ought to do and these would be the basis of their heated conversations when they get together .
Remember that they do not know how to fight for things . When the going got so tough in Nigeria , many of them simply returned to the western nations where they had been trained and those who did not return lacked the chutzpah to fight . The few ones who saw what was happening and who dared to fight were always in and out of prison and were literally enemies of the state . These included patriots like Prof . Wole Soyinka , The late Fela Anikulapo- Kuti , The late Ken Saro Wiwa and others .
As for the majority of the elite of that generation , they had gotten into bed with the military and they built their own personal fortunes . Many of them are still the political elite of Nigeria today . The late Moshood Abiola is often cited as a hero of democracy but in reality he was the poster boy for my fathers generation - a generation that benefited immensely from the military . This is why they were constantly at loggerheads with patriots like Wole Soyinka and Fela Kuti .
My Generation
Now enter my generation . We grew up in a land flowing with milk and honey . We grew up in a land where our head of state - Yakubu Gowon said that money was not our problem but how to spend it . We did not know that people used second hand cars . We grew up in homes where there was daddy ’ s car and mummy ’ s car and they were all brand new . We also saw the beginning
“
We therefore need to be very careful about what foundations we are building today , be it in our families or our businesses or as a nation . We need to remember that foundations are seeds that will grow . Harvest time will come . of the decline and we did not know what to do . We just did not have the capacity to drive change .
Many were born abroad and held foreign passports and thus began the culture of mass exodus and the great Nigerian brain drain . We seemingly have all the solutions on our WhatsApp groups . We talk in big grammar like our parents but from afar . Our children had lost touch with their roots and pride themselves as Americans or British .
The nation had gone to the dogs - literally . Those who could not leave were enticed by the possibility of easy money through scamming people and a nation that could have been one of the most advanced nations became known for the wrong things . We make noise but once the government barks , we quietly go back to our corners because we do not know how to fight for things .
Back To The Trenches
The nation is back where it was in the generation of my grandfather . The only difference is that now , the enemy is not the colonial master . The enemy is the generation of my father . How do we explain that the generation that ruined the nation now comes claiming that they have the solution and my generation supports them though they may be senile old men ? But we are the elite and so with a little money we can influence the millions of hungry young people who for a day ’ s meal will sell their conscience .
We are campaigning for senile old corrupt men who destroyed the moral fabric of a once great nation . This is the state in which we have found ourselves and our only hope now is that things get bad enough so that a new crop of strong men can emerge and in so doing begin the cycle afresh . Remember , “ Hard times create strong men , strong men create good times , good times create weak men , and weak men create hard times .”
Brand Nigeria is not in a very good place because of these emotional and irrational foundations . This is true for a nation , for an organization and even for an individual . When emotions are placed above competency the greatest of brands can disintegrate . Their value in the eyes of the world just begins to diminish .
If the people who take your promise to the consumer are not competent but are there because of some connection to the Chairman or to someone important in the organization - in essence their appointment is a product of nepotism and not of competence , you will soon begin to experience brand disintegration in earnest .
Unfortunately there are many organizations that get their brand disintegration triggered off by the very people who built the brands . They do not know when to bow out and let others or systems take over from their effort . Also , they bring in their family members regardless of their level of competence .
If a nation that once stood tall as the hope of a continent , a nation whose currency was more powerful than the dollar , a nation whose currency was accepted in shopping outlets in the United Kingdom , a nation of many firsts as mentioned above can experience brand disintegration because they placed emotions over competence then truly a word is indeed enough for the wise .
A nation whose passport was once one of the most powerful in the world - whose citizens did not require visas to go to so many other nations has now become the nation with one of the most disrespected passports in the world . This is what brand disintegration looks like . No matter how great your brand may be the moment you place any other thing above competence in delivering your promise , brand disintegration is imminent .
Competence must rule the game from concept to the consumer . If at any point of the chain there is a break , it will affect the entire chain and brand disintegration can still happen . In essence , if you have A list strategists , A list technology people , A list marketing people and then you settle for D list sales people , you are a sitting prime target of brand disintegration . The sad thing is that many companies are experiencing this right now and they do not realize it . This is because it may not show immediately .
When a fan is on and the power is cut off , the blades do not stop rotating immediately . The fact that the blades are rotating does not mean that power is flowing to the fan . This is why we conduct experience audits to help organizations ensure the consistency of delivery at all levels . Without this , the mightiest of brands cannot save themselves from the tragedy of brand disintegration .
Dr . Wale Akinyemi is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of the Street University . You can commune with him on this or related matters via email at : Wale @ thestreetuniversity . com .