The process of success is just as important

We all have personal foundations but what will determine the strength of our foundation is the process we go through. A lot of people like short cuts.I believe in success but I also believe in process. Whatever you compromise to get, you will ultimately lose. PHOTO | FILE 

In Summary

• Nigeria has been at a standstill for days because of probably the worst fuel scarcity in recent times. Airlines stopped flying and people could not go to work. The nation had grounded to a halt.
• Now when an oil producing nation gets grounded because it has no petrol to power its economy there is a big problem. It further goes to reinforce what I wrote about a few weeks ago that resources are irrelevant without the capacity to harness the resources.
• The fact that you think something is good does not mean it has value. The continuous improvement journey must produce value – a progressive increase worth.

By WALE AKINYEMI
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Today Nigeria will go through a change of guard. The new administration of General Buhari will be sworn in.

This is a truly great moment in history when power can change hands especially when the challenge was between an incumbent and a challenger. The challenger won and is not set to form his government.

However, the nation has been at a standstill for days because of probably the worst fuel scarcity in recent times. Airlines stopped flying and people could not go to work. The nation had grounded to a halt.

Now when an oil producing nation gets grounded because it has no petrol to power its economy there is a big problem.

It further goes to reinforce what I wrote about a few weeks ago that resources are irrelevant without the capacity to harness the resources.

Why is it this bad just a few days to the end of an administration?

Because the administration had patched up too many things and instead of fixing, they covered up.

JOURNEY TO SUCCESS

They compromised on productivity, on quality and on standards and the result is that when they are no longer in a position to cover up, the reality will show up.

Foundations are the most important part of a building. If the foundation is wrong, the building is doomed. Similarly we all have personal foundations but what will determine the strength of our foundation is the process we go through. A lot of people like short cuts.

I believe in success but I also believe in process. Whatever you compromise to get, you will ultimately lose.

Process is not funny because it makes a demand on you. It makes a demand of diligence, a demand of hard work and a demand of focus. One philosophy that I heavily subscribe to it the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement — Kaizen.

This is the mindset that we need to adopt in our journey to success. We must appreciate the fact that success is actually never a destination because the more success we attain the more we realise how much more there is to be attained.

The more we know the more we realise how much more we need to know. We are therefore continually improving ourselves.

We are improving our accumulation of knowledge, our processing of knowledge and our execution of the processed knowledge.

We must turn the searchlight to ourselves before beaming on others. Continuous improvement must create value for us and for others.

The fact that you think something is good does not mean it has value. The continuous improvement journey must produce value – a progressive increase worth.

Continuous improvement must produce a more efficient you. It must eliminate all forms of waste — ranging from wasted time, wasted resources and wasted opportunities. 

Why is the elimination of waste important? Because when waste is not eliminated in the human body and accumulates in the colon it can begin to seep back through the linings of the colon and this is said to be one of the ways leading to cancer.

DAY OF RECKONING

Now many destinies are cancerous because of waste — wasted time, wasted resources and wasted opportunities.

Many companies are cancerous because of the same issue of waste. So, continuous improvement is not just about accumulation of information. It is about the increase in efficiency and the increase in value and ultimately the elimination of waste.

As we congratulate the people of Nigeria on this milestone, we wish the new administration well and pray that them remember one of the most fundamental truths of life — that the visible gets its life from the invisible.

The invisible part of your life will determine the success or failure of your visible side. Only those who pay attention to that which cannot be seen will succeed in that which can be seen. One administration ignored the unseen and 150 million people are paying for it.

You cannot cheat life. What you ignore cannot be ignored forever. The day of reckoning will come.

The hidden shall be revealed. if you ignore developing yourself, the day of shame is imminent.

The cost of ignoring the hidden side of your life will exponentially surpass the price you would have paid for dealing with it. A stitch in time still saves nine!