We run a weeklong leadership mentoring programme called “Inspired to
Inspire”, and we had our first class for the year this week. PHOTO/FILE
We run a weeklong leadership mentoring
programme called “Inspired to Inspire”, and we had our first class for
the year this week.
Day one focused on transformative thinking, and today, I want to share some of the thoughts with you.
Have
you ever been in a situation in which things look so good and it’s hard
to believe that there could be something better, and then only a short
while later, you look at what you considered to be great and it comes
across as child’s play?
What happened is that you, like many other people, had arrived at what I call a false peak.
A
false peak is one of the most containing places that a person or
organisation can ever be. Let me paint a picture to show you how bad it
is.
Imagine a person who in school scored very high
grades and was always at the top of the class. Now fast forward a few
years and the same person is working.
Imagine how
ludicrous it would be if the person bragged about the fact that he used
to score high grades in school and therefore expected to get promoted on
that basis. You get the picture, don’t you?
Wherever
you are today can either be a destination or a transit point. If you are
so impressed with yourself and what you have accomplished today, you
will be more inclined to pitch a tent there for a while.
You
must always have a vision that makes your present success almost
irrelevant. My favourite question to my team all the time is: “What’s
the next big thing that we can do?”
Stagnation can
only happen in the life of a person whose mind has been deceived to
think that they have arrived. In reality, therefore, we must never
arrive.
The transformative mind is that which is always pondering over the next form.
NUMBER ONE?
What is the next form of your life? What is the next form of your company?
Like
I have often said, hardly do people remember number two in a contest.
You know Usain Bolt, don’t you? But who came second at the last
Olympics? I bet you are scratching your head.
In my
books, the number two is simply the winner among the losers. One way to
therefore ensure that you never get to a false peak is to ask yourself
constantly: “Am I number one in the country?”
Even if
the answer is yes, ask: “Am I number one in the continent?” If the
answer is yes, go on and ask further: “Am I number one in the world?” If
the answer is yes then ask: “Am I number one in the history of
humankind?”
Mediocrity is a cancer that deceives you
into believing that anything other than the best is acceptable. It is
the cancer that makes you think that you cannot do better than you have
done. It is the cancer that makes you think that you can slow down. It
is the cancer that makes people encourage themselves with low standards
instead of inspiring themselves with the best that the world has to
offer. It is the cancer that is satisfied with being present instead of
making their presence felt.
Africa is a great land
that is being ruined by mediocrity. We have a knack for producing two
standards – a poor one for Africans and a better one for export.
I
flew on one airline recently from Nairobi to another African
destination, and the only difference between the business class and
economy was the size of the seats.
Everything else was
crammed up, even though we had paid about double for the business class
seats. The same airline on the London, Dubai or New York route has a
totally different feel.
We will not be delivered from
ourselves until our thoughts towards ourselves are no more mediocre. We
must tap the potential of Africa for Africans.
As long as we are content with relegating ourselves behind others, the journey has truly not yet started.
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