The 10-star life: Marks

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. John 14:12

Greatness is not served a la carte. It must be earned through diligent, deliberate contribution and a life of significance. Marks speak about scars or imprint. They also imply something worthy of note, a brand, or a distinguishing factor. Marks can be seen from two dimensions. Some think that they will make a mark through various enviable achievements, monuments and material acquisitions that provoke the envy of the average person. They think that popularity and accolades of men translate to significance.

However, the marks we are concerned with here have to do with those who truly make enduring marks seek greatness through a legacy-producing life of significance that makes sustainable impact in the lives of men. Such a life is characterized by self-denial and a readiness to give up the good to embrace the best. They are willing to spend and be pent in the service of others and are constantly engaged in ventures that inspire and empower others. The pains and sacrifice of time, study, effort that they make is not for fame but for impact.

To know whether you are building a legacy as a leader, ask yourself, “How many of my subordinates can do what I am doing, perhaps even better? Success without successors is futility and ultimately, failure. Leaders don’t lead to be needed but to be duplicated. Greatness has no value until it can reproduce itself.

Great leaders are known by their capacity to reproduce themselves in others.  Anything capable of reproduction is not dead! As the scriptures tells us, eternity is written in the hearts of men. What this implies is that for as long as a man can impact others in a way that inspires them to greatness and makes them factor in his memories and contributions whenever they think about their own success, then he is not dead. Impactful leadership is about building platforms for others, not becoming a crutch for them.

Great people do not just tell their followers where to go, they go with them and watch them evolve and perform. The spirit of leadership is about exemplary living and transfers – of knowledge, capacity, skills etc. Followers cannot do what a leader does until they can catch his spirit.

Every single person on earth is a product of the dominant influences in his life. In my coaching sessions, one of the prominent questions I ask my proteges is to identify the three most prominent people that have influenced and continue to influence their thoughts and conduct. You can assess anyone by checking the greatest influences on his life – his role-models and mentors. We don’t just wake up one morning and see ourselves hugely successful. If we check the trajectory of our life’s journey, we will be able to identify several people whose lives left indelible imprints on our hearts and made us take the decisions and evolve the disciplines that have brought us to where we are today. One thing I love about biographies of successful people is that they always mention such significant influences in their lives. In many cases, the influencers were not as visibly successful as the protégé who learnt from them. The list may include a teacher in elementary school, parents who were simple civil servants but who modelled contentment and personal discipline, an inspiring boss who modelled what it is to empower subordinates, an author whose books shaped their thoughts, an entrepreneur who signposted visionary entrepreneurship, a leader whose life was a reflection of service, resilience and a passionate determination to get things done no matter the opposition.

Fame is transient. Its memories can be erased. The greatest impact we can make is not in becoming famous. The lives of several here-today-gone-tomorrow entertainment stars should make that very clear to us. Our environment is replete with one-album music stars who shot to the limelight with one track or one album. Overnight, they became celebrities. A year or two later, they are waved aside because they cannot keep up with the pace they set. After a while, they are hardly remembered.

When a person dies, no matter how rich or poor, his life is usually summarized in the date/year of birth to the date/year of death, both written with only a dash separating them, e.g., January 1935 – December 2021. The totality of that individual’s life – achievements, marriage, real estate and other material acquisitions, impact – is encoded in that dash. Have you noticed that when men begin to tell the story of a dead man at his funeral, nobody mentions the cars, the houses, the wardrobe, the shoes, the several holidays abroad or the number of times he graced the pages of newspapers? Almost without exception, everyone who has the opportunity to speak about him talks about what he DID with those things in terms of the lives he touched with them. The testimony of a true legacy is known by the number of lives it can or has transformed for good and for God!

If you live in the city of Ibadan, you may have heard of “Ile Adebisi” (Adebisi’s house) located in Idikan, the interior of the city. The 99-room edifice is a sprawling, palatial mansion that was a cynosure of eyes. Inspired by the architecture and aesthetics of the Mapo Hall built in 1925, Sanusi Adebisi, a highly successful trader and entrepreneur started the construction of his house in 1927 and completed it two years later. Ninety-three years on, the building still stands but is unkempt, inhabited by miscreants and people mostly unconnected with the Adebisi name. Imposing as the building is, nobody celebrates him or his children for it. He is known for his generosity. At a time, he was said to have paid tax for all Ibadan residents for several years.

The greatest legacy you can leave for your children is not the fat bank account, houses and cars you leave for them after you die. If you raised them well, they probably would have started making their own money and having their own things in a way that makes them capable of living independent of your possessions. A child’s greatest inheritance is in the legacy of godliness, uprightness, integrity, hard work and service to others. I have not slept one night in my father’s house since he died, but I sleep and wake up daily in the lessons I learnt from him about hard work, integrity and diligence in all that one does. True success is not denominated in brick and mortar. Monuments are erected on the earth. But eternity and legacies are written in the hearts of men. True impact is therefore eternal and indelible.

In case you are wondering what the platform of your marks will be, ask yourself, “What are the challenges of humanity that leave a mark on my heart most? How deeply touched am I? What can I do about it?” As soon as you can answer all three questions with specificity, you have found the foundation of your legacy.

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