Thursday, August 17, 2017.
It was an interesting day, not because anything overly dramatic happened. My day started with me picking the wrong shirt. Of all the times to decide against going in my usual blues and whites, I went with a colour and pattern more suited for Fridays.
Village people (Supported by Kanayo O Kanayo) 1 – 0 Deoye.
Still, everything seemed fine at the office till Simbo, our CEO came in and told Deji and I that we would be going along with her to HH (for a meeting on the digital marketing side of our business).
Translation, we would be facing a panel of sorts headed by the Group Chairman.
Modaran.
Anyway, off we went to HH I had the misfortune of sitting under the vents. I shivered quietly while discussions went back and forth on different issues. Someone raised an idea on what we could add to boost our presence and improve the customer journey. It wasn’t an idea I agreed with but I kept quiet. I’m not one to interrupt when I haven’t fully read the room.
Suddenly, TOE turned to me and said something along the lines of, “Ehnehn you, what do you think?”
For a minute my mind scrambled and I thought, “Me? Who I be? What the hell do I know?”
But I had to talk so I did, more than I thought I would.
Just as they were about to move on, Chairman turned to me again and said, “So if I didn’t ask, you wouldn’t have said anything even though most thought it was a good idea? Don’t you people talk at Avon? Simbo, is that how your people use to do? Y’all don’t talk?”
Simbo just looked at me and smiled.
I explained then that I didn’t want to just cut in or repeat what someone else had already said.
“Not at all, what you said now made us think about it differently. Don’t just keep quiet, if you think there’s something we should know, say it.”
That was lesson one.
From that point, he would look at me occasionally and I would chip in.
Towards the end, he turned to Deji and I while talking to Simbo and said, “Your new boys are hot but they need to speak more.”
In my mind, I was like, “You people should leave me jare, I only know how to write.”
And I was freezing.
Fortunately, we closed shortly after and as we were about to head out, TOE said, “Simbo, this your young man, is dressed for Friday o.”
Darn, was hoping he wouldn’t notice.
Then when he got close, he remarked again, “Ha, and he’s even wearing chinos.”
Lobatan. I’m finished, can I just go home?
Then he added, “Have I told you guys about how I wasn’t properly dressed one day early in my career and my boss sent me home? I thought he was the worst person in the world that day, but dressing is important. You never know when you’ll be going out for a meeting.”
Lesson two.
When he got to the door, he paused and asked Clari to take a photo of us.
As we left, I felt we shifted ground on certain positions that we could have pushed back on but Simbo said something I would never have thought about, “Sometimes you need to let some things go, not because you want to but because some positions are more important to defend than others. This is important, especially when what you’re winning is worth way more than what you’re losing.”
Lesson three.
Many years have passed since then and I’ve learned many more lessons (Some are lessons I relearn over and over – for instance, I’m still not inclined to speak unless I deem it necessary).
In all, these experiences have reinforced one belief: there are some things you can’t just learn in class.
