WINNING BIG- THE LINEAR VS THE NON-LINEAR CAREER PATHS

A couple of years back I was speaking to a small group of people and my opening question to them was, “What is your personal definition of success?” The answers I got were amazing. Here are some of them in no particular order;

•  Making a lot of money

•   Running a Fortune 500 company

•  Having enough to help me take good care of myself and family

•  Being able to travel the world in my own private jet, owning an expensive house, cars and a yacht

And much more. Bottom-line is success will always mean different things to different people because we all have different worldviews. Personal success is very subjective as it depends on the inherent values imbued in every individual. For some they believe a good looking bank account will settle it for them. For some people they find their success in the success of others while for another lot it's in the shiny things. This varies from individual to individual. In my opinion I see success as wrapped up in three things. You can call them the 3 P's. People, Planet, Profits. Let's break it down;

People- Everyone I can influence for the Kingdom using the gifts and graces I have been endowed with by our Heavenly Father. I am a people person. My desire is to see people move from point A to point B because of the value I added to their lives. It gives me joy to see someone who was weak in an area which happened to be one of my strengths grow to become a better person as a result of my positive influence upon their lives. There is nothing more fulfilling than a life of service. And the reason why I put people first is because if you genuinely make it your aim to add value to people, profits will undoubtedly come pouring in like an avalanche. No one who serves goes empty handed unless they never did it out of a pure heart. The mistake many people make is that they try to do things for people with the mindset that those same people will in turn return a good favor. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! It doesn't work like this. Most times the people who end up giving back to you are never the people you helped. If you run a business my advice to you is that you put people first and profits will come. That's why customer service is so important. If you suck at service delivery (leading to disgruntled customers) you will begin to lose market share and hence profit share to your competitors. On the other hand one satisfied customer might just be your ticket to your next top notch job. So put people first!

Planet- Being able to make a positive impact on my community during my lifetime and beyond it. Many companies today are making huge profits at the expense of their communities. We have seen places that have been ravaged by deforestation. We have seen communities that have been torn apart due to oil exploration. We have seen people living in very rich communities yet staying very poor because of the profit-focused motives of an elite few. The younger generation must be educated. Schools therefore have to be built to that effect. Orphanages for orphans, Homes for the homeless, and much more.

Profits- Having money, I mean enough money or better still more than enough money to take care of myself, family and those around me in need. Money is a medium of exchange and a very important agent in today's world. Having delivered excellent service and added value to people's lives, provided and taken good care of one's community, making some good profits then would not be a bad idea. You need money to build roads, fight malaria and cancer, feed the hungry, take care of widows, in fact you need money for everything. However, money must be gotten the right way. Not by defrauding people or every other illicit scheme but through providing valuable service in exchange for it. Everybody wants to live a good life as well as leave an inheritance for their children's children (generational thinkers) but we must get it the right way. There is nothing absolutely wrong with making good money.

Now the next question that crops up is, "how do we achieve success?" Good question. In my opinion there are two ways to do this. I describe them as the Linear path and the Non-linear path. Let's look at the linear path for a moment

       The Linear Career Path
.

Undergraduate degree + Law school + bar exam = Life of a Lawyer

I think we are all aware of this path and can by ourselves also craft out linear equations for other fields. It's the conventional path. It is the path our parents told us to follow if we ever wanted to make anything out of our lives. "Stay in school, get good grades and become a Medical Doctor, Lawyer, Banker, Accountant, Engineer and what have you." For those who love playing it safe, it is the best path to take. Is it a rewarding path? Yes, it is. There are people who have made a fortune by following the linear career path. If you know your onions then you can command very fat paychecks. However, I do advise against the payday mentality where people end up living from paycheck to paycheck without any significant investments towards their future. It won't hurt to have multiple streams of income. In fact that's the right thing to do! I have seen people leave from paid employment after putting in decades and decades of service only to end up as broke as the word itself. Depending on a salary is not the best way to live out one's life because you will always be at the mercy of your employers. However, with some financial wisdom, you can make the most of the paid employment system and still retire to a very comfortable life.

