Some reflections...

Hi there,

As this year runs to an end, I'm planning to wrap up my series on MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED. Twenty-three posts so far, and just one more to post. Thereafter, I'd try to share with you some of the most important lessons I learnt during the year. However, I'm around the point where I normally take stock and I've decided that this blog is one of my starting points. 

Beside the usual stats (which I check regularly anyway) I've made an analysis of the most frequently occurring (main) words in all of the posts that appear on this blog. The picture here is the result (reproduced above). Two things I make out of it myself. 

One, no matter how much we say or write in our lives, only a little will matter - really. Think of the 80/20 rule here. And it's been said that one of the ways to facilitate personal success is to identify the few activities or factors that drive outcomes the greatest, and then concentrate on them. 

Two, people are at the centre of our lives, and that's why relationships matter. This blog is of a more inspirational and motivational nature. Maybe that is why the two words, PEOPLE and FIRST seem to stand out the way they have. However, I can confirm to you that this was in no way deliberate, I just found that out after my analysis. Bottomline, in our quest towards personal development, achievements and success, whether we control for them or not, it is the people around us and our attitudes towards them that will make or mar us.

MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED 23: They care about first impressions

'Actions may speak louder than words, but until they get to judge your behavior, which can take a while, people will inevitably trust their initial impressions.' (Steve Tobak)

First impressions last really long. And you will never get a second go at it. That is why the first things you do will tell a story and leave a mark that’s going to stick around for long, if not permanently: the things you say when you first meet someone, the way you come across in that first presentation, the way you treat your friend’s siblings the first time you visited, the way you approached your first job, the way you spent your first earnings…

Surprisingly many of us don’t seem to care – or we care too much about the less important things. I am sure one of the first things that will come to your mind as you read this will relate to appearance - what people see you wearing. Of course, that's right - one of my brothers actually told me many years ago that when you're meeting people for the first time, you will be addressed the way you're dressed. Now that's true; but up to a limit. Judging by my own experience (and you're free to compare yours) the idea of first impression deals with the way people appear when I first meet them, TOGETHER WITH the things they say, their level of alertness and above all, their attitude - which unfortunately can’t be concealed! Your dressing only creates a good impression if you don’t speak at all (which leaves people thinking ‘Wow, isn’t that dress nice!’) or you say something really smart (otherwise people will only think ‘This is an idiot in a good dress!’).

Recent research has actually shown the power of first impressions. Naturally, most of us will treat people subsequently on the basis of how they have come across to us the first time we met. Even if we find later that our initial impressions are wrong, it takes time before we shift gears. I quote from the work of Bertram Gawronski and co at the University of Western Ontario: ‘When something that violates the first impression occurs, it is treated as an exception from the rule, rather than as an objective reality.’ And how does this relate to success? Because you need to be in the right company for you to go in the right direction and go fast (see the post on keeping good company). Leaving people with the wrong initial impressions of you only deflates your circle of influence.

Of course you can correct a wrong first impression but it’s expensive. “What is necessary is for the first impression to be challenged in multiple different contexts,” says Gawronski. That’s a natural experiment that even scientists know is hard to set up. Who wants to stick around to observe you all over the place when they already have decided that you’re not worth walking with?

Follow-up on Two Major Things Part I

This morning I thought to start my day with some science-based inspiration (I do that quite often but not always). By that I mean to read or watch something that shares a profound truth with scientific proof. Usually I just think look up the first thing that comes to my mind. Now that is a bit crude and has led me to utter nonsense on a number of occassions. But I bet you that each time I find something exciting, like I did this morning, it's always worth sharing. 

For many centuries much has been said about how time is important and we should manage it, use it wisely, invest it and so on. But you hear or read very little about how our perception of time could actually influence us in no small measure. That happens to be the subject of these videos. The first is the animated summary and the second is the full talk given by Professor Philip Zimbardo. What touched me most in the presentation is how the professor shows the link between the fast-pacedness of today's society - our desire for control - and youth misbehaviour. That connection was subtly made when he presented the figures on school dropout rates in the US and how that is associated with seemingly harmless and fun-filled technologies! I couldn't help but link it with my January 26 post on the value of quiet.

