Eight moves ahead! For an illiterate ghetto girl, it was a feat that was enigmatic if not eerie in its manifestation. It was clear that Phiona did not choose chess. Chess chose Phiona. And that is the thrust of great leadership. Great leaders don’t just wake up and decide to do anything that catches their fancy or gets them attention. It is the result of an inexplicable pull that supplies a zeal that fuels pursuit in a way that appears absurd or even foolhardy to the ordinary observer. Whenever anyone finds that pull, he has found his platform for leadership.
However, calculations do go wrong and projections do fail. But the path of least resistance should never be the option of a leader. “Do not be quick to tip your King” was the coach’s advice to Phiona in a game where it was becoming evident that Phiona was going to lose and she quickly laid down her King. Tipping the King was an act of surrender that admitted defeat even when the game was far from being over. Success is triumph with many tries!
Unfortunately, in the moments of seeming defeat, there is a tendency to look around instead of inwards. In such moments, one could fall into a default setting that prefers status quo to a reality that appears unattainable. At a time when it seemed that the game was not going in their favour, The Pioneers learnt two indelible quick lessons from the coach. The first is that sometimes, where you are used to is not where you belong. Indeed, comfort zone is sometimes danger zone. The familiar is often the chief enemy of the unusual. The second lesson is that you do not have to follow the path of the despondency around you unless you choose to. A lot of undesired and undesirable things may happen to you, but you must learn to reset the pieces and play again! These lessons will prove invaluable to you as you navigate your journey through the labyrinths of 2018!
Whatever you know to do, always reinvent yourself. Never stop learning if you don’t want to start dying. The peak of knowledge in their time is the starting point of champions. Develop and hone your skills. As David taught us in the Bible with King Saul and with Goliath, the development of your skill is your way of escape from the mundane. He developed musical and slinging skills in the obscurity of a pasture. But fame came calling when a ‘mad’ king needed soothing music and when an entire nation needed deliverance from a needling giant called Goliath.
As her game improved along with her winning streak, Phiona looked at her mother one day and declared she was going to buy her a house, a ‘prophecy that came to pass in less than two years after it was made. Speak your desire into the atmosphere this year. Words are the vehicle that desires ride into fulfillment.
As Phiona dedicated herself to the game of chess, she was taught to read and write by the wife of the coach and she spent hours in the night poring over books on the game while others slept. The pursuit of destiny comes at a price. Nobody sleeps his way into greatness!
As Phiona’s game improved, so did her confidence; until her ego began to override her reasoning. She began to take things for granted – until she was beaten in a tournament that she was so sure of winning and which would have had a turning point effect on her chess career. She was brought back to reality by the coach who counselled, “Slow it down, think it through. Then you will see the traps coming”.
Analytical thinking is the forte of great leaders. The ability to think things through actually facilitates the achievement of great success in any endeavour. When there is good thinking behind a product, it records soar-away success in the marketplace. In the words of a Toyota advert, “Good thinking, good product”.
As you progress through the year, never allow your success to become bigger than your character. As Phiona began to get more exposed to the outside world, she began to disdain and even resent her environment and rustic life and loathed returning there after each tournament. She began to develop exotic appetites and exotic appearances to the chagrin of her mother who began to feel bad for having allowed her to play the game beyond the ghetto.
Every leader needs stabilizers and encouragers. Robert (the coach) provided a shoulder to lean on for her husband even when it did not appear that much would come out of what he was doing with his life when he should be looking for a white-collar job. This year, surround yourself with encouragers who will be able to fire up the greatness in you and make you believe in yourself again even when you are on the verge of writing you off!
Finally, distractions will come in the form of attractive propositions. These only come at the edge of a breakthrough. Just at the point where The Pioneers (his team) were beginning to get national and international acclaim, the coach got an invitation to resume immediately in an Engineering position in the State Water Board, a position he had applied for earlier but was told there was not much of a hope of employment. The offer helped him to recognize what he hadn’t earlier. His destiny was in raising champions out of nobodies, not in a salaried job in an office. A sage once said that your salary is the bribe that the employer gives you to make you kiss your dreams goodbye!
In school, I never took more than a passing interest in chess. But with what I learnt in “Queen of Katwe”, I might just consider taking some lessons.
Anyone interested in being my coach?
Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!
and then