Stories from my past – Leadership lessons from a management guru

When I was still a student of journalism, I often wondered why Stacie Buck said writing could be an excruciating process at times. I would tell my classmates that all one needed to do was pick up his pen and write. My thoughts were strengthened when a Nigerian publisher (I won’t mention the name of the paper he published) described himself as the man with ideas that flowed like water. ‘If ideas could flow like water’, I reasoned, ‘what stopped people from writing and writing?’ Indeed, it was so easy for me to write then. Poetry. Prose. Drama. But now, the story is different. When I get reminded again and again about the deadline for the submission of my pieces …I digress.

This month, I will touch on just one of the ‘Five Mortal Don’ts of UNIZIK studentship’ as espoused by Prof. Pita Ejiofor in his maiden matriculation speech as Vice-Chancellor of UNIZIK – You force yourself out of the university if you enter the university with a forged result.

The first ‘Mortal Don’t’ played out in my mind as I followed the story of the sack of the erstwhile Rector of Igbajo Polytechnic in Osun State, Olaolu Olugbenga. His crime – certificate forgery. The moment the polytechnic discovered the forgery, he was sacked, echoing what Prof. Ejiofor said years ago, ‘any time the university discovers forgery, that day you are gone’.

It was the same story when Salisu Buhari, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, forged certificates of the University of Toronto. He was disgraced out of office and into oblivion. The leadership message is clear –

You force yourself out of the workplace if you enter the employment with a forged result because anytime the employer discovers the forgery, that day you are gone.

It is easy to understand why no one who engages in forgery will survive in any organisation. The management guru explained it succinctly – just as sailors do away with goods to save their ship from going under with their lives, organisation members equally throw out bad eggs to save their organisations.

Stay tuned for more stories from my past in the next edition.

Until then, I am off.