Monthly Archives: October 2023

It takes two to tango. Hand washing is one of the recommended hygienic practices in this global coronavirus pandemic season but it takes two hands to wash each hand properly and satisfactorily. As I washed my hands I thought about the power of reciprocity. Each hand works hard to make sure the other hand is clean.

A story was told about the difference between heaven and hell. At the beginning, there is no difference between people in heaven and those in hell. They have the same kind of food and long spoons. The only difference is the mindset of the people. When food is brought to them, those in hell think it is competition. They want to eat all the food they can eat by themselves and for themselves. But the spoon is too long they cant get the food into their mouth, unfortunately. Those in heaven know the power of reciprocity so each one of them feeds the person opposite with the food and they are all fed. While the people in hell grow lean and emaciated, those in heaven grow plump and well nourished.

We are told that certain things are reciprocal. Let’s consider a few this moment: respect, love and friendship.

Respect is reciprocal. Everybody deserves respect and everybody loves to be respected. Sometimes the problem is not so much about cultural differences in what constitutes disrespect, but ones deliberate attempt to look down on another persons or certain person from certain places, color or creed. The world will be a better place when everybody makes conscious effort to respect the other. It is the duty of leaders to ensure that mutual respect is given its prime consideration within the organizational culture. Any and all acts of disrespect cannot be condoned because any disrespect to one threatens the respect for all.

Love is reciprocal. The good book advises us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Beyond telling people that you love them ( which is always a delight to hear from people that you actually love), you have to show it. Love is actually better shown than told. You cannot go about telling everybody that you love them but you can go about loving everybody. The problem is that love has been bastardized. If you tell a stranger you love him or her, the corruption in the world will twist and misinterpret it in ways that you didn’t intend. But little acts of love are all the people need for love to go round. In a world that is full of hatred, little acts of love (kindness) can make all the difference and make someone’s day. If you show me love and I show you love wouldn’t that be gracious and wouldn’t we both be happy? It is like the two hands that wash each other clean.

Friendship is reciprocal. Everybody needs friends. In a corrupt world we are now much more careful about who we actually identify as ‘friend’ but it still feels good to know that you have someone who got your back and whose back you got. But it takes two to tango. If I am always the one looking out for you and you are busy looking out for yourself, how long will it be before our friendship dies? It doesn’t do anybody good to have a bunch of people he thinks are his friends but when he needs a friend none of them is there for him. Nobody wants a fiend that is there making withdrawals without deposits. Joel Olsen said the ones that make the least deposits make the most withdrawals. That is not friendship, if anything that is fiend-ship and parasitism.

What do we do to parasites? We get rid of them by all means. Parasites are business people. Parasites are in it for what they get. Friendship is business but not business as in the parasitic usual. It is business that thinks ‘we’ and ‘us’ not ‘me’ and ‘mine’. It is a mutual business that is supposed to leave everybody better off and nobody worse off. Friendship is us understanding that what is good for me is good for you so if we have to share stuff, whether you are there or not I am required, by the spirit of friendship, to be fair and equitable. That is friendship and anytime I fail short of that expectation, friendship is compromised. Compromised friendship is betrayal, it is treachery, it is greed, it is avarice, it is murder, it is wickedness.

Think about the people you consider friends today. Begin with that one person you would go over and beyond to rescue and judge for yourself if they would go a mile for you . If their loyalty is doubtful, their friendship is possibly doubtful too. Maybe they want something from you. Find out what they want, give it to them and let them go. On this journey of life you need to travel light and one of those heavy loads you don’t want to carry along your way is the load of fake friends. Leaders understand this and they act promptly. Nothing changes unless you make the change. Be the change you want to see, because good friends make you operate at your Pareto Efficient State.

Love and Peace

@MezieOkolo

03/17/2020

The last time I checked the Pope was the leader of the Catholic Church. I remember when it was time to elect the new pope several of my friends here had their candidate and even prayed special mass for one of our own to be chosen. No doubt the leader of an organization speaks volumes about the future of that organization. There is something they know that the rest of us are not privy to.

