Be courageous

Although no formula exists for becoming a successful leader, I believe effective leadership is defined by a person’s self – confidence, knowledge and intuition, and natural ability to work well with others. Developed throughout your lifetime, these traits will stem from many experiences.

The encouragement you receive from a parent or teacher you admire will be a lasting source of self – confidence. These mentors, as they are called, will influence your thinking and behavior tremendously, and help you gain self – assurance to capitalize on unique opportunities that come your way.

As your self – confidence grows; fear of failing or the desire to always play it safe will diminish. It goes without saying that failure or defeat is hard to accept, but each of us has a remarkable ability to bounce back after such a setback. Often we go on to bigger and better things – even to successes beyond our highest hopes.

After I graduated from ATBU, I was turned down in more than dozen interviews engineering positions in Lagos and Ogun State. I returned home, and to survive without having to enter into any form of crime, I had to work as support staff in a couple of organizations.

My passion for youth development moved me to set up an organization that seeks to re – orientate these young people. Staying with this vision these past seven years took a lot of courage.

Youth development is a complex process and very capital intensive. The truth is that I am not solely responsible for the success of the organization. Many skilled people have contributed greatly to it. As president, I do, however, use my knowledge and intuition about business to set the direction for the organization, and then to motivate and work with talented people who share my vision for progress.

Beyond these simple observations, I don’t think there is any great mystery about leaders in any field. We are people that you can relate to, and that very fact – our approa

chability – is responsible in part for our success as leader.