Leaders, you can’t enforce certain obedience directly to your people, even when you know it better than the external resource person, be it a consultant, pastor, speaker, or researcher. There are different effects, impacts, and influences when changes come from external persons to the system. It makes;
- the change a confirmation to what might be muted, eavesdropping, or gossiping around, as it comes.
- the change will be profound, compelling, and convincing as it will be seen as unbiased, unprejudiced, having come from the external/outside.
- the change takes a different tone /tempo as against the way the internal executive has been driving it.
- the change goes with more acceptance than resistance.
But often the CEOs, Pastors, Proprietors, Managers, think that they know it, after all, the consultant could have been their classmates. So, if a classmate, you know, equally? Na lie!!
I have a classmate at master’s degree level, a close acquaintance and friend, who established a multi-hundred-million-naira fertilizers company. He invited me to speak to his workforce. I went and chatted with them in Q&A interactions of about 15 minutes. I returned to my friend’s office, the CEO, and recommended to him a Capacity Development / Training, hence we will send him a formal proposal. He agreed. I left. Days after, I did as I said, showing him areas they needed most, at a fair price. My friend was startled and said, “Aaaa, are you charging us? Is it not what we learnt in our Master’s degree? Can I do? I thought you’d help me train them since it is your work, and I’m your friend?”
I was profoundly disappointed by the CEO of such stature saying that. A man who can muster hundreds of millions of naira, build a fertilizer plant, producing products, could utter such a statement on knowledge capital. I left.
Perhaps he knew that being classmates didn’t make us rich on the same plane, but I wonder how he assumed being classmates could make us intellectually equal on the same plane. Classmates are not destiny or grace, or favour mates. In fact, there are no favour, grace, or destiny mates.
You need a consultant. Consultants dwell on corporate problems daily, proffering solutions. The chances are that he/she might be your classmates, he/she is located, placed, positioned above you in that subject area because he is thinking and practicing how to solve corporate problems, otherwise, he is not qualified to be your consultant. Another person is qualified. But my classmate didn’t know.
- You need advisors. And good advisers.
- You need outsourcers.
- You need deep thinkers.
- You need action motivators.
- Seek also knowledge capitalist.
You may have known it all, but you can’t enforce certain obedience to your people. Outsource. Seek advisers and advisors. Seek deep thinkers. When certain things happen to you in life, if you have a wise man around you, what he will tell you frankly is. “YOU DON’T HAVE A GOOD ADVISER”.
Mike Ihezuo is a public speaker, researcher, writer, consultant, and author. He helps organizations succeed, and individuals and groups like you, too. Get him today via his CONTACT. He’s better heard than advertised.