  

 

MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED 17: They learn from Experience

Today I was preparing the next in the series on Loyalty. Somehow, I came to remember that the last time I posted on the Actions of Successful People was on last December, two days to Christmas. I don't seem to know why but I feel pressed to pause the ongoing series and resume the long-standing one. Hopefully, I will finish it this time with 7 more bi-weekly posts. If you've never read any of the previous posts I suggest you simply use the search bar on the sidebar with the text MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED. That is the standard prefix I have used for all the articles in this series.

 

 

Success comes from good judgement
Good judgement comes from experience
Experience comes from bad judgement  (Tony Robbins)

The most successful people are those who learn not to repeat mistakes.  Procedures may be worth repeating but only dullards repeat mistakes.  It’s allowed that everyone make mistakes but it’s not allowed that they make it every time. These is nothing as good as doing things right the first time.  And this is where the experience of others comes in.  You can’t do things right if you don’t know how. And you can’t know how if you don’t ask how.

Risk taking is primarily about defying the odds to go ahead. But the best risk takers (and who have pulled it off most often) are those who have seen others (or who themselves in the past did) make some mistakes in the past, and are wise enough to avoid repeating them.  In fact, the best and quickest way to learn is to observe and then repeat or avoid, depending on what is seen.  That is the default mechanism of learning built into man by God.  That is how babies learn.

Observe what others have done (or are doing) and make meaningful deductions. It’s much safer and less costly to do that. Why must you make all the mistakes yourself, even though you can’t avoid some?  That’s why Sam Adeyemi said that the experience that is the best teacher is someone else’s experience.

As it has been said, if a man cheats you once, it’s his fault; if he cheats you a second time, it’s the fault of both of you; if he cheats you a third time, it’s all your fault. Learn to make them count: what you've seen, heard and been through.

As the year begins...

'...a deadly blast, just after midnight. Nearly 72 were killed and many more were injured...'

Did you hear that? It took place in an Egyptian church! In Nigeria on Christmas eve and New Year's eve it also happened. Remember the words of Jesus in Luke 13:2,4. No one is better than anybody...'but time and chance happens to them all'

As the year begins, thank God for where you are - wherever that is - and stop complaining!

If you're dissatisfied then do something and don't just stand there whining like a kid!!!

What’s value?

As I watched the coverage of the UK’s much-talked-about Royal Engagement on CNN earlier this evening, I just could not help asking myself, ‘Where will this end?’ Forgive my unholy curiosity but if you know what I know, you will most likely ask the same questions. The last royal wedding in the UK cost so high. Even though the total expenditure was not reported, we now know that the engagement ring was worth £30,000 in 1981 (the equivalent of today’s £85,700). How large is the ring? Just the size of a walnut. What is it made of? 14 small diamond pieces surrounding a sapphire. Who made it? London-based crown jewellers, Garrard & Co. The wedding dress, with a 25-foot train, was worth £9,000 in 1981. That’s roughly equal to £25,700 today – £4,700 more than what many a full wedding would cost today. Today, the average cost of a complete wedding is estimated at £21,000. That is clearly extravagant and shows, to me, some misplaced priority. The day of the wedding was declared a national holiday in the UK; and the whole world watched in awe (the estimated live audience for that wedding was over 750 million) as the world’s most famous royal family took among its ranks a beautiful damsel by the name of Diana Frances Spencer. Fifteen years and two months later, the marriage, despite its extensive celebration, ended in divorce. The story here begs a plain question: rather than spend that much on the pomp and pageantry surrounding the wedding, shouldn’t much more investments have been made into fidelity and honour on which the wedding should rest?

Well, a reflection of values it is!

In case you don’t know, the world is beginning to talk about the cost of Prince William’s wedding and where the money will come from; and somehow, the Royal accounts are not smiling. Pundits say that if the queen is not careful about dipping into the reserve fund built for her in the 1990s, it will run out by her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. To that end, total Royal Household spending is to be cut by 14 per cent in 2012/13 based on the Queen’s agreement; the £50,000 Christmas Party of Buckingham Palace has been cancelled and demands are being made by The Department for Culture for a 25% cut in maintenance costs for the palaces and Royal travel costs (this maintenance cost alone costs the Culture Department up to £15m annually). To make matters worse, the Royal Wedding is expected to come much ahead of the Queen’s jubilee, adding pressure to the government's depleted purses and further threatening the Queen's reserve funds. I can guess what you’re thinking: Can’t they simply reduce this spending? Must the wedding cost so much?

Well, I don’t know but it’s a question of value systems.

