Winning strategies for aspirational leaders

A review of Akin Oluwadare’s Winning Strategies: 50 Selected Thoughts for Leaders and Aspiring Leaders by OLAYINKA OYEBODE. CSS Bookshop; 214 pp.

GOOD writing, according to World Street Journal’s bestselling author, Ann Handley, “serves the reader, not the writer” and as opined by Donald Morison Murray, the renowned American journalist and English Professor, “The reader doesn’t turn the page because of a hunger to applaud. Rather, good writing anticipates what questions readers will have as they read a piece, and (before they ask them) it answers them.” Handley also posits that good writing is simple but not simplistic.

It would appear that both Handley and Murray had the book “Winning Ways” by Akin Oluwadare in mind while making these very profound statements that have helped many writers re-focus their creative energy.

The author makes no pretensions about his intention to make the book answer some life-transforming posers that leaders and those eager to succeed in their career or leadership roles are confronted with daily. The author endorses Brian Sanders’ submission that “everything rises and falls on leadership”; hence the book focuses on equipping readers with many leadership tips.

Published in 2020, the book divided into 10 major chapters can aptly be described as a leadership manual. Each of the chapters contains a group of five essays dealing with the chapter’s subject matter. The book evaluates and examines different aspects of leadership, using the ordinary day-to-day situation to teach leadership lessons that can provoke genuine change and equip the reader with the right attitude to become not just a changed person but a change agent.

The foreword, brilliantly written by Arc Yinka Williams and the preface by the author, as well as the handful of endorsements in the opening pages, ably laid a good foundation for the book’s content and provides the reader with adequate hints on what to expect.

As pointed out earlier, each chapter has a concise message delivered through a collection of five essays, each between 600 to 1000 words. The shortness of the essays is an incentive to the reader.

Chapter 1: Proceed with Unfaltering Courage: The foundation chapter puts the reader through some rudiments of leadership training. The author stealthily seeded lessons via the five essays titled:  Just Begin; Inaction is Dangerous; Knowing Where to Tap; Do It Afraid; Choose Your Battle. Some of the key takeaways in the chapter include his warning in the essay Inaction is Dangerous, where he writes: “Take a step from the norm. Jump, however difficult it seems at the first trial. Many things can happen when you jump; you may jump and fly and become a good example to others. You may jump and fall on something soft; there are lessons for you if you are discerning. You may jump and fall on something hard, and the pains therefrom may teach you some quick lessons that may be your turning point. Anyhow, you get back up and shift your position forward. It is dangerous to remain on one spot for too long. Inaction is dangerous. (pg7)

Chapter 2: Strive for Excellence. The author shares some hard facts that would drive the reader to pursue excellence. Akin Oluwadare, himself a man of distinction, points at some practical steps through the five essays vis: Good is Not enough; Being on Time is Late; The Man Jim Ovia; Change Before You Have To and Impact. Specifically, the author, who had over the years been a beneficiary of the institutional grooming at Zenith Bank, where he is a Senior Manager, uses the bank’s founder, Jim Ovia’s rise to prominence and dominance in the banking sector, as well as a few other leaders, to drive home some leadership traits that would aid steady rise on the leadership ladder.

Chapter 3: Battle of The Mind: The topics include Confidence; Poverty Mentality; face Your Fear; Blow Your Trumpet and Expressions. The author’s main concern here is deconstructing some old beliefs that slow people down.

Chapter 4: Exercise Self-Control: The five topics here are Be Slow To Speak; Delay Gratification; Think Safely; Test The water; Just before You Condemn. The author devotes the chapter to some crucial tips for self-control.

Chapter 5: Hidden Values: The five topics here are Discover Your Secret Place; Employee, Know Thyself; The Catalyst; Beware of Negative Motivation; Trust But verify.

Chapter 6: Surpass Expectations: The chapter includes topics such as The Law of the Second Wind; The Art of Simplicity; Own Your Life; Creative Destruction; Nil Report is a Report.

Chapter 7: Delusions: the titles here are Perfection is a Myth; Failure is an Option; Progress is not Speed; Damn It. Through some practical examples, the author demystifies some self-imposed myths that are capable of limiting growth and fulfilment.

Chapter 8: Embracing the New Normal: The topic here includes Mental Health; Health is Wealth; We Need One Another; Choose Your Style; Do Not waste The Crisis.

Chapter 9: Leadership. Topics include The Lid Factor in Leadership; Leadership Without Stings: hanging the Nigerian Narrative; Active listening; Observing Without Judging Teaming Redefines.

Chapter 10: Harness Your Society: Invest in Your Social Capital; How Are You; If You Are Against, what Are You For?; A Problem Shared is Still Your Problem: Between Propaganda and Fake News. The importance of social capital investment forms the dominant theme of this book’s last chapter.

Perspectives is a stand-alone chapter of the book, even though it was not designated as a chapter. It may be safe to describe it as an epilogue. It is a unique offering by the author, as he devotes the portion of the book to taking feedback from members of his immediate family- His wife and four children- on what they consider the key points in leadership: this section, a departure from the 10 chapters where the voice of the author was dominant.

Winning Strategies attests to the writer’s versatility as the book dwells on many topics and aspects of life. The book can be said to have something for everybody. The religious-minded, professional, youth and students, the highly placed and the lowly have something to relate and learn from the book.

Winning Strategies, despite all the accolades, is not a perfect work. The book has its fair share of errors that can be remedied in the second or reprint editions.  Above all, the book is a great work. The language is lucid and straightforward. The examples cited in the book are such that the readers can relate. The printing font used also makes the book appealing, and the author shows a mastery of the art of storytelling. The flow of thought and occasional use of anecdote and literary and biblical allusions make the book a great literary work worth sparing precious time to read and digest.