As a leader, you model what you want to see. You stir your organization in the direction you want it to go. Mr T was elected partly based on the promise of “America First”. It doesn’t matter if you agree with him or not, when you become you can initiate and champion your own agenda. Even if you think Pope or Mr T or any leader for that matter is not doing well, politically and positionally speaking you cannot be more Catholic than the Pope or more American than Mr T

Think of America as an organization and the Catholic Church as an organization, then see yourself as the pope of your organization. If you were a young man, you took a wife and you began to raise a family, then think yourself as the pope of that organization that you began to raise, that is, your family. You have to rise up daily to challenges that confront you at the family level. It may not be tsunami or corona but it could erode you mentally, emotionally, economically, socially and so on.

It then behoves you to not only care for it today but to model the future you want to see or be remembered for in your family. We must stop seeing someone else as a leader and counting ourselves out of leadership roles. You are as important in your spot as the pope is and as Mr T is in his spot at the Oval Office. Every principle you adopt, every decision you make, everything you ignore counts, to some degree. This is important.

So the next time you criticize any leader, do not end that criticism until you have asked yourself “what would I do differently in his spot?”. Why would I do it differently? I am talking about decisions made in real time without the benefit of hindsight. In hindsight, everybody sees clearly and everybody knows better. If you analyze anybody in hindsight you would have done better than he did because you have the added advantage of hindsight but if you put yourself in the shoes of the fellow as it is happening…let me tell you, you will probably do worse.

Coronavirus is here and everybody is talking. Some are mad some irritated and some just fearful of the unknown expecting the leaders to do magic. They are doing the best they know and they mean well for us. Can we really be more Catholic than the Pope? We have to be patient, be obedient and follow simple instructions. As they know better they will make better decisions and they will instruct us on better ways to handle the situation and emerging situations.

On your own, while you complain and whine maybe because you are bored at home, what do you contribute? Are you part of the problem or the solution? The world is waiting for you to find the cure for corona virus. Don’t you know that? Haven’t you figured it out? Now you got the challenge. Do something about it other than complain. Have a nice day folks

@MezieOkolo

03/26/2020

The commandment to subdue the world was given to leaders (not managers). God did not create us to just manage his resources on earth but to lead the rest of creation, and to subdue everything he created. One of those things we need to subdue is FEAR. Fear has a way of attracting that which you are afraid of.

One of the lessons I learned from my many years of working in ‘corporate’ America is that there are differences between leaders and managers. In literature we see these two used interchangeably but ideally, they are different. One of the schools of thought has it that leaders decide what needs to happen and managers make sure it happens. Leaders set the expectation, managers implement the strategies that get the organization to the predetermined destination.

So it is the duty of leaders to do the right things so managers can do things right (as determined by the leadership). Even though we are called to leadership, at the macro level we all lead at different levels. This is because as the manager is implementing policies and strategies at his local branch which was decided by the leadership, he is leading his group and modeling everything the organization wants to represent.

So in effect, a manager is wearing more than just one hat, and so is the leader. We all wear more than just one hat in the present day world. If all you know is just one thing, how would you survive in the competitive work environment of this century? When you say ‘it is not my job’, check again. I know you went to college and have a masters degree so you cannot be a janitor right? When you walk into your office and see a piece of paper on the ground do you call the janitor to come pick it up because you have masters degree? Better still, do you let paper drop on the floor after all there is a janitor who is paid to clean up behind everybody?

Talking about fear; when you let fear decide what you do and where you invest your energy, you set yourself up for a big failure. In the first place, fear blocks your instinct and retards your ability to make quality decisions. Fear also drains your natural energy and cognitive reasoning. The good book calls it a ‘snare’. It literally ensnares you and ‘cages’ that which makes you ‘pop’. The first enemy that has to be conquered is fear itself. Unfortunately most of corporate places are run by fear…I don’t want to be written up; I don’t want to be fired; I don’t want to get into trouble etc. Even your boss that you are afraid of is afraid of someone else…can you imagine? I used to work for a company back in the day, when one of the big bosses was passing or visiting the next neighboring state people will not sleep good in Texas. Everybody would be panicking.

There is an element of fear in people at work depending on which hat they wear per time, either as a leader or a manager. The more of fear you overcome the more of leadership skills you free to exhibit and the less of fear you overcome the more of manager roles you play. Although everybody has this element of fear, great leaders figure out how to overcome fear and work by faith, both in themselves and in the system where they operate. When you work within a fearless, informed and empowered team you love working. The problem is that sometimes you don’t find this kind of work environment in the places you thought you would find them. Have you not heard that people don’t quit jobs, they quit managers. Nobody wants to work in a place that literally ‘sucks’.