Earlier this year, Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria married her personal trainer Daniel Westling. The wedding took $11.4m of Swedish public funds – even in the presence of economic crises and the ongoing debate in the country over the future of the monarchy.

What do you make of all of these? For me, it’s a simple question: what does value mean to you, to me and to them?

Supported with material from http://www.channel4.com/news/prince-williams-wedding-who-will-pay and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrard_%26_Co

Today...Would you believe this?

I'm writing this post for two main reasons: to let as many people as will read this know what our country is becoming or has become like, and to cover myself in case someone wants to do anything tricky. (I know that this post is time-stamped).

As I approached Mayfair roundabout (that's in Ile-Ife, Osun State) this morning - the time was going to 10 am - I was stopped for checks by an officer of the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) of the Mobile Police Unit. He simply asked for my Learner's Permit and an amber light went on in my head.

"This man can't be serious", I thought.

First, he stopped me on an incline despite seeing the 'L' symbol. Anyone that knows anything about traffic knows that is very wrong. You don't stop a learner on an incline right after a very bad portion of the road for that matter. (I noticed much later during my ordeal that they did the same to a woman who was a 'real' learner and she nearly could not get going anymore.)

Second, I was not a learner at all so I wondered why he did not even bother to find out before asking for the permit he demanded.

Anyway, I told him my wife was the learner and not me; I left the 'L' sign on because I was tired of removing it each time I wanted to drive and re-mounting it each time she needs to. He demanded for my driver's licence and I obliged. Upon returning it, he demanded to see my papers and I also obliged, then he asked me to park properly. Still on the slope! That was against my better judgement so I got out, assessed my position and got back in the car to re-park properly. It beat my imagination completely when the officer, who at that time had walked away from me with my papers, suddenly shouted to hi colleague who was 'dealing' with another driver right in front of me, "Hey, officer, no let that man go, who ask am make im dey go!"

I just smiled when the man in front of me reacted by accusing me of wanting to abscond. My 'detainer' also came running, directly accusing me, "So you wan run, abi? I don tell u make u dey go? I don release you?" I laughed again because I wondered, "Release? Am I under arrest so soon?"

At that I demanded to know what the issue was and for the first time in almost 20 minutes, the officer looked through my papers! "So why did he collect them in the first place?" I couldn't help asking myself. He then looked at me and asked for my roadworthiness and vehicle licence. I was amused becuase though a copy of my vehicle licence was not included in the set of copies I had given him, but a copy of the payment evidence for it was included; my MOT Test Result Certificate which was still within its validity was also included. "So what does this man want?"

His next statement shocked me. "Oga, so what are we going to do about your roadworthiness and vehicle licence now?"

"I have everything intact and you know it. If you want to see the originals, my house is not far, I could quickly go and bring them now...but don't think I would ever turn them over to you."

But he was not interested.

"Oga," I said, "don't delay me otherwise I would leave you here with those copies and go my way." His next reaction surpirsed me. He nearly poked my nose with my papers and yelled at me, "I will embarass you now...if you like yourself, enter that car and move and see what I will do to you!" Guess what? I just went to my front apssenger seat, picked a book from inside my car, reclined my seat and started to read. Three acquaintances of mine from the Obafemi Awolowo University (I choose to withhold their names but they comprise a subordinate, a former subordinate now working elsewhere in town and a respected lecturer of the Obafemi Awolowo University) met me there and I explained the situation, letting them know that I would patiently wait.

Later, my 'friend' officer came and demanded for my driver's licence again and I blatantly declined. I told him why - and I'd tell you, too. Realising that I was serious with my threat to leave him with the copies of my papers once I got fed up - afterall, they were only photocopies; and he had seen stickers of my very respectable office on my windscreen so he knew I did nothing out of fear and would not be intimidated easily - he anted to hold my original driver's licence so he could really delay me. Of course, it stands to reason because he must believe that I wouldn't want to leave my original documents with him.

As I spoke with him, insisting not to give him my licence again after having seen it the first time.

"You saw it earlier, what more do you want to see on it?"

"Just give me, I wan see am again"

"Why? Ask me anyhting you want to know from my driver's licence and I will tell you. I know everything offhand"

"No question me, just give me"

Then a colleague of his came and demanded to know what happened. Of course, I explained clearly. This second officer gently approached me, softly spoke and asked to see my driver's licence.

