The Joy of being me

Knowing who you are and accepting who you are doesn’t make you perfect, far from it! It however gives you courage to venture out and try new things. You begin to solve the problems around you instead of complaining or blaming it on others. This perception to life is transformative to say the least. 

During the SWOT, one of the opportunities that my friends pointed out was sharing my experiences with others. I translated this to mean sharing my experiences and serving my community at home.  As I was thinking what this may look like and how best to seek this opportunity, I did some reading as well and came across the quote below and in my haste to put it down I forgot to note the author.  It however spoke to me then and still does now.

“The commitment to community doesn’t arise out of nowhere.  It comes from and is guided by values, principles, and assumptions that spring from our backgrounds and cultures, from our experiences, and from our conscious decisions about what is right. These values, principles, and assumptions shape our vision of the world as it should be, and motivate us to try to make it so.”

I work with young people and as I actively sought to serve my community the opportunity was right there; supporting a Youth Polytechnic less than one Kilometer from my home in the village, actually a walking distance! The interesting thing is that I had never quite noticed it until the whole thought of serving my community became important to me.

The details of how I became the Chair of the Board of Management, Gachika Youth Polytechnic on 31^st May 2010 may interest you but I won’t discuss it now, I instead want to talk about the joy of serving. This was another strength identified during my SWOT. The other strength was my green fingers which I have insinuated on the video clip this week.

The joy of serving started in primary school when I joined the Kenya Girl Guides movement as a Brownie, and later became a Girl Guide. I took the Guide’s promise literally – ‘I promised on my honour that I would do my best, to do my duty to God and my country, to help other people at all times and to obey the Guide’s laws’ 

Taking up the challenge of serving at the youth polytechnic has not been easy, I have however increased my knowledge of how polytechnics work, I have understood my community better especially the youth, I have also had an opportunity to interact with local leaders. One of my weaknesses, impatience, has taken a turning for the better as working with community calls for real patience. It is work in progress and every year I get better.

The joy comes in doing something that is fulfilling and seeing the impact of your effort. Since I joined the polytechnic Board, we have put up seven new classrooms, we have a strategic plan, operational plan and we are now working on several income streams that will ensure regular income to run the institution sustainably.

I would like to encourage you to start or join a community project at home. The solution to local problems lies with us and from your SWOT you will realize that you have what it takes. Next week I will be talking in more detail about Community Projects, I will give you various suggestions on where you could begin. Keep following…

Who Am I?

The book I referred to last week is called Dancing on the Glass Ceiling by Deemer & Fredericks. I actually read it in 2003 when it was originally published. I wanted to make some references to it this week but I don’t have my copy, somebody borrowed it and I can’t for the life of me remember whom!

My search for the book was not in vain as I found some very interesting and revealing notes I wrote in October 2003 that referred to the same book. These notes totally amazed me and I will tell you why.

One, on defining personal Values I wrote:

These are the six or eight operating principles that I should hold most dear, the touchstone of all of my future decisions. They are a critical component of that nebulous quality called character. They define the essence of who I am and how I choose to travel on my life and career pathway.

I then went on to list them as follows: Honesty and Integrity, Independence, Family, Spirituality, Creativity, Personal wealth, Equality, Continuous personal growth and learning. On my notes I included some personal remarks against each operating principle. On Creativity for example I wrote innovation and imagination will be central to my activities and at the heart of my personal performance. As I pondered on these remarks this week it was fascinating to note how much they have impacted my life.

Two, I discovered, I had listed my Strengths and Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and made the following broad accomplishment that I wanted to achieve in fifteen to twenty years, and I quote ‘To be a respected youth (Business) Consultant whose work has empowered-- helped to raise the lifestyles of youth in Kenya and Africa as a whole’.

Through the organization I founded in 2010, The Youth Banner, whose mission is to create an enabling environment for youth to earn sustainable livelihoods, we have empowered an average of 3000 youth each year. All I can say is that the wish I made after I discovered myself in 2003 was from my mouth to God's ears. After making the notes I never referred to them, I even forgot that I had such notes until I discovered them this week after 13 years!  I am now in a transition period towards being a fulltime consultant working on youth economic empowerment and I didn’t even know that I actually envisioned and wrote all this in 2003!

Allow me to say this, include God in your SWOT analysis, he will not forget the discussions you have, he will not get distracted along the way, and he has your interest at heart. In retrospect I can say with confidence that God wants us to know ourselves so that he can work with us to accomplish our goals on earth.

