My name is Cornelius, but this piece is nothing about me. It’s neither about the Cornelius of Acts 10 nor the one that was 7th Catholic Pope. No. It is about American Cornelius Vanderbilt – business magnate and philanthropist. This guy was so successful in shipping that he became synonymous with shipping, for which he was nicknamed ‘Commodore.’ Interestingly, Commodore Vanderbilt started out with a small ferry he bought with borrowed sum and rose to the status of richest man in America at a time.

But he didn’t become the richest man in America as the Commodore; he did as King of Railroads. And how did he transit from shipping to rail transport? Of him it is said that he saw his future in the developing rail transport sector, so clearly that he sold his last ship to invest in it. He staked everything. For him, it was all or nothing. And then he made it super big!

Dear friend, until we see our future clearly enough, we won’t have the guts to invest everything in one thing. And we can’t reach world class if we ain’t crazy enough to do that. Kindly take a headcount of all ‘world-classers’ and find that Aristotle did only philosophy, Michelangelo stuck with sculpture, Mozart and Jackson did only music, Bill Gates and Zuckerberg do only programming, Ronaldo and Messi do only footballing…

My point: A piercingly clear vision engenders monomaniacal focus to deliver world class. You can be world class ‘or’ Jack of all trades. You just can’t be both.

Pearl Harbor is one of US naval bases – located in Oahu on the Hawaiian island. On Sunday, December 7, 1941 (during WWII), naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan suddenly and deliberately attached Pearl Harbor, killing an estimated 2,403 Americans. Recall that America wasn’t in WWII yet, which is why the attack was unwarranted. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed that day “A date that will live in infamy” – and got Congress to declare full scale war on the Empire of Japan next day.

As part of this ‘full scale war,’ President Harry Truman, on August 6th and 9th respectively, sent the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki packages that will change everything forever. That package was Einstein’s atomic bomb. And it’s been hell in those cities ever since.

75 years later, December 27, 2016 to be precise, Shinzo Abe, Japan’s Prime Minister, visited Pearl Harbor to offer what he called “sincere and everlasting condolences” to the victims of Japan’s unwarranted attack 75 years earlier. Obama was there with him, and graciously received those heartfelt condolences. I was also there to watch him, but on CNN. 😎

You get my point already, right? It’s never too late to apologize. Trust me, better late than never. Mind you, by and large human beings are good people. They want to forgive their offenders; only that they don’t like to dish out forgiveness on a platter of gold. They want you to fly from Japan to Hawaii, and then say you’re sorry, and they really don’t mind that it took you 75 years. I trust you understand what I mean.

There’s a hidden lesson God revealed in that movie with regards how He runs His packages. Since you may not have noticed it during your watch, lemme quickly share; it was so silent that it needed rapt attention to grasp.

Recall that at a point during Grace Wesley’s trial, bothering on talking Jesus in an 11th Grade classroom, Rev. Dave Hill (Juror No.12) slumped in the courtroom and was replaced by the crazily made-up, loose-looking, and multiple-coloured hair alternate, Miss Marshall. Also recall that the replacement of Rev. Dave with a loose-looking alternate simultaneously made Grace’s camp lose heart and boosted the confidence of the opposing end. Her looks convinced them she’s gonna vote against.

However, it turns out that the same loose-looking alternate saved the day, as her vote tipped the scale in Grace’s favour. How, you may be wondering? Lemme leave you clues. Playback to the last court scene, wherein the jury foreman announced the verdict. Observe that our gaga-looking alternate was the last to leave the jury stand. While headed for the door, observe she stopped in front of Grace and smiled at her, that sort of smile that says, “We’re in the same Jesus’ boat.” One more clue. Just as she was about to exit the door, with her back facing Grace and Tom, Grace saw that right behind her neck, closest to her hair, was a cross tattoo, plus her gentle strides announcing victory.

You can trust that the presence of Rev. Dave on the jury would have adversely affected things. And since God was always gonna win, He had His winning plan in tact from the word go; Dave only had to give way.

Meanwhile, stop judging by appearance; there’s usually more to people than meet the eyes.

And if you haven’t, do whatever it takes to see “God’s Not Dead” 1&2. Please do.