"Oga, I will show you because you've not seen it before. Do you know what your man wants to do? He wants to just delay me and that's why he's asking for it so I will not give him!"

What I expected was what happened. As soon as I handed it over, my 'friend' literally snatched it and went away, saying triumphantly, "Ehn ehn! Go now if you want."

I just turned to the other officer and said, "See what I meant". He said nothing but only walked away. I went back to my reading.

He then came back to me and asked, "So what do you want to do about the matter now."

I frankly made him realise I was not going to do anything, whatever he meant. As a matter of fact, I would not mind remaining with them till evening, if need be.

He went back to his work and I got back to my reading. At about 11:30 am, I looked at my car again and remembered that what took me in that direction in the first instance was that I was going to the car wash. So I called my 'friend' and told him I needed to get to the car wash. He could not or did not stop me (whatever).

On my return, all of the officers at the roundabout had gone into a nearby alcohol stall. I managed to find them because I saw one of them that bought food from a nearby food shop and went into the drinks stall. I went there and was amazed! These officers were apparently on break but they were drinking heavily. I did not count but several empty and full bottles of Gulder adorned the tables in front of them.

I detested what I saw so I got to business quickly.

"Oga, I really don't like what you're doing. I've been patient enough. Just give me my licence and let me go."

It was not my friend that responded, another officer did and he demanded to see my other papers, which I quickly fetched from my car. Upon seeing it, that man again repeated the roadworthiness and vehicle licence matter. I simply told them how new my car was and and why none of my very authentic documents could not have expired. At that, nearly all of them became furious and one even retorted that I was trying to prove a point rather than say I was sorry. I was taken aback. Sorry for what? Eventually, the officer who responded when I first got there collected my licence, pocketed it and claimed that he would not release it, saying, "Leave am, make im come collect am from me."

I simply turned to the man to whom I had given my original driver's licence and said, "You see now? I told you this is what will happen. You see how they are treating me now? And this is why I did not want to release my original licence."

I left after that, went to the Divisional Police HQ in Moore to report my licence missing. The officer I spoke with told me I needed to go and swear an affidavit which I would take to their Area Commander's Office. Being a Saturday, that will not happen.

I really don't know what to make of the whole saga but I have a candid advice for the police administrators - PLEASE PUT YOUR MOST INTELLIGENT MEN ON THE ROAD. What is a police officer's business with driver's licence? What authorities do they have to keep my original licence?

Just for the records, by this time tomorrow, I'd be on a flight to Europe and by the time I'm back, that licence would no longer be valid.

Of course, I have not mentioned any names here because I did not even bother to look at any of their tags; but someday, someone will. Someday, someone will go to court. Right now, someone has to take responsibility!!!

M.E.D.I.O.C.R.I.T.Y & 20-2020

Dear All,

I assume you already know that this is picking up from where we stopped the last time - so if you did not read the last post, scroll down a bit and go through before reading this one; otherwise, we may not be speaking the same language.

It was in the news this morning that one of our own senators - daughter of the immediate past President who is the "apostle of 20-2020" and a paramount traditional chief- alluded to the fact that she took part, and indeed facilitated the stashing of 10 million naira of OUR money.

I read in the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday, April 8 (page 79) an interesting article by George Ehusani. The title of the article was "Once again, the triumph of mediocrity." It told the story of how a paramount traditional ruler ruled in favour of "extortionist" traders because he felt a "modest" man was "spoiling" trade for them. The real issue was that this man that I call "modest" sold his bags of cement with a modest profit margin, much below what the people whom I call "extortionists" sold theirs. This latter group went to the Kabiyesi and reported our "modest" friend as "spoiling" business for them. After a "fair" hearing, the king ruled that our friend sell at the cartel price or leave the business entirely. Of course, the "extortionists" jubilated!

The two cases above present a certain kind of commentary on the ambience in our dear fatherland, as we move on towards being one of the 20 leading world economies by the year 2020. What's the commentary? Quite obvious to the perceptive mind - THE TRIUMPH OF MEDIOCRITY IN LEADERSHIP.

Did you realise that both cases happened in a land where we used to say to wrongdoers "Ni ilu t'o l'oba, t'o n'ijoye" (meaning, in a land where there's a king and chiefs). The import of the saying is that kings and chiefs would not permit evil to go unpunished. What an irony! To say that corruption now emerge from the abodes of these kings and chiefs!

