Lead with character – 1

“A good name is more desirable

than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.” – Proverbs 22:1

“Do not be misled: ‘Bad company

corrupts good character.” – 1 Corinthians 15:33

To’ju iwa re, ore mi,

Guard your character jealously my friend

Ola a ma si lo n’ile eni,

Wealth does vacate a household

Ewa a si ma si l’ara enia.

And beauty a body

Olowo oni ‘nd’olosi b’o d’ola,

Today’s wealthy man may turn tomorrow’s pauper

Okun l’ola, okun n’igbi oro,

Transient like the sea’s billows is the tide of accolades and riches

Gbogbo won l’o nsi lo n’ile eni;

All can vacate a man’s homestead

Sugbon iwa ni m’ba ni de sare’e,

But character dogs you to your grave

Owo ko je nkan fun ni.

Money avails nothing when you breathe your last

Iwa l’ewa omo enia,

The beauty of a man is his character

Bi o l’owo bi o ko ni’wa nko?

If you are wealthy but morally bankrupt

Tani je f’inu tan e ba s’ohun rere?

Who dare trusts you to partner with in a good venture?

Tabi ki o je obirin rogbodo,

Are you a gorgeous damsel with all panache and elegance in tow

Ti o ba jina si’wa ti eda nfe,

If you are far from the virtues that others hold in high esteem

Tani je fe o s’ile bi aya?

Which man will grace his home with you as wife?

Tabi ki o je onijibiti enia,

Perhaps you are a known swindler

Bi o tile mo iwe amodaju;

Even if you parade unparalleled intellect

Tani je gbe’se aje fun o se?

Who would dare commit an assignment of great value into your hands

Toju Iwa re, ore mi,

Guard your character jealously, my friend

Iwa ko si, eko d’egbe;

Without character, all scholarship is vain

Gbogbo aiye ni ‘nfe ‘ni t’o je rere.

The whole world celebrates a man of impeccable conduct.

If you asked anyone in the world today what the world’s greatest need is, he would likely tell you that it is a cure for COVID-19! Plausible as that answer may be, what COVID-19 has only done is to test the very foundations of our humanity, our priorities, the strength of our relationships, the structures we have built and are still building. As we read stories of how the pandemic has been managed from one state or nation, we see the worst and the best of humanity simultaneously on display. Unbridled benevolence has gone hand in hand with the most unethical practices you can find anywhere. While medical practitioners and frontline workers in other climes are paying a huge price at the expense of their own well-being to save lives, in Nigeria, we have seen some doctors decide that this is the best time to go on strike in order to force the hands of government to give them more money! The pandemic has simply exposed our underbelly! If there is any revival that the world currently needs, it is the revival of character.

COVID-19 will go but not before the world has made the necessary adjustments. True to type, the world will rebound, find a cure or a vaccine, learn some lessons, count its losses, bury its dead, adjust and simply move on.

However, post-COVID 19, the character vacuum will still be staring us in the face. The deficit is evident in our public and private institutions. All over the world, public officials are complicit in various forms of misdemeanor that simply reflect either a character deficit or a values somersault. How does one explain the current situation in Nigeria where the agency set up for the sole purpose of fighting corruption has itself recently come under scrutiny for unscrupulous practices? A case of the watchman now needing to be watched.

Ethical issues have always been on the front burner in many corporate circles. Yet we sometimes see worse underhand dealings in those organizations than we actually see in government circles. Proclamations and plaques on core values and ethical business are not worth more than the surfaces on which they are written if they find no expression in corporate conduct. Why is there such patent disconnect between organizational conduct and the expressed values? The answer is simple. What changes any organization is not the values system expressed, it is the values system espoused. Organizations are run by a team of individuals. Each of those individuals from the least to the highest in the hierarchy is the face of the organization to the public. This holds true for families, churches, non-governmental organizations, businesses and government. A collective simply assumes the character of those leading or comprising it. This is what makes the case for virtuous leadership if an organization desires to be in operation for the long haul.

Without people of good character, an organization is at great risk, irrespective of the strength of its value proposition to the market place. The emphasis of organizations must therefore begin to shift from mere discussions and training programmes on ethical corporate processes and outcomes. The attention must be placed on the deliberate development and emergence of corporate culture based on the character of individual employees. One unscrupulous employee with a negative attitude occupying a sensitive position can cause disaffection within the ranks, lower productivity, and destroy the credibility of an entire organization.

The hiring process must place more premium on character than academic or intellectual credentials. That a candidate has a First Class from Stanford or Harvard does not confer character. Without character, such a candidate, if hired, may put the organization in jeopardy because of the arrogance of intellect which makes him look down on others and thus finds it difficult to work seamlessly within a team dynamic… continued

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

The poem quoted above emerged from the Yoruba concept of “Omoluabi” (Omo ti Olu iwa bi) translated as the “off spring of the Lord of character”. This is an acknowledgement of the fact that our character is shaped by our perception of or connection with a deeper spiritual essence that is at the core of our being. The more conscious we are of this connection, the greater our sense of accountability both to that Source (which we know as God, sometimes interpreted as our conscience) and to others with whom we relate in our daily operations. In the traditional Yoruba society, performance, achievements, utterances are all evaluated in the context of the character of the person with whom they are associated. It is what will determine whether his achievements or accolades are greeted with a sneer or celebrated with aplomb.

In my home town when I was growing up, anyone who displayed any form of affluence without evidence of underpinning integrity and transparency was held at arm’s length by the entire community and the children warned to steer clear of him and refuse gifts from him.

Without any shadow of doubt, the times seem to have changed and character seems to be the casualty of a rapidly emergent dysfunctional society where the lines between right and wrong are getting more and more opaque by the day… continued

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!

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