  The Non-Linear Career Path

Can't be captured in a linear equation

 Our second path which I call "The road less travelled" because it is no surefire way to success is the non-linear career path. It starts off with a dream, a passion, call it whatever you want to call it but that thing that tells you, "There's gotta be more to life", Yes to make a dent in history, to disrupt an entire industry, to blaze new trails, to make a difference in life. As you can see they too are very much educated but that happens not necessarily within the four walls of classroom for the word Education comes from the latin root word, "ēdūcō" which means to grow from within and has nothing to do with BSc's, GPAs, MSc's, PhDs or MBA's. However, getting a good degree especially in this part of the world won't hurt either. For such people, passion fans the flames of innovation while creativity ignites that passion. If the end could be determined from the beginning, many more would sure follow this route because it's exit has written on it "Financial independence". Meaning you don't have to suck up, lick up or tolerate anyone's naughtiness. It also truly affords one the time to focus on the things that truly matter to you while having a good time with the people that matter most-Family. Unfortunately, it is a path also overlaid with so many sorrows, disappointments, failures and risks. It is not for the weak in heart. It is not for the one who's focus is on the immediate. But in the end you are always the better for it. These are the people who control the financial and money markets. These are the people who create jobs and grow economies. These are the people who make things happen rather than watch things happen to them. Whichever of the two paths you choose is entirely up to you.  

Keys to becoming the best YOU.

There is no better time to be alive than today. I always say that today well lived prepares you for a better tomorrow. That is why we have to maximize the time we have in our hands right now. No sitting on the couch all day watching TV. Go to work on becoming the best YOU that you can be. Because it is when you are at your best that you begin to command value and money becomes the medium of exchange for your services. Unfortunately, many people don't get this especially today's youths. We are running from pillar to post in search of the next "How to make 1500 dollars a day from home" and all what not. We need to wise up. How do we do that. Five keys I must share with you,

• Start Right where you are today - Kill the procrastination cycle by starting today. You will never be able to figure everything out before beginning for no one can know what tomorrow holds but you can start today and then take calculated risks as you move along.

• Be your future self- Become today the person you will want to be tomorrow. See yourself as that top notch consultant, CEO or whatever and carry yourself that way. Imagination and hard work have a way of turning vivid pictures in our minds into tangible success.

• Become an Expert in your chosen field- People don't pay for mediocrity, they pay for expertise. So you want to become an authority figure in your field. Aim to be in top 5% in whatever field you find yourself in. Read, Read and Read! 

• Build your support system- Have a very robust network of A-list people who challenge you to grow and become all that you want to be. Stop spending time with people who only sap your creative energy rather run away as fast as you can from them. You are usually two to three people away from anything you want to get. Make sure your two to three friends can actually get you to whomever and whatever you are looking for. 

• Trust time- I have come to realize that time is a friend and not an enemy. Young people always seem to be rushing through life. They want to get a PhD by 19,  make a million dollars by 20, get married to a super model by 21, pay cash down for that Lamborghini by 22 and the list goes on. And what do we see happening around us today? Young people are dying before their time due to their involvement in so many illicit activities. Time is a friend. God would have made the gestation period of a woman to be 1 day if He wanted to but He made it 9 months for a reason. There is no overnight success. Somethings just can't be fast-tracked. I think "Success" is one of them unless you want to play now and pay later.

          My final thoughts

1. It is far more better to try and fail than to fail at not trying
2. Don't wait for the right idea because even the right idea changes once it has been set in motion. 
3. Ideas are only as good as their time of conception

 

ON BEING A GOOGLE STUDENT AMBASSADOR

Yes, this is me

As we wrap up our tenure as Google Student Ambassadors for the year 2013-2014 and prepare to move into another realm, “The Alumni realm” I can only look back to the joyful moments it brought to me. I would really like to thank Google for such an amazing opportunity given us to effect a change not only within our campuses by as far as our imagination and creativity could take us. I learned a very important concept “Moonshot thinking” which I very much implement today when setting my personal life goals. I learnt to work with an amazing team of fellow GSAs and met people from different parts of the Globe. I remember the challenge we had in Kenya in which my group came in second place. Yes, that’s right and how I achieved a little celebrity status when I went hard on the lyrics with my “Google flow”, it went like this,

I say it’s G-O-O-G-L-E it’s Google number one in the search game, yeah! It’s Google repping hard all around the world, I dare say Google is the best you can’t contest whoa! I am standing right here, Google on my chest, it’s the best, it’s the first…throw out the rest! Everybody wanna be like it, they wanna talk, they wanna swag, wanna be like this…it’s Google +1….+1….+1…..+1 it’s Google!