As we move towards 2020, we need to remeber that as long as mediocrity remains in leadership as much as we have it now, the journey WILL BE ROUGH. So if you're on this journey, you'd better TIGHTEN YOUR SEAT BELT or ROUGHEN YOUR KNEES A BIT MORE (if you know what I mean).

To be continued.

MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED 11: They are Sensitive

‘There are three keys to more abundant living: caring about others, daring for others and sharing with others’ - Bill Ward

Thick-skinned people go through life half-dead. Being sensitive allows others to get to you. And that’s when you can get to them too. To manage success is to manage people. No man is an island. There are people around who have to do with your success. Your success in dealing with them determines how success will deal with you.

Dealing positively and effectively with people is built on sensitivity, alertness: knowing what the other person is feeling, knowing when there’s a word out on you, knowing when and where to speak or keep quiet. The extent to which you will enjoy others depends on how sensitive you are.

A sensitive man hardly ever overlooks potentials. You can’t see potentials in someone or something unless you are alert. Josh Billings said it all when he said that learning sleeps and wakes in libraries but wisdom is everywhere wide awake on tip-toe. No one will give you the things you need most on a platter of gold. If anybody does that, he’s either a Good Samaritan or he didn’t know that’s what you need, otherwise he would not give you.

Everyone wants something in return for what they do. That is why someone said that whatever God can get through you He can get to you! So, feel!

‘People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’ - John Cassis

MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED 10: They are Diligent

‘The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance but everyone who is hasty comes only to want’ (King Solomon*).

Diligence refers to steady effort and careful hard work. In other words, it means using your head and hands. Life does not generally respond well to sudden impulses. If you want the best out of life, then you’ve got to put in steady, consistent efforts. Work hard carefully. Careless hard work amounts to foolishness. Work hard to produce results and not for the purpose of being seen. The efforts that yield the greatest results are often the ones that are not conspicuous.

The essence of diligence is found in the old saying, ‘slow and steady wins the race.’ Diligence minimizes errors because the chances of doing things right the first time are higher. Remember, haste is waste. Successful people are careful people. Diligence is the father of great skill. Diligence produces lasting results.

The most celebrated works of the great artist, Michelangelo are his paintings in the Sistine chapel in Rome. Everyone who has beheld this work first-hand or has seen photos of it has saluted the skills of the artist. Very few people, however, know that the work took Michelangelo two years to complete, many times painting with his back down and face up for days. Steady effort, careful hard work.

‘Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings; he shall not stand before mean men’ (King Solomon§).

* See the Holy Bible; the Proverbs 21:5
§ See the Holy Bible; the Proverbs 22:29

MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED 8: They Work Hard

‘None of the secrets of success will work unless you do … often the simple answer to your problem is: GO TO WORK’ (John Mason).

Someone has said that laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes it. On the road to success, nothing can replace hard work. An American TV game show host, Monty Hall once said, ‘Actually, I’m an overnight success. But it took me twenty years.’ Nobody makes it legally without working hard. Ask any celebrity that you know. They’ve been at it for a long time but no one notices until they pull it off. Work, work, work and work. Nothing in the world can take the place of hard work.

About 500 times the Bible speaks of work. Jeremiah said it is good for a young man to bear the burden in his youth*; King Solomon said, ‘He whose hand is slack shall be poor.§’ Slack here is used in the sense of sloth and negligence. You’ve got to sweat if you want to succeed.

General Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, started out in life as a floor scrubber. John Major, British PM worked as a cashier in Lagos. Bill Gates walked door-to-door to sell insurance. M.K.O. Abiola sold firewood … and the list can go on.

You can’t get anyone to work for you if you don’t work for yourself. There is honour in hard work.

‘All hard work leads to a profit’ (King Solomon).

---

* See the Holy Bible; the Lamentations of Jeremiah 3:27

§ See the Holy Bible; the Proverbs 10:4

MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED 6: They Think

"What you picture in your mind your mind will go to work to accomplish. When you change your picture you automatically change your performance. You cannot consistently act in a manner that is inconsistent with the way you think " - Zig Ziglar

The greatest asset that God has given to mortal man is the ability to think; the power of the mind; the power to imagine; the power to envision. Michael LeBoeuf called it the greatest moneymaker in the world; and I call it the greatest asset of any man. Listen, whatever investment you make in your mind is not too much. Its power is so awesome that it can do almost anything. Yet, this is what some people neglect.

