PAST TURNED INSIDE OUT

Gone are the days when young people applauded the aged ones for making life changing decisions for them and annoying are such times when the youngsters are told they are the leaders of tomorrow by fading leader of eon. Frankly, the youths are the leaders of today and as such should be encouraged to feature in decision making forums. Yes, the strength of any nation lies in its human resources many in which most often the youths constitute the majority; unfortunately for long, this fact has been treated with Kid Gloves. The youths have been trampled upon, neglected, forsaken and  bitter as they get, they see it as a game at which two can play thereby taking to different vices with the most recent being kidnappings and bomb blasting which we have never been known for; a consequence of sheer disdain.

For how long should we continue reprimanding or censuring them? Is that going to ever be the way out or is this a cul-de-sac? Why are these youths suddenly on the offensive? Who broke the edge? All these questions and many more keep repeating themselves in our minds and symposiums yet we haven’t gotten any forthright response. Sadly, it is thorny but also candid to say all this ensue because there is a dearth in youth leaders. Consequently, this dearth has caused so many lives to be ruined beyond reformation and is about to set so many others on the path of shambles which is an instance of res ipsa loquitur from our leaders. God forbids. If we have to appraise our relevance as a nation based on the quality of a couple of our past leaders, then we might have to bow our heads in shame but that is a different kettle of fish and I would not want to treat that here.

THE TRANSFORMATIO

When I was a child I thought like one
I played randomly like a car without a horn
Messing up my cloths daily with oil
Yet shining the next morning like foil

After a long time in the field
Mumsi would come calling me to feed
I would try to negotiate with her for free
Claiming though I hadn't eaten yet I was filled

But when I became an adult
I saw everything wrong as my fault
From absence of food to money
and even to lack of respect, it was never funny

LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM FOOTBALL

Today, we will be taking some lessons from the leadership styles of three famous and influential coaches who have been able to carve a niche for themselves in the game of football. But before I proceed any further, I have to be quick to mention here that this is neither a write-up analyzing teams nor another publication patronizing the game rather, all we want to do here is learn their leadership lessons and forget the details.

Now the coaches, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho and Sir, Alex Ferguson are going to be our models for this lesson.

First, Arsene Wenger, he is the most successful manager in the history of Arsenal in terms of trophies and is also the club's longest-serving manager. In 2004, he became the only manager in FA Premier League history to go through the entire season undefeated. He is unarguably a great leader and this fact is evident in the number of leaders he has built who later became assets to the game. Over the years, he has successfully made profits for his team by trading his high profile players with a steady confidence of building a replacement and guess what, he always does.

CORPERS ON THE MOVE AGAIN

Youth service is a compulsory service of every fresh graduate. No doubt, the motives behind the creation of this scheme have logical balance and so should be encouraged however, times have changed and so should the policies in the NYSC compendium regarding this scheme.

On 5^thJuly, 2011 another bulk of about 95,000 fresh graduates were mobilized by the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and sent to their various places of primary assignment without stepping back to review the scheme and the effects the last national post-election had on the scheme. Indeed, prior to this time the scheme had been suffering from teething problems however, the high death rate recorded during the last election goes a long way to underline and re-emphasize the need for a reformation or abolition of the said scheme.

In Bauchi for instance, corpers were killed as an expressions of dissatisfaction with the results released by INEC under the supervision of Prof. Attahiru Jega. I can still remember very well a dumb statement made by the Gov. of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda when asked about his efforts in securing his youthful visitors against the post election attack, he replied “…they were destined to die that way and nobody can run away from destiny”. The question everywhere then was, whose destiny is it to die a painful death, not to even talk of a painful death after graduating from the university? Sincerely, Mr. Isa Yuguda’s comments really made me see him as a ‘jack ass’ and went on to show us that he was still a ‘weak link’ just as he was some years back when he left PDP for ANPP to run for governorship election and got elected based on sympathy due to the way he was treated by the PDP while he was Minister of Aviation under the then President Olusegun Obasanjo second coming as a civilian leader only for him to decamp again to PDP due to his romance with Umaru Musa Yar’ Adua ‘s daughter after getting into office under the platform of ANPP; a typical example of a dog going back to its excreta and an ingrate telling people that you don’t give what belongs to gods to swans.

Building Your CV (Competence+Values)

How do you make yourself competitive? That is the question.
Recruitment agencies have repeatedly stressed the need for every employee to build himself in order to meet up with the high demand for expertise from employers. They even go all the way to accentuate the fact that your Curriculum Vitae is your true identity in the professional world where employers have to go through over a thousand job applications in most cases just to hire only one person who they believe is the best.
In one of my posts titled ‘Get Competitive with AIESEC Nigeria SWAP’ which can be read on http://www.aiesecnigeria.org/, I mentioned that the definition of ‘the best’ has been redefined in this cutthroat world of ours and truly it has.

So, the question I usually pose to my colleagues whenever we pore over this scenario is: What major ingredients do employers or HR experts look out for in a prospective employee? Unfortunately, the answer has constantly varied from one colleague to another. Astonishingly, one predominant component every employer I have ever met with subscribes to is the fact that, what interests them most about an employee is a strong blend of the employee’s competences with outstanding values and I agree with them.
True. More government leaders have failed due to poor values than poor policies and more business leaders have sabotaged their careers from lack of values than lack of cash flow.