Leadership
A Letter To My Younger Self!
By Dr. Wale Akinyemi
My Dearest Younger Self,
Today I have the privilege of something that you do not have- experience and hindsight. This letter is to help you so that you will not repeat what I call avoidable mistakes. You know that the wise person learns from the mistakes of others but the fool insists on making his own. So, with this roadmap that I am going to give you I sincerely hope you will not only read with the intent to do but also share with others. So here are a few things that I wish I knew when I was your age.
I wish I knew that brilliance through a gift could also be a curse. I learnt about the curse of brilliance much later in life after many wasted years. What is the curse of brilliance? I am multi-talented. I play the piano. I write songs and produce very good music. I write articles, books, plays and have even scripted a few poems. I am a very good master of ceremony for events and the people absolutely love when I mcee. And then I studied and came out with a degree in social statistics and then went on to study more to equip myself in all things leadership and strategy. Was I blessed or what? So I thought.
I applied myself to everything. Motivational speakers did not help me( that’ s why I don’ t like them today). They told me I could be anything. They told me to maximise my potential. They told me to just do it and so I too like the mumu( fool) that I was applied myself. I would go to the studio and record music. I would write plays and produce the music for the plays. I would write articles. I would speak at events. Somehow as much as I did so much I never became a master in any. Here I was trying to maximize my potential by doing a hundred things at the same time but I was just not breaking through.
As I was experiencing this, I noticed
True greatness walks hand in hand with humility. No matter how much you accomplish or how far your influence reaches, let your success be grounded on a foundation of modesty. Humility is not a sign of frailty; it is wisdom wrapped in gentle strength. It is knowing when to admit you don’ t have all the answers and being unafraid to seek guidance. It is the bravery to ask for support even when others believe you have it all sorted out.
something very alarming. There were people that I did not consider very brilliant. These were people who never stood out in our younger days. They were the people we made fun of in university as the local boys. Well surprise surprise … They became the stars in life. They were not particularly the stars in school but then what is the point in being the star in school and not shining in life?
These people taught me one of the greatest lessons of my life and a lesson that I want to pass down to you.
You will one day discover that the most dangerous word in your vocabulary is“ can.”“ I can do this.”“ I can also do that.”“ I can handle everything.” But can is a trap. It stretches you wide and keeps you shallow. You don’ t need a basket full of abilities; you need one assignment that turns abilities into impact.
The most successful people were people who learnt early the power of focus. You see because they were not multi-talented, they focused on the one thing they could do and they gave it their all. They pursued mastery and as a result of their mastery they were able to become authorities or in today’ s speak, they became brands. Now why is this important? Brands command and brands endorse. Once they became brands they carried the power of endorsement and they could now put their names on other things and it automatically raised the value of those things.
It’ s called consolidation before expansion. Focus. Put your all into that place where the things that have been deposited in you find expression. Purpose is not discovered by trying everything. You will learn this the hard way- that not every environment
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