Chart your own path in the race to stand out in the crowd. FILE PHOTO | NMG
As a girl, I was raised
not to speak loudly. It was improper for women, and especially young
ones to speak loudly. More so in the presence of men. When I later
joined the workforce, I quickly learned
that a diminished voice communicated a lack of confidence, poor communication and even a sign of low to a complete lack of intelligence. Ironically as an executive coach now, I am not only asked to but I get paid to speak. Loudly.
that a diminished voice communicated a lack of confidence, poor communication and even a sign of low to a complete lack of intelligence. Ironically as an executive coach now, I am not only asked to but I get paid to speak. Loudly.
By
the age of 15, I had been trained to cook, clean and keep the house
well. I had skills and would find a good husband who wouldn’t send me
back to my village causing untold embarrassment to the family, my mother
said. At 27, I had a near-marriage-experience. My attempt at marriage
failed in spite of my impeccable home-making skills.
As
a schoolgirl, I was repeatedly advised to study very hard in order to
get a good job in the future. Later, I had what would have been
considered a good job at my level but it simply wasn’t enough. I
realised that I didn’t want a job. I wanted to create jobs and have them
done a particular way to attract particular clients ready to pay
particularly well for it.
I plunged into
entrepreneurship in 2002. A former employer told me that I’d made a
mistake to leave my job to get into such a crowded field.
I
was so broke at the time and literally playing hide and seek with
auctioneers at my house but I knew without any previous personal
experience that I was onto something.
So in spite of my
profound respect for him, I didn’t heed his words. Yes, like you, I too
was taught to respect my elders but I respectfully went against that
valuable counsel.
Six months later, I pleasantly
realised that he had been as right as he had been wrong. Advertising is
indeed a very crowded field. It is so crowded with customers that 16
years later today, I still wonder why I didn’t start the business
earlier than I did!
Please understand me; I am very
thankful. I love and will forever be grateful to my mother, my entire
family, my teachers, peers, and all the great people at whose feet I
have had the privilege of receiving their valuable instruction over the
years.
However, you and I have been taught to believe that being
different is wrong. Maybe it is. I want you to have trouble with the
assumption that what most people do, what most people have and the way
most people are, is the right way. If that were anywhere near true, most
people would be wildly productive, successful and ecstatic about their
lives. That is NOT the case. There very few truly productive people and
even fewer successful people while happy people are a rumour.
The
few who are productive, successful and happy are the people who dare to
do the seemingly unusual, abnormal, uncomfortable and even unexciting
things. They deliberately and continually do the things that most people
do not like to do. These people belong to the rare breed that is
willing, able and ready to go across the grain, to rock the boats of
normalcy, to stick out like sore thumbs and look crazy to the rest of
the world to become the best.
We envy, admire and even
try to emulate them when we finally come to the realisation that being
different is good! What is your difference? When you compete on academic
achievement, years of experience and the number of multi-nationals
you’ve worked for, you lower your playing field allowing any Otieno,
Wanjiku and Mueni to compete with you for opportunities.
What
is the edge that you have over others? What is your unique personal and
professional proposition? This is what you need to highlight in every
interaction with potential employers and business partners. With it, you
not only become the only logical candidate but also the SI unit by
which others are measured.
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