Since I took up the gauntlet from Clari to ignite my passion for prose, I have wondered what to write. At first, I was safe with the excuse that Clari did not remind me, but when Ifesinachi took over the assignment of coercing the write-ups out of my pen, I knew the game was up. I don’t really know what to write about but like Octaria E. Butler, ‘I just knew there were stories I wanted to tell’.
So, today I start with the story of how I walked into my swearing-in ceremony as the Secretary-General of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) with a swagger and left the auditorium deflated. Deflated because I listened to a management guru, Professor Pita Ejiofor, and came to the conclusion, right away, that there was more to leadership than riding roughshod over the led, or as my president then would put it, there is more to being a man than ‘sitting’ between a woman’s laps.
So, what did the Professor say to me that got me thinking?
That day, in his usual soft but sonorous voice, he outlined five principles that would help any leader to succeed. With his gaze firmly focused on me, he implored me and other student leaders to take note of the following:
- Fear God, for that is the beginning of wisdom;
- Respect the university (workplace) authorities, for the part cannot be larger than the whole;
- Do not betray the confidence reposed in you by your fellow students (workers), for jilted lovers often hate more than they loved;
- Avoid those who tell you how powerful you are, for they will only succeed in making you weaker; and
- Abide by the SUG constitution (workplace policies), for you are as powerful as you are right.
Several years have passed since I received the admonition from Pita, but the words are still fresh in my memory. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom; the part cannot be larger than the whole; jilted lovers often hate more than they loved; praise singers make you weaker; you are as powerful as you are right.
Golden words. Words on the marble.
Stay with me for more lessons next month. But that is if you love leadership lessons flowing directly from the brain of the management guru.
The Editor added: ghen ghen…watch this space.
See you.