The take home today for us would be an assignment. What kind of work environment do you want to build or model? What challenges do you face and how would you tackle those challenges? What are you most afraid of as an leader and what measures need to be put in place to eliminate this fear?

Love and Peace

@MezieOkolo

03/27/2020

Yesterday we talked about fear, which limits us in our ability to subdue our world even in corporate settings. We highlighted a few differences between leaders and managers, and the role of fear in how effective these people are in discharging their duties.

Today we want to look at fear a little more but with emphasis on the virus of fear. In this trying period of global coronavirus pandemic, one of my friends observed that the virus of fear is worse than the virus of corona. When people hear the number of deaths recorded so far, they panic, and panic-buy stuff. The society is saturated with the virus of fear and it is palpable. No thanks to the news media and no thanks to the unavoidable shut down and stay at home order.

If all you do is eat all the food you have panic-bought and watch the news as the death tolls go up by the minutes, you will be depressed. The virus of fear has increased the anxiety level in society to astronomical levels…that also is a problem.

The world already has enough problems and we don’t want you adding more to it. We are looking for solutions, and we will find solutions if we look hard and long enough.

As a public health epidemiologist let me tell you that the numbers you hear in the news don’t tell all the stories there are. I am not trying to down play the severity of corona but it has to be put in perspective. Every new or emerging disease devastates before it is contained. You can name any disease and do simple google search and see how many people it killed before the world figured it out. Recently we know about Ebola, SARS, even the almighty malaria, flu etc. I told us that God gave us the ability to subdue our world, and this coronavirus will not be different. If you look at the numbers they are high and scary but when you look at them as rates, then you put them in perspective. For example, how many people in the US are at risk of corona and how many people are diagnosed and/or how many people have died from it? That puts it in perspective. You understand?

We already had the virus of fear in society long before the virus of corona came around, and so beyond the virus of corona what is our plan for virus of fear in society and the vices that linger because of the virus of fear? Evil continues to thrive because good people keep quiet. Our society is out of alignment and there is no argument about it, but my concern is that we the people have become too taciturn in the face of deteriorating society and incompetent governance.

What happened to civil rights movements? Let’s look at Nigeria as a case study. Why can’t we hold our leaders to account? I am proud of but worried for the United States as she actively and gallantly fights corona virus and its vices, when corona hits Nigeria big time, what plan does the government have in place for the people? In the US, people have been on house quarantine and government is talking about stimulus package to buffer the effect of corona vices, government is providing materials and aggressively doing research and partnering with as well as fielding her best players in a concerted effort to annihilate and eradicate the unwanted corona visitor. We can see that something is being done to contain corona.

Hello Nigerians, what is the plan? China will not send you any hand sanitizers or toilet papers or even antiseptic hand soap. What is the plan? Tylenol is going on back order so india and China will not send you API or finished Tylenol, what is your plan? The airport is closed, I hope it is also closed for the likes of PMB and his cohort Alh Abba Kyari who was said to have tested positive to the corona. Which hospital will they fly out to? London is busy trying to contain the virus so I am not sure they will leave their own dying people to attend to clueless political leaders that have left there home front to dilapidate under their watch. How do you explain that Nigerians are happy their leaders are testing positive to corona? Isn’t it a shame?

But the virus of fear will not let us get together and kick these clueless men out of the corridors of power. So as you wash your hands, stay away from any crowd of any kind including church and mosque, close the gate of your house so you don’t entertain visitors for now….think about what we can do to regain our country back from the hands of charlatans..let this corona virus and the corona panic wake us up to the chronic vices of society. There is something we can do about it. We cannot explain to generations unborn that when corona hit, there was no single hospital in the country ready and equipped to challenge the vices of corona. The vices of corona are worse than the virus of corona.

Be safe folks Love and peace

Mezie Okolo is Public Health and Leadership Analyst @mezieokolo.com 03/28/2020

On the 16th of February 2020, I made a post with similar title which targeted different audiences. Today I feel like revisit that post in the light of the present day biological war against COVID-19.