Next week I will be talking about the Joy of being Me, so keep reading.

This is how the personal SWOT template looks like, not at all different from the organizational one.

STRENGTHS	WEAKNESSES
OPPORTUNITIES	THREATS

NB: Seek the help of 2 to 4 friends and family as you list your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Please share your experience with us.

Who do I see?

 

Who is failing who?

I would like to thank you for reading my blog last week and for giving me constructive feedback. I totally appreciate your calls detailing what you thought needed improving or changing. To summarize all your comments and I believe I have captured them all, you would like me to first introduce myself…as in tell you why I am blogging, where I am coming from and my motivation. You told me that I sounded like an annoyed Kenyan, an irritated headmistress even. You also mentioned that this doesn’t suit me, as I am generally a happy Kenyan. I felt 'Ouch'... but not at all discouraged and will strife to improve myself week after week. You also told me to change my font type, background image and the flow of my story. This is a journey I want to take with you and your comments are totally appreciated. 

I have had a desire that has not faded over the years, to contribute to the academic community. I want to leave a legacy in the form of written material for Leaders in business. I want to do this by intellectually determining the role of Moral Values as a driver to entrepreneurial character and its impact on business growth. To achieve this I should submit a thesis or dissertation often consisting of a body of original academic research, which is in principle worthy of publication. To put it simply, I want to go back to school to put my thoughts together in a structured way that is easy to share with you and the rest of the world. The thought of going back to school has been with me over time as well, but not actualized for two reasons.

One, I was unable to commit the number of reading hours necessary (an average of five hours a day required to succeed).

Two, I had not figured-out a way of ensuring I am kept accountable. Now I have, I am blogging to ask you to stand with me and hold me accountable; I am inviting you to walk with me on this journey that I believe will result in social transformation- a total change in how we do business. In the first few weeks I will be sharing my initial general thoughts on moral values and with five hours of study every day I hope to talk about how moral values affect how we work and more preciously how we do business.

This week I have been thinking about myself, taking a look within. When I look at me, who do I see? Am I proud of who I am? What do others say about me? What legacy do I want to leave?

According to Rescher. N (1969), Values are intangible. They are, in the final analysis, things of the mind that have to do with the vision people have of ‘the good life’ for themselves and their fellows. A person’s values – such as ‘loyalty’ or ‘economic justice’ or self –aggrandizement’ represent factors that play in his personal welfare of functions, the yardstick by which he assesses the extent of his satisfactions in and with life. Values manifest themselves concretely in the ways in which people talk and act, and especially in the pattern of their expenditure of time and effort and in their choices in the marketplace. A man’s values are both clues to guide another’s explanation of his actions and guides to his own deliberations in the endeavor to arrive at decisions.

Judging myself is not easy as I am likely to be biased, I am quick to see all the good and may totally miss out on the not so good. In 2002, immediately after I completed my MBA, and feeling totally ready to capture the world, I decided to do a SWOT analysis of self. Actually, it wasn’t my idea, I had just read a book Walking on the Glass Ceiling that highly recommended a regular self-examination of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. To do this as detailed in the book, I chose a few friends and family to help me in this assignment to ensure that the exercise was as accurate as possible. Before I engaged the team of four, I took time to ponder and set some goals to prepare myself for the possibility of learning new insights about myself and to establish a path that would direct my immediate next steps after the exercise. As it turns out, this activity became the game changer, I learnt about some Strengths I didn’t realize I had. My weaknesses some difficult to accept initially, came out clearly and I started working on overcoming them. The best part for me was the Opportunities; I had great opportunities glaring at me that I had previously not noticed.

In summary my life goals changed for the better and today looking back, I can say that looking at self has been a worthwhile practice that I would encourage for each and every one of you. As for my personal values I can say with confidence and no fear of contradiction that I am a born again Christian. I love the Lord my God with all my heart. The bible is the yardstick by which I assess the extent of my satisfactions in and with life.

Will you walk with me? If you do, I encourage you to do a SWOT self- analysis. Pick two or more friends and family to help you and please share your experience with us. This will be a game changer so take time to plan and execute with accuracy. I wish you luck!

Who is failing who?

1.        Why do I need to bribe you?
2.      Why do I need to know you to get a job in your institution?
3.      Why are we building houses that collapse and kill us?
4.      Why are we supporting banks that steal from us to enrich a few?