Do you think at all? Plans are born of thoughts. Inventions are born of thoughts. Ideas are born of thoughts. If you can’t think you can’t make it. Money comes to those who think. Success is not far from the thinker. Take time off each day to THINK. Think through on every problem. Creativity is all about seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no else has thought. Exercise your mind. Use your mind.

A note of warning, though. Be wary of what you think about. Watch what you allow your mind to picture. In short, THINK RIGHT. Your mind is like a fertile field. If no useful seeds are sown therein it invariably becomes overgrown with weeds. “Our best friends and our worst enemies are the thoughts we have …” (Dr. Frank Crane)

Thoughts lead on to purposes

Purposes go forth into action

Actions form habits

Habits decide character

And character fixes our destiny

- Tryon Edwards

MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED 6: They are Consistent

‘The problem with success is that you have to keep on being a success’ (Anon).

If your goal is to be a one-time success, to do well at one thing and give up in the rest, then you have a thwarted idea of success. Successful people have a strong desire to remain successful. They always believe in improvement. And that is the bedrock of consistency – having that strong faith that you can always do it again and again; and better and better.

According to John Mason, the road to success is always under construction. Men of success keep building but each time on a higher level. When you being to think you’ve had enough, your mind tells you it’s stupid to try more. Then you either reverse or turn around – anyhow, you start going back.

You should know that in this information age, you have to keep moving otherwise, others will move past you at such speeds that you begin to fall back steadily. Keep doing those good things. Keep modifying your ideas. Keep managing your successes and failures. Consistency is the greatest single factor that keeps you on top.

‘Big shots are only little shots who have kept on firing’.

MEN THAT WILL SUCCEED 4: They Cherish Integrity

"Wise men are men of their word. The quality of a man’s life is in direct proportion to the integrity and quality of his word." - Matthew Ashimolowo

You are only as good as your word. Being a successful person is not all about being comfortable or ahead of others. Can you be entrusted with money? Can you be taken at your word? I would rather be poor than live a liar. Honesty and integrity go hand-in-hand. “The test of your wisdom may be your ability to walk in honesty” (Matthew Ashimolowo).

Dishonest men have a problem: they have to struggle to remember what they said sometimes ago so that they don’t say something different now. Recent research has even shown that you burn much more energy when you lie. Your whole body system is also upset. That is exactly what the lie detecting machine exploits.

When falsely accused of extra-marital affairs by a certain woman with whom he had lived in the same neighborhood, Dr. Ben Carson had to depend on his honest way of life to maintain the confidence of his family and associates. Commit this to heart: one day, when the chips are down and everything seems to go wrong, then the strength of your integrity will determine your fate. Woe betide the man who, on such days, is found to be a fake.

"Hold integrity high, your life may one day depend on it" - John Mason

UPCOMING

The year 2007 is about halfway through; and I have watched with keen interest a lot of goings-on around me. From the 2007 General Elections to the choice of what my immediate neighbours eat, I have noticed in everything that MANY PEOPLE DO THINGS WITHOUT FULLY CONSIDERING THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR ACTIONS.


In the literature on success, one thing that cuts across - which in fact is like the golden rule of prosperity - is the principle of Cause and Effect. The timelessness and infallibiblity of this principle were perhaps the reason why Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same old things and expecting different results.


But then, the majority of people in the society live in near-absolute oblivion of this all-powerful principle. I just read yesterday in Robert Greene's Joost Elffers book 48 Laws of Power that you do not judge your enemies by their intentions but by the consequences of their actions. The lesson, for me, in that is to consider an enemy weak , though he looks strong, if his actions bear little consequence; and to consider him strong, though he looks weak, if his actions bear great consequences. In the same way, everything to do or say should be considered on the basis of the long-run consequences and not immediate implications. Regrettably, many people seem not to think like that!


Could that be the reason why the society seems to comprise more vanquished than victors? Might that explain why many work so hard and yet live below poverty line?
In the next few weeks, I intend to share parts of a book I have worked on since 2004. I believe the question of success is more than what we dream, it's more about how and what we think and do: ATTITUDE and ACTIONS. I challenge you, therefore, to look forward to ACTIONS OF SUCCESS-MINDED PEOPLE and put across your comments.

