Leadership lessons from a chess prodigy (2)

Happy New Year to all readers of this column. I pray that 2018 will bring you untold joy and series of good tidings. The lessons in this series, if learnt and applied, will deliver to you an astounding, achievement-filled 2018. So, keep faith with me as we continue the adventure. Enjoy!

Gloria, another young girl from the slums had mastered the game of chess and was the top female player in the shed. Phiona was assigned to her for her first lesson in the game. And boy, did she know the game. In very simple-to-follow, everyday contemporary language that got Phiona’s eyes riveted on the board, Gloria taught the rookie her first lesson in chess and laid the foundation for what she would become. In a series of moves that saw a pawn successfully making the trajectory from one end of the board to another and becoming promoted to a Queen, Gloria learnt that in chess, and indeed in life, the small one can become the big one. So, never look down on or belittle yourself. If you do not give up, life awaits you with a series of promotions.

Night, Phiona’s sister, is not as resilient as her younger sister. She hated the life of the slum with a passion and thought she could escape it by the wayward life that sought escape in promiscuity. She ran away with a young man and ended up a single mother, an eloquent testimony to the fact that a destructive means can never lead to a constructive end. In life, the end does not always justify the means. Great leaders don’t become great because of what they achieved but because of how they achieved it.

In one of his coaching sessions, the coach Katende taught his pupils the value of planning and strategy. According to him, there will be threats from various sides and very often, the odds can be very overwhelming. You must therefore learn to analyze your threats and device a plan to neutralize them. But you must learn to follow your plans and find safe squares if you must survive.

Phiona quietly internalized these lessons. In her first major game, she beat the local champion in the shed. Incredible! How could a newcomer to the game do that? Overcome by the shame of a dented ego, worsened by the fact that he had just been beaten by a girl, the erstwhile champion walks away in anger. This is something you must never do as a player in life. Don’t be a sore loser. Every loss should teach you some valuable lessons about the deficiency of your strategy. Phiona herself learnt this lesson much later in her chess career. When asked by the coach if she was afraid of losing in a particular tournament, she replied, “Losing teaches me how to play better”

Through a series of twists and turns, the first big opportunity came for “The Pioneers”, these untested, largely illiterate, rustic ghetto kids to play the ‘city kids’ of one of the nation’s most prestigious schools. It was a moment they all looked forward to. The opportunity had not come on a platter of gold. They had prepared hard for this moment. But when faced with the reality of a possible fulfillment of their dreams, they developed cold feet. Awed by the environment and bogged down by a bad self-esteem, they concluded there was no way they could ever be a match for these city children who wore uniforms, lived in hostels and slept on beds! In the hostel accommodation provided for them, all members of The Pioneers slept on the floor because none of them ever knew what a bed was for! They all resolved that they would return to their familiar terrain in the slums. Isn’t that what many of us do when we are confronted with challenges that appear insurmountable? Recourse to default mode is hardly the position of those who plan to win big in life.

At this point, the coach told them a story. A ferocious, overfed dog was in pursuit of a small cat. The cat outran the dog and in a few minutes, left the dog panting and unable to pursue any further while the cat escaped. When asked later how he was able to outrun the dog, the cat replied, “He was running for his food but I was running for my life”! With this lesson in mind and a session of prayers (you must never forget the God-factor), the children were emboldened to go and take on their ‘”Goliaths”.  They won!

Whatever you desire and are willing to pursue as if your life depended on it, life will deliver to you. The option of a bed to return to was what kept the man by the pool of Bethesda in John 5 in the same location for thirty-eight years! Whenever he lost the opportunity provided by the angel’s stirring of the pool to a more determined sick person, he simply crawled back to his bed!

The sage Socrates was visited by a young man who wanted to acquire wisdom. The sage took him on a walk by the seashore. Then he stepped into the waters and invited the young seeker to join him. As they stood waist-deep in the water, the waves hit their bodies and cascaded past the two men en route the shore. Suddenly, the sage grabbed the neck of the young man and dipped his head into the water, holding it down for a few seconds.

Bringing him up, the sage asked, “What do you really want young man?”. The young man replied, “Wisdom, wise one, wisdom”. A few moments later, the process was repeated but with the young man’s head under water for a longer period. The same question posed by the sage elicited the same response from the young man. Before the young man could finish his response, the sage grabbed him again and dipped his head in the water, this time for a period that seemed like eternity. When he was brought out of the water, the young man could barely stand on his feet and was gasping so desperately for breath while spewing out the water he had taken in. The sage asked again, “Young man, what do you really want?”

“Air, wise one” as he coughed and gasped simultaneously, “I want air!”. The sage smiled as he led him out of the water and back to shore.

When they had settled down and the young man was calmer, Socrates said, “Until you want something as badly as you wanted air a few moments ago, do not expect life to deliver it to you.” It is futile pursuing anything that you do not REALLY want. Success is not in your fantasies. Even losers live in ‘la-la land’ where castles spring up in the air. True success is delivered on the platform of dogged pursuit as if your life depended on it.

Because it does! … continued

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