The answer is simple, moral values

According to Elizabeth D. Scott (2002) Moral values are those that distinguish between good and evil. They are not simply assessments of current quality (as in a "good" battery or "bad" tires) but determinations of fundamental motivation (as in "good" faith or "malicious" intent). .. moral values are beliefs about what is good and evil controllable behavior, bearing on relations to self, to others, to God, and to the natural and animal world. No definitive list exists; however, there is some agreement that four categories, namely respect for life, respect for property, honest communication, and respect for religion, describe important values entailing moral dimensions.

Respect for life

Respect for life includes practising big-heartedness, giving respect and protecting life

A businessman constructs a residential storey house in Huruma that collapses and kills over 40 residents. In this situation we are informed that architectural   drawings were not approved, no license was issued by the County government for the construction to start. We are also informed that the building was marked as unfit for human occupation and listed for demolition.

How did the building come up with no permission from the County government?

Why did we have families living in a building ear marked as unfit and listed for demolition and nobody raises a finger until the building collapses and we lose lives?

Our reactive other than proactive nature really saddens me especially when it comes to human life. People must always die before anything is done about certain issues.  We have lost numerous lives since the rains started pounding a few months ago. The authorities expected heavy rains and warned Kenyans of the same. One wonders what was done to ensure we have no floods in the city ….the reality is that many Kenyans have lost their lives as a result of the heavy rains and many more have lost their property.

Who failed us here?

Who is failing who?

Respect for property

Why would I want to take what doesn’t belong to me?

That is stealing!

Why would I want to walk all other my neighbour’s property?

That is trespassing!

Why do I borrow something from you and return it worse off than I took it?

That disrespect!

Have you ever lent your car to a friend and watched them literally abuse it and you want to scream ‘bring my car back now!’

I take good care of my car, I am careful to carry a maximum of four people so that I am easy on the shocks and my car can give me a good ride for a longer period.  I ensure my car is clean at all times and I line the boot with newspapers when I carry food from the village as the red soil has a way of staining the mats.

My dear friend, next time you borrow my car, first and foremost, bring it back on the day we agree, not a day later; two, ensure it has enough fuel to at least get me to the gas station if only because it had fuel when I gave it you, three, bring my car back clean on the inside and outside. Last but not least, if you can’t bring it back yourself and you need to send your son to return the car, call me and apologise for bringing it late and thank me for the use of my car.

My friend showed no respect for my car and it pained me!

Honest communication

How often do you walk away from a conversation feeling angry, disappointed or misunderstood?

How often have you said things you regretted?

How often have you wished for a more open and honest conversation?

We lie without blinking!

Our leaders say one thing today, another tomorrow, and another the following day, all contradictory and they expect us to listen to them and hold them in high esteem ….

I have worked very hard over time to ensure that my communication with my family and especially my children is open and honest. And because of this kind of openness you get surprise questions from your children like:

Mum if you were to marry again today would you still marry Dad?

Honest communication is difficult for most people.

I lost a friend not so long ago because I told her what I didn’t like about her…..OK let me be honest here and say that I didn’t have the courage to face her and therefore sent another friend to tell her that I had issues with her behaviour. I don’t know what our common friend told her and that’s the part I regret ( I should have approached her directly) but she blocked my phone and hasn’t talked to me since.

Did being honest cost me a friend? Yes.

Do I have regrets? Absolutely not!

Respect for religion

The news has highlighted men and women who are posing to be religious leaders and prophets, false prophets misleading unsuspecting Kenyans and defrauding them of their meagre resources in the name of divine intervention

Controversial televangelist ‘Prophet’ ‘Dr’ Victor Kanyari of Salvation Healing Ministry was exposed for performing dubious miracles in late last year.

One such miracle was washing his flock’s feet to bring about healing.  Blood would ‘ooze’ from the feet after the Pastor’s touch bringing about ‘complete healing’. It turned out that Pastor Kanyari would have potassium permanganate hidden in his hands and once he put his hands in the water the water would turn reddish. He then claimed that his hands have caused the oozing of blood from the feet resulting in healing. This illusion was reinforced by the testimony of paid individuals who readily testified that just weeks earlier, they had been healed and fully recovered from debilitating diseases.

Many unsuspecting men and women attended Pastor Kanyari’s church to get healing from his ‘holly hands’. This is total disrespect for region.

Why are people like Kanyari still running churches?

Who is supposed to protect us from such unscrupulous people?

Who is failing who?