Historians among us will remember Emperor Nero. Although notoriously brutal and ineffective as a leader, Nero may not have literally fiddled while Rome burnt because the fiddle was not invented until after about 1500 years later; but whatever he did and who he was prior to and during the fire incident could figuratively equate to fiddling while Rome (again literally and figuratively) burnt.

While the people blamed Nero for the fire outbreak that consumed about 70% of the city, Nero blamed the early Christians. Although he took advantage of the fire to build his own palace and gardens, he slaughtered the early Christians who became his scapegoats. The fire outbreak, behind which Nero hid to annihilate Christians became also the beginning of the end of the reign and the life of the notorious emperor.

Every time you are in a position to make a difference and you fail in that call of duty for whatever reason, you look like Nero, you represent Nero and you could end like Nero. More seriously, history will not be kind to you as is the case with Nero till this day. Also, every time you find yourself in settings where you could use who you are, what you have and what you know to help humanity or represent the helpless and you choose rather to play partisan politics, keep mute or dance to the gallery of nepotism, you are not better than Nero.

The story, and history of Rome under Nero the notorious emperor reminds us today that we are writing history by the deliberations we have here in this platform and elsewhere, but more importantly by the things we do or fail to do. Whatever that expression means to you, whether you take it literally or figuratively, see to it that you do not fiddle while Africa (especially Nigeria) burns.

Maybe it is for this reason that you are here at this time to help get Africa back on the path of progress and development. We must not be parochial when duty calls neither shall we be wimpy in taking decisions and making, if need be, sacrifices that are unprecedented. The mindset with which we approach the issues is very important. If you say you can, then you can. If you say you cannot, you are also absolutely correct.

We need fresh ideas and initiatives so desperately and we cannot push the problems that confront us forward or sideways for someone else…we got to figure them out by all means. So rather than trade blames like Nero did, we need our leaders to take ownership and responsibility on the issues that we have to confront. We need our leaders to carry us along and to communicate to us. There is a need to field our best players, fully equipped with the best of what we have and what we can improvise.

What affects one of us affects all of us because we are all in this war together. COVID-19 has hit us for real and our leaders seem to be hiding. If you cannot lead us from the front during crisis we make bold to declare that we don’t need you in that position anymore, whatever your name or job title is, from Aso rock to Ogbunka. At all levels of leadership we need updates on what you are doing to take care of our people who are infected by corona and those who are at home that have nothing to eat while we hibernate.

We call on the president to show example. This is not time to run to London to treat headache or corona cough. We don’t want Nigerians dying from lack of adequate care during this pandemic. Supplies are already insufficient which means the system has already failed before the battle. The world is watching and those of us in diaspora are waiting anxiously. There is fire on the mountain and we cannot continue to fiddle while motherland burns.

Mezie Okolo is Public Health and Leadership Analyst @mezieokolo.com 03/29/2020

When you decide to run for public office, included in that package is the understanding that you make yourself a public servant not public lord, and therefore you become subject to the people. Public servants are at the beck and call of the people they serve.

Now African leaders at all levels need to hear this and hear it very clearly. I don’t care whether you are called President or High Chief ( I didn’t know we had low chiefs before), you are a servant….servants run errands and when they steal they are beaten up right? We need to beat up lots of people, by the way.

Last night I watched a trending video from Enugu State and I could relate with those poor local women lamenting about the closure of Akpata market and how they now have no other options than to hawk along the road at Mgbemena. They were begging the government to reopen the market so that these women, some of whom sustained injuries while being chased out of the market, could find something to eat.

I understand that the government wants to contain the spread of corona virus but there is no contingency plan in place to contain corona hunger. Would you rather die of corona virus or corona hunger? I believe these people understand the risk but have no options especially in a situation where government has no plan to help or alleviate the sufferings of the people in any way.

Today I decided to call out the governor and the government of Enugu State. I don’t know what you have done or is doing to mitigate corona hunger. I was trying to see if there are any trending videos of any response from the government to the effect of what they intend to do in the market situation. Social distancing is good but hunger does not understand turenchi.

By extension, it will be good to know what other governors are doing and how different communities are addressing hunger during this season of corona lockdown. We don’t want corona virus but we don’t want to die of corona hunger. Please share your experiences, both the good, the bad and the ugly so we can all learn, maybe some of our government officials will emulate good practice and adopt same. Your thoughts?

Mezie is a leadership analyst at www.mezieokolo.com 04/16/2020