A story was once told of a man who refused to give way for the King’s convoy to take its course. He was so insistent on having his right of way that the commotion caused by his defiance called the …

Source: It all begins with self-leadership

A story was once told of a man who refused to give way for the King’s convoy to take its course. He was so insistent on having his right of way that the commotion caused by his defiance called the King’s attention. Desirous of meeting someone who had guts enough to oppose royalty, the King went out to meet him. “Who are you, man, that you dare defy the King?” asked the King. “I am also a king,” retorted the man. “Over what principality do you reign?” asked the King in response to his seemingly bogus claim, since his attiring didn’t reflect conventional royalty. “Over myself,” was the rather mischievous response that followed. He was king over himself indeed. Though obviously laughable, there is a peculiar take-home for everyone: We’re all kings, at least over ourselves.

It is a natural human tendency to want to lord it over others; to want to have others respect our opinions; to want to force others to comply with our will. At the same time, we develop whiskers of resistance towards others’ lordship; we insist that our own opinions be respected, even amidst more appropriate ones; we’re hell-bent on letting our wills reign supreme, especially when they clash with those of others. Perhaps this accounts for why human beings are termed to be naturally selfish.

The implication of this natural tendency towards selfishness for leadership is enormous. This is exactly because it directly contradicts what true leadership is really about: selflessness. The true leader must, as a matter of fact, be all out to serve – and not to be served. Also, the true leader must, when necessary, be willing to lay down his self-interest at the feet of the common good. However, these are hard choices to make. Choosing service over lordship and choosing selflessness over selfishness is not bread and butter. Yes, it all begins with the dealing with the self.

The following will prove to be of help in our bid to develop self-leadership. Already stated, the presence or absence of self-leadership has implications for leadership at large.

DISCIPLINE: Call it self-control or self-restraint, discipline ensures that we do what we’re supposed to do, whether we like it or not; whether we’re comfortable with it or not. For instance, if one’s rising time is 5am, discipline ensures that one gets out of bed at that time, irrespective of how much more one would have loved to tarry in bed. Truth be told, an undisciplined person necessarily makes a poor leader, since they come into the leadership enterprise with bad habits such as procrastination, negative compromises, laziness. Of course, they get to infect their followers with such habits. On the other hand, the disciplined individual makes a leader of uncommon breed; they don’t let things slip off their fingers, as they keep to their schedules and stick with their plans.

COURAGE: The emotion of fear has eaten really deep into many a person. The natural tendency in this regard is to immediately take to flight in the face of danger. There is no doubt that exposure to danger can be injurious, but fleeing from ‘every’ danger will make for an uneventful life. It is also important to know that the ‘fear-factor’ has a way of magnifying danger, such that most of the dangers people flee from are either trivial or even figments of their imagination. Therefore, courage is a very important virtue that is possessed by those who lead well. Mind you, courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is more about acting in spite of fear. Courage is more about braving the odds, taking risks, and looking forward to a positive outcome. In fact, without courage there is no leader in the first place, since the onus lies on the leader to chart the course of collective action in the waters of uncertainty.

DELAY GRATIFICATION: The average human being usually not only wants things but wants them ‘now.’ They go for it as soon as they feel the need for it. And this has set many people on the path of destruction, since having ‘now’ what should be had ‘later’ can be destructive. Teenage pregnancy, for instance, results from having sex now which should be had later – in marriage. A person who is poor in delaying gratification will definitely make a poor leader, since they will be impulsive in making decisions, hence dragging their followers into their mess.

OBEDIENCE: Obedience is simply submitting one’s will to the will of another. This can be a very difficult thing to do, that is, having another’s will reign supreme over ours. A disobedient person will make a poor leader, as there is always a higher authority to obey at every leadership level. The leader also has the followers to obey, what we’ve come to call the ‘will of the people.’ To make a fine leader, obedience at a personal level is super important.

HUMILITY: Without humility, service is impossible or merely lip-service. Humility, they say, is the queen of all virtues. Humility is not so much about having a low estimation of oneself, as it is about understanding that all human beings have equal dignity and worth, and as such be accorded respect. The proud person makes an arrogant leader, and pride is known to have always gone before a fall.