Spitting my Google flow in Kenya

Talk about Surprise! Of course everybody was surprised taking cognizance of the fact that I had gone very much unnoticed up on till the time of the in-house challenge which to me wasn’t strange given that I love to study people and environments before going all out. Kenya was fun! Made new friends with whom I still stay in touch with today. I even had the opportunity of getting into Aso Villa as one of the technical facilitators thanks to Google for the much publicized National Youth Online Summit organized by the Office of the First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The event was broadcast live on NTA. I had the opportunity of meeting very two wonderful Googler’s who really got me inspired as we drove off in Black Jeeps like “Bosses” from the Presidency. Can you bid that? Again came another opportunity as a Google Student Ambassador to attend a top profile exhibition event at Transcorp Hilton, Abuja but due to my tight schedule at the office that day, I was unable to make it. Only to later learn that Mr. David C. Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer of Google Inc. himself was there! 

At the Presidential Villa with Ema, Cythia, Titi and David

 Being a Google Student Ambassador gave me the opportunity to organize several other events from trainings on Google Apps, to Adclass, Get Your Students Certified, Tech Talks and much more. I even taught Python programming during the Google sponsored Computer Science for High Schools program organized at my University, the African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, Nigeria. I was thrilled to see the awesome projects my class of Senior Secondary School students came up with. The winner was a 13-year old girl called Regina who blew the judges minds away with her outstanding project. She had a whooping 98/100 while the second person trailed her with an 80 something. The gap was that wide folks! And that is why I support that we should have more Women In Science and Engineering related fields. I have set up what I call the OpenKollabo Foundation to help achieve this. In case you are interested in motivating young girls in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) related fields and Computer Science, please drop me an email at tabotarreytambe@gmail.com and we can discuss possible ways in which you can come on board. 

Our Company slogan

The OpenKollabo Team

Huh! So who are this people? Am sure you guessed right. The OpenKollabo Team. I had been playing around with the idea of starting and registering a company for many years. In 2012, it started off as a briefcase company but thanks to the trainings I had as a Google Student Ambassador and after reading the Google Founders story (Oh yes, I even bought a book called The Google Story), I think I was more inspired to go all out and cast away my fears of failure. This led to the launch of my first company OpenKollabo Technologies which will be the Technology arm of the the group of companies that will be spun off by OpenKollabo group (www.openkollabogroup.com), the umbrella company. I think I mentioned earlier the second arm, OpenKollabo Foundation which will focus on educating girls in STEM and CS related fields. There are 5 more to complete the 7 pillars of the OpenKollabo group, each geared at solving a different problem. The Moonshot thinking session in Kenya with googler, Emeka really paid off after all. That's how I became the Founder and CEO of OpenKollabo group.

The Google Story (A must read for every tech entrepreneur)

I am very happy I got to serve as a Google Student Ambassador and I want to wish all future Ambassadors a very wonderful time in their to be roles. My last words to you are this; Form useful networks of friends, think and dream big (Moonshot style), and don't be afraid to fail. You may end up starting your own company. Check out www.gsa.withgoogle.com and I hope we can read your own story by this time next year. God bless!

WHO IS A LEADER?

Definition

I define leadership in one word, “Influence”. A leader is somebody who is capable of influencing another person (Full Stop). Now, I know it sounds kind of strange and very radical right? Perhaps you have never heard it being put this way. That’s the more reason why I said that new wine is not put into old wine skins if not it will rent it. So if you are a traditionalist and therefore only accept new ideas provided they are the same old ones then you could as well say to yourself that, “This guy is trying to destroy what I had always known” and stop right here. But if you are ready to take off the lid, if you are ready to dive out daringly into the deep blue sea in search of new islands then you are in the right place at the right time and reading the right post. So come on and read on. What then do I mean when I define leadership this way?

