Mrs Toyin Sanni has worked her way to the top of her chosen career. She rose through the ranks to get to the position of Assistant General Manager (Trust Services) at First Trustees Nig. Limited, a subsidiary of First Bank, from where she was headhunted for the position of MD/CEO of Cornerstone Trust Limited when she was just 37 years old. She was later appointed CEO, Trustees/Global Investors Services, a subsidiary of UBA Group before becoming Group Chief Executive Officer, United Capital Plc. She has over the years emerged as a recognized and respected voice in the country’s financial sector. What facilitated this career progress? What helped this lawyer, chartered secretary, stockbroker, author, pastor, wife and mother achieve her feats?
Trust in God
ToyinSanni has a solid belief in God and this, she believes, has helped a great deal in her journey through life and career. According to her, she daily draws strength and inspiration from God which prepares her for the task for that day. “I maintain a strong personal relationship with God,” she says. What this belief does for her is that it enables her to knock off every limit. She does not believe that there is a height she cannot reach. Her favourite Biblical quote is, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” This enables her to push the limits and achieve what hitherto had been thought to be beyond her. She says, “You can be everything God wants you to be. The major issue is that we underestimate what God has deposited in us.”
Being purpose-driven
Her belief in God gives her an understanding that everything in her life is connected to her mission in life. She sees her career, job, family, calling as a pastor and other aspects of her life as routes that lead to the same destination, which is her life mission. Thus every step taken by Mrs Sanni in any aspect of her life has a linkage with what she considers as the overall purpose of God for her life. According to her, “As far back as I can remember, I have never involved myself in anything I don’t believe is part of my mission in life. This gives me the drive, commitment and willingness to sacrifice and enables me to keep doing what I do without regrets.”
Being focused or purpose-driven is a critical success factor because it enables the individual to concentrate on what is important and ignore trivial issues. Those who concentrate on important issues eventually become important in life, while those who dissipate energy in different directions become anonymous. The more of the important things a person engages in, the more valuable in life he becomes.
Connecting with life mission and working on it to the exclusion of other things brings harmony to life and tranquility to the mind. This is the strength of many successful people.
Personal development
Mrs Sanni believes strongly in personal development. She is an ardent reader and an unrepentant knowledge seeker. She believes that the progressively knowledgeable always have an edge over others. So, she daily grows her knowledge base so that she will not be overrun by new developments.
Personal development is personal business. Your organization may take it upon itself to train you but if you limit your personal development to the training opportunities provided by your organization, you will not develop as much as you ought to because you will be at the level of the average person in your organization. Average people get average result and average rewards. To go far in your chosen career, take your personal development seriously.
Self confidence
Though she works in a male-dominated industry, ToyinSanni never feels intimidated by this. She is confident in herself and will not allow to be pushed away by anybody. She is assertive without being disrespectful and proud without being arrogant. The secret of this confidence is her competence. Managers and bosses want to work with confident subordinates but it is competence that boosts confidence. Anyone who is not competent will not be surefooted and this will tellingly affect their career progression. So, self-confidence is a necessary attribute for career success. But confidence without competence is nothing but arrogance and the end product of arrogance is a crash.
Hard work
Sanni recommends hard work for everyone, especially women. Her reason is that women are often overlooked for senior positions. But she said that those who distinguish themselves in an indisputable way are eventually recognized and rewarded irrespective of their gender
The antidote for hard life has not changed; it is still hard work. Hard work makes high dreams come true.
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