Introduction: Welcome again to our online and on-air rendezvous. I trust that this interface is beneficial to you. We must keep this fire burning. We must continue to meet minds since, apart from helping us to ventilate our medulla oblongata, it also has a way of healing others reading/listening.
ASK THE BOSS is framed to be both a fan and a healer. You cannot encounter us and remain the same negative. There’s always a profit. There’s always value added.
The pick of the day is a double-barrelled entry by Mr John Effiong. In spite of and despite the fact that the chosen entry is brief, I fear that it might require a longish response. I apologise in advance. I believe though, you’d like it.
I like the innocence that drips from sender’s questions. Suddenly I am beginning to feel a strong, genuine desire in our youngsters to aim higher than just being anybody’s errand boys or thugs or such other human robots. This emerging trend, if entrenched, can fix Nigeria wowishly. Forgive that deviation, here’s Mr. Effiong’s love letter to me:
2.0 ‘THE BOSS, as a successful leader, public speaker and entrepreneur, how did you begin? What are the challenges you faced when you started BUSH HOUSE NIGERIA? And how did you overcome them? Sir, I will appreciate if you also explain how the young or maybe inexperienced presenter-you were able to build your boldness and self-confidence.’
3.0 MY TAKE: Many thanks, dear Mr. John Effiong, for writing in, and for all the wonderful sentiments you expressed about our little efforts. It is for appreciative people like you that we go to every length to up our game every day. However , while I don’t know about being ‘a successful leader, public speaker and entrepreneur,’ I can tell you how I began. As soon as I came into my own, God put in my heart the love for broadcasting/journalism.
4.0 I nurtured it all the way, emerging at some point as best Radio Listener in AkwaCross because of the cornucopia of letters I sent to radio programmes and newspapers. Later in the wee 90’s, when I had an opening to join the Radio Family (first UniUyo Student Union FM Station and later 90 dot 5 FM, Uyo), I humbled myself so much that I was trampled upon. But that’s a story for another day. That humility, which is a rare virtue in the profession, became my silent announcer introducing me to managers who wanted a cool-headed beginner to execute their brief.
5.0 Before long, I had so become the toast of both bosses as well as listeners that even as a mere Guest Artiste, I produced and presented well over five solid programmes for Radio Akwa Ibom. I remember Medley Showcase, Stereo 90 Hitwaves, Makossa Agogo, Hilltop Safari, and Easy Beats, and later on 20
QUESTIONS. Therefore, Mr. Effiong, imbibe humility. Nothing exalts anyone the way this down-to-earth quality does.
6.0 Next, develop capacity (to perform and to hold on, no matter the odds). When you have the flair, and you know the job, and you have passion for it, no force can stop you. These qualities ensure that you are permanently a constant in the big league. Now, to capture this rather ‘tedious’ answer in a nutshell, let me say that I BEGAN SMALL; HUMBLY; PASSIONATELY and above all, BELIEVINGLY!
7.0 As for the challenges I faced and how I overcame them, I will beg to disappoint you by saying one, that it is not ‘challenges I faced,’ it is challenges I face because even at this moment, they are staring at me, eyeball to eyeball. Since I never glorify challenges, let me just say that 95% of challenges people like me face at the start of a venture and ever after are man-made. You are always going to find people who should patronise or support you refusing to do it for no reason at all. You are always going to find people who should patronise or support you patronising or supporting you but vehemently refusing to pay.
8.0 You are always going to find a government or individuals in it who with just one word can take your business to power ten, mysteriously keeping quiet and looking away. In our society, the ever-subservient aides are so trained to understand that this body language of the political ‘Oga at the top,’ means they should do everything to strangle/strangulate you. Only God can deliver you from all three scenarios above. In my case, He did.
9.0 He continues to, beautifully. I am thankful. What this means, Mr. Effiong, is that no matter the quantum of humility you exude or how much knowledge and flair and passion you have for your job, it is fundamentally essential that YOU ALSO HAVE GOD ON YOUR SIDE. Otherwise, your place will soon be empty; God forbid.
10.0 It is God that constantly refreshes me with the grace to overcome all those challenges that keep raising their ugly heads per time. I have no other (more cogent) explanation! Furthermore, at least at one point in everyone’s life, everyone must be young or inexperienced. I once was.
11.0 Well, I may still be. But, here’s how to work around inexperience. First though, let me clarify that inexperience and the lack of boldness or self-confidence are not a function of age. We still get to see in this clime many old people who are so inexperienced and timid that they catch cold anytime a far younger person in power or wealth sneezes.
12.0 No, let’s run back to winning ways. A young person or anyone at all will gather experience if they acquired some knowledge, stayed focused, kept an open mind, allowed time on one job at a time and learned from their and others’ mistakes or activities. For boldness and self-confidence, I build them by doing a number of ‘crazy’ things; some of which I can share here. One; to, by and with only myself I celebrate, and am thankful for, my little victories.
13.0 Why that? It’s my own confidence-building strategy. It has a way of jump-starting me from the inside and cheering me on, all the way. Two; when I feel low I engage the reverse gear of my brain to remember the sweet nothings that my teeming fans have written about or said to me.
14.0 That always brings a smile that says to me, wordlessly, ‘THE BOSS, you are better than this and you know it. Go on.’ I always go on to over-perform; even if I say so myself. Three; (and this is one of my deepest secrets) if I am on air with an interviewee who expects their powerful position or wealth to intimidate me, I rewind my mind to focus only on their poverty or powerlessness heyday.
15.0 As I look at them with my false mental eyes, I put them down. That puts me high up there, instantly. You catch my point, don’t you? No poor or powerless being can intimidate you or me.
16.0 Sssh, tell no one what you know. Now, let me play the Father Christmas that I am not. Mr. John Effiong, let me give you something you didn’t ASK THE BOSS. How do you never allow your boldness or self-confidence to grow wildly into say, arrogance?
17.0 Again, I can share a very personal talismanic tactic with you: whenever a victory/praise starts to head for my head or I face the temptation of making a noise about any achievement, I INSTANTANEOUSLY remind myself that ALL THE ACES ARE NOT IN MY MINDS; THAT THEY ARE IN GOD’S. And that the good old Man could withdraw the few I hold, any moment. Nothing deflates any human pride like that kind of home truth. Secondly, if I don’t want to get that spiritual, I simply fall back to recalling some of the most acidic criticisms made against me.
18.0 Nothing jolts a human being back to reality-centric humility like the memory that no matter how excellent you think your efforts are; some guys out there think you are at best a jester! And, yes, we are all jesters. We didn’t know where we came from nor shall we ever know we go hereafter.
Conclusion: I apologise again for SO LONG A TAKE. I can only pray that you find it worthwhile. Going forward, I enjoin you to keep inboxing any social dilemma you need advice on, to me. Many thanks, and God bless Nigeria!
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