What do I mean?

Everybody created by God and presently living on the face of this planet earth has been endowed with unique gifts and talents. Those innate abilities that God has placed in you have a propensity to create a sphere of influence around you and over at least one person making you already a leader of that one. If at least one out of the 7 billion people we find in this world can be influenced by you, then you are a leader of that one. These innate abilities in you tend to create an invisible field around you like the magnetic (or force) field around a magnet but which I choose to call an “influential field”. It is this field that attracts people into your life with your same or complementary gifts and talents. For a magnet, its size determines the strength of its field but for us the strength of this influential field is determined by how sharpened your gift is. Those who recognize that they have a gift and go a step ahead to work on that gift in order to bring it to fruition are those who develop a stronger influential field. Everybody has this field be you poor or rich, tall or short because God deemed it so. The major difference now comes with the number of people a person can influence with his gift determined by the strength of his influential field. This accounts for why we have leaders of hundreds, thousands, millions, billions and so on. But the bottom line is that everyone is a leader in his own domain. 

The Magnet

For a magnet we know that as the object is further moved away from the magnetic field, the influence of the field on the object decreases. For us the influential field around a person is independent of the geographical location. That’s why somebody could be in the United States and have a great influence over somebody in Cameroon without even knowing the person. Don’t you see that every day? I remember when David Beckham did the famous “Mohawk” hair style, many children everywhere around the world copied it until people pleaded with him to take it off. The children saw him as their role model and therefore copied all that he did-negative or positive. That’s the kind of influence he had on them and some people could see it as negative while others positive. We live in a free world and hence our unique worldviews but the point I want to drive home is this- His talent of playing football which he had sharpened by continuous practice on the pitch, had given him a greater influential field which made him a leader to these ones. You may ask that, “But how is he their leader?” Of course it is very clear-He led them in doing that hair style and they followed, so he automatically and perhaps unconsciously became their leader and they his followers. That’s quite simple to understand when compared to solving quadratic equations for x and y. Whether that gift is used to influence people positively or negatively is really another thing in itself. That is why we have good and bad leaders both in the Christian as well as secular folds but the bottom line is that everyone is a leader because of the ability to exert a certain level of influence on others. 

Your Gift, Your Influential Field

Let’s take another scenario that I believe will shed more light on this, imagine you are a gifted artist and have these little friends in your neighborhood who love your works of art. Now you may or may not be aware of this because the presence of the field around you doesn’t make you feel any different. Same as a magnet does not feel any different because of the magnetic field around it. Have you ever felt any different ever since you knew that you have two hands? Or do your legs look strange on you as if you borrowed them from somebody? Of course not but they do play an important role in your life. The truth about the matter is that these friends are attracted to you because of your gift as result of the invisible influential field that gift has created around you. They will begin to look up to, and admire you because of your ability to draw well. Your influential field has attracted them to you. They will talk about you in your absence and even develop this desire of wanting to keep company with you all the time. Just being around and listening to you speak elevates their spirits. Can you connect to this? I am talking out of experience and that makes it more concrete even though I am not an artist. Remember the saying that, He who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn no other way. These little friends of yours would believe everything you tell them about arts because you have become a role model to them in that domain. As you continue to relate with them and especially if you are a faithful friend, they will begin to copy everything you do. They will watch the kind of movies you watch, they will listen to the kind of music you listen to, and they will say the kind of things you say; BE IT GOOD OR BAD. What has happened? You have begun to INFLUENCE them and like I said earlier, it may be positive or negative based on how you live. If you live right and do right then it will be positive influence, otherwise it will be negative influence. You haven’t applied black magic on them like some people will think. It was power of influence at work in their lives created by the gift you had been endowed with by the Creator of the Universe. So never minimize anything that God has given to you. You might be surprised at the number of people you would be influencing with it and leading to Christ or the Devil.