of the food chain. He ate, slept, played, laughed, cried, and worked with them. They shared stories of well and woe together. They celebrated together and they sorrowed together. He knew their pain and their power. He knew their thought pattern.

Going through times that look like Joseph’s enslavement are times when we should learn the rudiments of leadership and success. It is when we should gather relevant experience necessary to facilitate smooth transition to the fulfillment of our purposes. Potiphar’s house is not necessarily a slave camp. It is a Management Training opportunity.

Rejoice not over me O my enemy for though I am down now, I will yet rise again

This is a continuation of the learning and development stages that occurred in the life of Joseph. Previously, I had talked about his redundancy at home which caused his intrinsic talents to be hidden and unused. For more of that please navigate back to Preparedness – 1. Otherwise, you can read along as I move to the next P-junctions of Joseph’s life. Remember, the link is Deolu and you can have a deep insight into what each of these Ps represent and their application to life. From Padanaram, Joseph ended up in the pit when he went to see his brothers.

Pit – Loneliness

Joseph’s brothers conspired to kill him when he went to see to their welfare. The source of the deep hatred were his dreams which seemed to indicate that they’d serve or worship him sometime in life. This wasn’t helped as I wrote in my previous post by his father’s excessive doting on him. It only increased their jealousy and reduced his productivity.

Isn’t it those who are afraid of what we might become who always want to kill our dreams? Haven’t you noticed that habitual dream killers are those who are not dreaming at all? Isn’t it common to find that the ones who should be closest to you and who should help nurture your dreams are those who literally discourage you from dreaming again and actualizing those dreams?

After passionate intervention by his eldest brother, they decided to keep him in a pit for a while as they deliberated on what next step of action to take. Joseph was all alone in the dark, smelly pit. The lesson I learned here was the lesson of being alone. If you have a dream and seek to live to fulfill that dream, there’ll be times when you’ll be alone. Those are the times when all the faculties of your being synergize to make you an unstoppable moving force. On the flip side, those are also times when you can begin to consider thrashing your dreams. The time of being alone is the time of reflection and deep thinking. It is in the pit that you begin to analyze “what’s the worst that could happen?” “What if my brothers killed me or left me here to die, would that negate my dream”? (more…)