WHEN LEADERSHIP IS CASE SENSITIVE

Almost everyone who has ever existed on the surface of this earth has had a reason to complain about bad leadership at one point or the other of their lives and that has prompted me to write this article. An age long adage goes thus ‘he who wears the shoe knows where it pinches’ and believe me this has become a lasting truth. You would agree with me that just as every spectator makes a very good footballer only from the stands and every audience always puts up a stellar performance only from their seats, so also is every individual a good leader from the crowd.  Take it or leave it, leadership is never an easy task especially when you are considering variations in backgrounds and beliefs of followers.

Unarguably, leadership is a thing of pride. Now, because of the glory, power and fame that goes with leadership positions, so many leaders have taken to hostile life styles and these acts has left their followers asking for a replacement. Among this hostile breed of leaders are those power mongers who would never mind lifetime in power, or people’s heads rolling as ransom for their misdeeds, or those who would even go to war just for a baseless quest for superiority. I often tell my audience whenever I deliver talks that these leaders adopt these pushy attitudes just to hide their inferiority complexes and fears. They all try to fake guts because they have weak biceps!

FAILING FORWARD

The world is full of people with different personality traits and guts which defines its complexity. While some people see failure as a disease to be dreaded, so many others see it as a parameter for measuring success. If truth be told, everyone has failed before though at different levels and with variations in consequences; but failure in its entirety is utterly unavoidable. Realizing this reality, some people use failure as a catalyst for success while others still blindfolded regard it as a barricade to success and as a result, they end up dwelling in their failure while accumulating excuses and seeing everything as being wrong in their lives rather than in their might and mind. Failure is failure and should not be padded to be a cul-de-sac but a passage to success.

History has recorded so many great men who failed a couple of times and yet were able to make it to the zenith of life by dint of hard work. From Abraham Lincoln in politics to Thomas Edison in sciences and even Aliko Dangote in business, failure has always been a constant yet these men prevailed against odds. Failure is not what stops or hinders us in life but our attitude towards it.

Think Categories, Not Brands

While working on my Face Book page some months ago, I can remember posting a comment that generated so many arguable opinions and feedbacks. Now, what was it I posted that my friends and fans were so busy arguing amongst themselves about? It was simple, “It is easier and better to be the first than it is to be better” and later I’ll explain what I meant. So many people were vexed and opposed my assertion while so many others appreciated my out-of-the-box line of thought. Astonishingly, about a week after the post I read a book titled ‘The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing’ by Al Ries & Jack Trout and guess what; we all belonged to the same school of thought.

Believe me it is easier to be the first than it is to be the best because, the former is a pacesetter and his name automatically becomes a generic for that category whereas the latter would have to compete with many others using up a lot of resources in other to be the best, which in many cases they rarely achieve their quest. Surprisingly, findings have shown that despite the regular spending spree of these latter contestants, they still suffer from people unconsciously identifying their products by the formers name. For instance, think of how many times you have gone to buy a detergent and mentioned the name of the first in that category whereas that wasn’t what you probably needed or, think of how many things has happened to you for the first time that you remember but have forgotten the rest occurrences in the same category. The truth is that the mind is a magnet that places priority on ‘the first’ other than ‘the rest’.

TEACHING-LEARNING STANDARDS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CALABAR: THE STUDENTS PERSPECTIVE

The growth of any nation no doubt is tied to the quality of its citizenry, many in which case have to be literate so as to be able to position the country in such a way that it can compete favourably in this trendy Boomerang Age of ours, thus the need for a healthy teaching-learning standard. Pai Obanya once said, “Universities worldwide have always striven to belong to a unique ‘universe’, that special space, operational modalities, appropriate facilities, global outreach and collegiate atmosphere that is most conducive for the pursuit of its triple mandate of: Knowledge generation (or research), Knowledge transmission (or teaching) and Knowledge application (or society engagement)” because of their foreseen relevance in nation building.

Interestingly, good standards and structures have become a pivotal paradigm in the discourse of university education. The advent of the Knowledge Economy has brought about ‘global competitiveness’ which has in turn impelled universities to desire being the best amongst equals, since there became an external social and competitive push for people to seek education in the most driven institutions, for a chance in this cut-throat world of ours. Now, the University of Calabar built over three decades ago has no doubt contributed in one way or the other towards meeting this cumbersome feat. Sadly though, she hasn’t gotten any favourable national or international rating. This piece is geared towards diagnosing the hiccups and proffering realistic resolutions to the challenges posed by this new generation on our school, the University of Calabar which will be addressed as Unical all through this write-up.

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.