I Need a Mentor

I am reading one of the best books I have read in a longtime, 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by J.C. Maxwell. I am still in the third chapter, yet I have learnt so much about myself- especially, what I am not. In the three short chapters I have learnt the law of the lid, which speaks basically to potential. The law of influence, which summarizes leadership in just that one obvious yet oblivious word. Ultimately, the third chapter is the law of process which forced me into thinking-whoosh! The law of process is that of learning how to be a levder. It is the law of "Rome was not Built in a Day". It is the law that leaders produce leaders, and that any aspiring leader must learn at the feet of an established leader.

This brings me to this blog entry. While reading the chapter on the law of process it became apparent that I need a mentor. I have had great mentors in the past: three to be precise. First was my father. I cannot be what I am today if not for the greatest source of my inspiration on what a man should be. Second was my first boss in Corporate world: coincidentally, he is my kinsman (and I did not know it until my last day at work here in Houston while working for an Oil major). My Boss, as I choose to still call him (Oga), was hard on me. He straightened me out, crushed my wet in the ear ego & prepared me for the challenges ahead. The third mentor I have does not even know it. He is a much older friend. His insightful thoughts/words on life & family came in handy when I needed it most. He is a friend indeed.

One thing however unifies all my mentors today. They are miles away , do not engage in my line of endeavor & critical mentorship can hardly take place. To some, I might have outgrown their mentorship, to me I have simply been bettered by them enough to start seeking new hands to continue where they have stopped. The author, John C. Maxwell spoke about seeking out your mentors. I am determined to do so in 6 months.

So now you know- mentors wanted. Qualification: God fearing, visionary with outstanding qualities to lead & mould a would be leader & preferably within reach. By experience, what makes great mentors is fearlessness in the face of failure: even while being observed. I have watched my great mentors fail. Mentors are not selfish, they share, they are influential and rub off nicely on their mentees. Mentors see the big picture, they accept their unusual position with exceptional humility & dignity. Oh men, I need a mentor. Only when I am mentored, can I truly be a mentor to someone else. Tell them- I need one fast!

Updated: I just spoke to one of my mentors mentioned above, who agreed to introduce me to a suitable new mentor. Great mentors seek out greater ones. Lesson learned.

On Coincidences & the Dark Child

Sometimes repetitive observations serves useful purposes; but you start know you on the edge of losing your mind when you start gloating over mundane coincidences. Give say, seeing a particular number on the bill boards than others. I have since concluded it is eternally difficult to find a single person without a six in either their birth date, drivers licence number, license plate number or cellphone. If you do find such person, go ahead and tell me. To prove this, I had to mine my cellphone data in an Excel file- only busanga - and sorted it for six. I swear, 89% of all numbers on my cell had six in them. If you think say I dey lie, try am.

But one coincidence has even been troubling me lately. Check this out: I had started to fill up weekly at this Citgo gas station down the street. I normally used a Valero on the other end of the road, before I started noticing an appreciable price differential in the socialist ran, Chavez owned Venezuelan oil giant retail outlet. Not someone to pass up on cheap stuff- awoof dey run belle - I started gassing up the ride there. But to my amazement, five times, five weeks, different prices but characteristically empty yellow indicator, and I have always paid fifty bucks for gas at Citgo. How probable is that? With gas tax, to pay $50.00 five times? No penny less, no penny more. Personally, I think the machines in the station are communists! Okay may be I am paranoid, but am not complaining. The fifty bucks is five quids less than I used at Valero on the average.

Just finished reading the Dark Child by Camara Laye the Guinean author who dies in 1980. Such good re-read. I last read the book when I was twelve. The inflexions make more sense to me now. More detectable is the effect of translating from French to English. Personally, I don't think the happy dignified langauge that the book got translated in was the intent of the author. Some lines also got translated literarily like when he said: "my mother put herself out there for them than us". That is a literal translation from a West african thought- at least the Guineans had this in common with my own native Yoruba. "Mo ko ra mi si ta" means just that in Yoruba..."putting one self out".

The actual translation could mean being lenient or accommodating. Nevertheless, it was such an enjoyable read..a joyful story of growing and living in a lost Africa- one rural, yet so peaceful; shut from the rest of the world yet orderly; one agrarian yet so hopeful. That continent is forever lost to the upheaval of post-independence and the death of culture of reason, order & respect. The new continent is one without a soul- where anything goes!

Paris Hilton Tax is a Good Idea

Okay, now you can call me disingenuous but I do think the recent uproar over the preferential treatment given Paris Hilton should be a reasonable ground for proponents of estate tax to tax inheritances to escalate the national debate on this. This "slut of a whiny" (apologies to Jim Cramer who used those exact words on her) is a poster child on why mega-billions waiting to be passed to heirs and heiresses is such a bad idea.

Put aside the failure of the judicial system of God's own country to be fair and consistent, the overall picture you will get is a young lady whose only public claim to fame is a raunchy porn movie to which her parent were purported signatory after it leaked (thank the so called Enabler i.e. her mum) and a penchant to appeal to the dead beat cameras of the paparazzi & the country's adulation of low achievers like George W. Bush and herself. This young woman has never held a day job in her life, but is somehow expected someday to control Billions of the Hilton empire. If that is not good enough, the risk she will use this money to peddle smut rises by the day; I mean the more often you forget your underwear in the house, the more I believe you really want to advertise your anorexic goods- herself and Brittany that is. This girl is famous for nothing. She has no talent (even the smut video sucked- can u imagine?), except to be notorious.

The recent incident of her purported early release from jail simply because she was too sick just exposes the uneven judicial system in this country where justice has always been reserved for those with the right amount of money and the right color. This is a girl who was pulled over twice for DUI, caught driving under suspended licence twice yet did not see the big house on each of those occasions. Let ordinary Joe try the same thing- in fact it is a sure one strike and you are out. Yet somehow, the cops pulled her over, only wrote a ticket and allowed the luxury of Lawyer instead of a bails bond man! If that is not enough, even after being caught in violation and being placed on probation and then violating that all our "heiress" gets is an automatic 27 days of credit for good behaviour in advance. Gosh! This stinks to high heavens. Who gets good behaviour credits in advance from inner city jails? I mean which black man?

Now our own new age Jenna Jameson, gets to go to the big house and was released five days into her sentence because she was crying too much. Bla Bla bla bla! The Sheriff need to be fired! This was one favoritism taken too far it made no sense. Sick. But in any case, I personally think this smut pusher do not need those millions she is waiting in the wings to collect- it should go to a trust to pay for insurance for the uninsured children of America. If she wants the money, she should go spend one more night in Paris and make more movies! In any case I hope she enjoys her remaining time in jail now that she has been sent back. Geeeeeeeeez!