THERE ARE STILL THOUGHTFUL NIGERIANS

I was checking my mails today and I gor this mail from an old classmate of mine. Immediately I read through, one thing kept ringing in my mind: there are still thoughtful Nigerians; people who care what happens to us as a nation; people who are concerned about how we are treated. Take away all personal sentiments, the writer of this article just demonstrated the kind of attitude our leaders should have.

American Embassy Plc (By Sochima Ndu; Published: Monday, 26 Mar 2007)

I was sad when I read the account narrated by Mr. Hakeem Ogunniran, the Managing Director of
MDS – a Division of the UACN Plc, in the Saturday PUNCH of March 17, concerning the appalling, and indeed pathetic, treatment that was meted to his wife by the Canadian Embassy in Lagos. The Ogunnirans are not alone in the saga of ill-treatment of Nigerians at the hands of foreign embassies.

Top on the list of these notorious embassies is the American Embassy on Walter Carrington Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos. The visa section of the American Embassy is the revenue generation unit of the element and I can imagine that, like any profit-oriented enterprise, they start the year with a target of revenue and profitability which they must generate at all costs. The modus operandi for extracting the targeted sums from Nigerians starts with the invitation forinterview. The embassy exploits the desires of many Nigerians to visit foreign countries while on holiday, broaden their knowledge by attending seminars and conferences abroad and yes, even explore their destinies in other countries, by inviting them for these spurious interviews. It seems that they count the applications and decide how many must come per day and how many must have to reapply for the targets to be met.

In most cases, the letters of rejection have already been prepared in advance of the interviews. The candidates are invited, not to be heard, but for their N14,000 which is vital to the income and expenditure account of the embassy. Does the upfront collection of non-refundable application fees by these embassies not qualify as a definition of advance fee fraud? Can these embassies not collect a lower amount as non-refundable processing fee (say N1,000), while the N14,000 could remain as a visa issuance fee taken only from successful applicants?

I heard the case of a medical doctor whose son gained admission into Princeton and visited the American Embassy for a visa. Apparently knowing the penchant of consular officers to make instant illogical decisions on visa applications, he arranged to be at the embassy on the same day (perhaps to renew his visitor’s visa) so he could lend his voice to his son’s student’s visainterview. The visa official questioned him as to why he wanted his son to study in America instead of in a Nigerian university. What right does that American have to determine where a man wants his children to go to school? The answer is very simple – how many of the staff of the American embassy studied in Princeton or Harvard? It irks them to think that Nigerians aredaring to exceed those mundane limits which they have set for us in their finite minds.

In my few years in the service industry, I have learnt that revenues are compensations for values which have been added to a customer’s life or business. The question that then arises is, what value is the American embassy (our typical example and the worst culprit) adding to the lives of Nigerians to justify the gargantuan amount of money that it milks from them? Is it the number of hours that people must spend in order to attend those grueling interviews? Is it the sheer rudeness of the security personnel at the embassy? Is it the degrading attitude of the insincere embassy staff? Where lies the value addition in all of this experience?
In today’s world of branding, where organizations of different characters are taking concerted steps to develop positive perceptions from the public relative to their brand image, the likes of the Canadian and American embassies are very brazen in their disregard for the views and perceptions of Nigerians. Or is that not the case?

The truth is that what is being meted to the Nigerian citizenry is a direct reflection of the degree ofdisregard and disrespect that these people and their nations have for our country and our governments. They treat this country as a pariah and pay lip service to relationships.

They treat our leaders as clowns and show no modicum of respect for them. It is probably for this reason that even our leaders show no form of concern at the treatment meted to our citizenry. It seems normal to them. It is in this bizarre abnormality that the mystery lies. We have mortgaged every iota of self-respect for a fee and sacrificed our national destiny on the altar of greed and unabridged corruption. The Nigerian high commissions in other countries cannot even dream of conducting business in any manner near what these people do here. Their governments will shout to the high heavens. If our embassies do not crawl in penitence, they will blackmail, arm-twist, and threaten to bring down sanctions or even worse.

I call on the leadership of this country, in the spirit of the national anthem and the Nigerian pledge, to shake itself free from all apathy and protect its citizenry by standing up against the injustices and maltreatment which are handed down to Nigerians by all hostile foreign embassies operating on Nigerian soil.

Ndu writes from 23, Balogun Road, Ogba, Lagos.
Culled from the Punch Newspaper