Everybody has a Place: Too Young to Lead?

FAITH ABIODUN

I was five years old when I became class captain in primary school, and I held that position for three years, and repeated it again in secondary school at the age of 11.I had the honour of conducting a church choir at the age of seven, and became Children Pastor in my church at the age of nine (my mum helped prepare the sermons). 

I was twelve years old when I was employed for the first time; I worked as an apprentice in a photography studio for four months. Throughout the period of my apprenticeship, I lived all alone in a big house with my parent visiting on weekends. I woke up early in the morning, fixed my breakfast, took the taxi to work before 8am and retired home at about 7pm with a light dinner before sleep. I felt normal, but every time I tell people about that period, they ask me “didn’t you feel you were too young?” Too young for what, I wonder.

All my life, the one question that has dogged me has been “how old are you?” I will do anything I can to shake it off my back, but it never seems to leave me alone. When I got my second job and earned my first salary as a business centre operator at the age of 15, everyone still thought I was too young.

My undergraduate adventures did nothing to eradicate the question of my age; I was admitted to university at 16, became Editor-in-Chief of a 2000-member Union of Campus Journalists before my 18^th birthday, interviewed Professor Wole Soyinka and numerous other Nigerian celebrities before my 19^th birthday, and was lead speaker for the university’s debate team before my 20^th birthday. Oh, by the way, I also founded a youth development NGO just after turning 20. I thought all those things were fine, except that people kept on telling me I was too young to be so involved in building my own life. For Christ’s sake, when was I supposed to start?

When I started my Master’s degree in the USA, I was the youngest member of my class, and then I went on to serve as President of a multicultural organization, where again everyone was older than I was. I joined Toastmasters International, and I was clearly the youngest member of the group, but that didn’t stop me from taking leadership roles and serving as a mentor for a new member who was almost twice my age. Whenever I told Americans about my organization back home, they marvelled at how such a young person could have done such great things. Again, I wondered why everyone was so surprised about my age.

I’m approaching my 25^th birthday, and I know that the question about my age will never leave me. I feel like I’ve been in the workforce for about 10 years, but I still feel very uneasy about the many things I haven’t learned, and opportunities I haven’t seized. I look at other young people who are making tremendous progress alongside me and I wonder why anyone will question our abilities to lead simply because we’re not grey.

Age should never be a determinant of a person’s leadership capacity; as soon as a person's mind can conceive of an idea, and they buckle up to implement it, they are ready for leadership. 

 

 ''In leadership, irrespective of age, everybody has a place''

About the author: Faith Abiodun is a very dear friend whose life has inspired me many times over. He is an entrepreneur, project manager, journalist, humanitarian, writer and an outstanding public speaker. He is the founder and president of The F.A.I.T.H. Initiative, a nonprofit youth development organization based in Nigeria.
Follow him on: twitter.com/FaithAbiodun & faithabiodun.com

Photo Credit: www.wvi.org via google images

EVERYONE HAS A PLACE: Like Stars on Earth, Every Child Is Special

'Dayo Adeyokunnu

 ''Like the many stars in the dark skies we all have our own place, we all are different, unique beings. Every child has his/her own talents, dreams and aspirations, more importantly everyone his/her own person''

 I grew up being different in my home. I was the quiet one, the secretive one, the one that kept a diary instead of talking about how I felt. I was the one that would prefer to stay at home when others went out to have fun. I was the one that would opt for novel reading on my bed when everyone was gisting in the living room. I had a different opinion about stuffs, my younger sister even calls me weird. I loved traveling on impulse, I just loved doing all the crazy impossible things. I was different. I am different and I love it. What is more important to me is, my parents understand that no child can ever be the same. They understand that we all have our place, our peculiarity, our capabilities and weaknesses. My mum would call my sister to make up for her or help her match clothes, but she'll never call me for that. I suck at fashion. She'll call my other sister when she needs to shop…arggh I hate shopping. She’ll probably call me when she needs to look for something she hid donkey years ago, I am a guru at finding things out. Loool. You see! We are all different and she knows that! 

Now imagine someone being different because of a health condition, or someone being different because of circumstances he / she grew up in. Imagine being wrong because you are different. Imagine   you have to live that life in the midst of folks who'd do anything to make you normal, they'll make it a prayer request as if being different is leprosy. Imagine being castigated because you just see the world differently. Imagine being named a misfit because you get excited by crazy things. Imagine being treated with disdain and being rained insult on because you are different.

I watched "like stars on earth" recently and that movie just drives this point home for me. Ishaan was a beautiful child with an awesome imagination. He was dyslexic- he was never good with reading, writing but he beat the whole school hands down in arts. Don’t we all have our own place?  Those things we are better than everyone in. So yes, this write up is dedicated to the Ishaans of this word, the gems amongst us… Like the apple posters said: 

 "Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.  About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels? …while some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do"

One lesson I am continually learning is not to treat people badly because they are different from me. It’s a great lesson for you and me to keep learning. Live and let others live. We all don’t have to see the world in the same way. In fact life would have been boring if it were so. God created us in his image, but he created us uniquely. "Harmony in a world of differences" That must have been the master plan. The greatest gift of God to humanity is for you to live AS YOU. You are different! Love it, rock it…

About the author: Adedayo Adeyokunnu is a colleague, friend and big sister. She has a gap-toothed smile that will melt the hardest rock. She loves adventure and she's a lot of fun. She expresses herself through her blog: www.dayorwrites.blogspot.com and you can follow her on twitter @dayor_

               

THANK YOU

It's a great day today and I'm really excited even though I have no idea why(laughs). Wait, it could be because I recently got one more niece(yaaay) or maybe because it's weekend(double yaaaay!). 

I'll be dropping two more posts on the 'Everybody has a Place' theme today and I will like to say a big THANK YOU to all my friends who have contributed are still contributing their write-ups to this theme. I feel very privileged to be blessed with such great friends who are willing to help out whenever I reach out to them. God bless you guys.(Hugs & Kisses)


And thank YOU too for taking time out to read this post and others on the blog (winks).

Enjoy your weekend