By Tolulope A. Adegoke

“Adversity is known to the wise as a weapon or a tool which we must manipulate and engage to build our “muscles” in all spheres of life in a bid to bear the “weights” of glory. It is our responsibility to be responsible at all times, most especially in trying moments, and never to give excuses for not fulfilling the mandate of MANifestation, the intents of the Maker, God Almighty! I need you to understand clearly that an excuse is a beautiful way of describing why you have failed to MANifest at any given task or opportunity! I charge you to be responsible by engaging your gifts which have been lavished into you by the Maker to MANifest the Great Light (solutions) in the gloomy days of the world, and never to take credit or glory for it but to the Giver, The Maker, who is the Greatest!” – Tolulope A. Adegoke, PhD., FIMC, CMC, CMS, CIV, MNIM

It would be best if you never judged your success by other people’s accolades. You should only judge your success by God’s instruction for your life and how well you are with those instructions, because I have found out something in life that the average human being in life is so mediocre that to be a genius, just to do a little extra. People are so normal, but to be an expert, just go one inch abnormal, and they will think you are great. So, don’t judge your successes by what the masses think of you, but by what God told you to do. When experience is your best teacher, then progress is imprisoned. Experience could be a curse. Dr. Myles Monroe (of blessed memory) mentioned in one of his teachings, “I have been taught by my parent years ago, that experience is the best teacher, I don’t believe that anymore.

Experience could cause you to stop progressing, because you keep judging your dreams by your what you have been through, and you end saying, I tried that before, or I never saw anyone do it that way, then you begin to use those encounters to stop your progress.” That is why God always make history with young people, old people have got too much experience. You all remember the story of David and Goliath? The problem with Saul who was king at that time was that he had experiences, and he tried to put them on David. He told David, wear my armour, carry the burden of my shield, use my sword, use them to fight your own battle(s). And David puts it on and says these things are just too heavy, such that, he dropped them at the feet of Saul. David then went out and fought the giant with something the giant had never seen before.

How do you fight a sword with a rock? The giant says. What is this thing he’s using? How will you bring a stone to a battle of steel; a sling to a battle of sophisticated, experienced and award-winning sword?! The giant is highly trained, and experienced with the sword, to the Philistines, his sword was legendary, so he was expecting an experienced sword-man to come and fight him, but here comes a little boy with just an equipment the giant hasn’t seen before. Honestly, we simply need some people like that (David) in this generation, in this century of ours who would defy the traditions, break the norm, conquer the odds, and come out with something the world has never seen at the office, in the community and nations; people that would think of some ideas that will wreck the whole system. That’s why Steve Jobs will always be in the top place of history as a great inventor. He keeps defying his own experience. While watching a documentary about him some years ago, it was said that when the iPhone came out, they said to him “That’s it! You are the ultimate, this is it!”, but he responded by saying “No! there’s more”, and he came up with this idea about the iPad. And he mentioned that the people in the company said that it would never work! Why? It’s an abnormal size. A size that hasn’t been seen before. It is either you get a computer or an iPhone. As for the phone, it’s either you put it in a pocket or briefcase, but seeing this thing in the middle (iPad) isn’t going to work. Steve Jobs says, “Look, we are going to make this.” Now, the iPad is (one) of the most common machinery people make use of in the world! Sometimes, you have just got to defy your own board to take or make progress! As for experience, you are permitted to consult it, but never allow it (experience) to rule you.

William Shakespeare says, “Sweet are the uses of adversity… he says, you must learn to use adversity for your benefit.” One of the wealthiest men in the United States of America wrote a book titled “Cheaters Never Win.” He’s a multi-billionaire; he probably has products that almost everyone in the world uses. He is the largest manufacturer of plastics, paper, cups, plates and forks in the world. The company is called “The Huntsman Enterprise”, here is what he says in his book, “ if there is a silver lining to bad times, it means that, when facing severe challenges, your mind is normally at its sharpest.” I wonder why he’s a  billionaire. When facing challenges, he says your mind kicks and thinks beyond the norm. He also stated some fact that I find very interesting which is that “humans seldom have created anything of value unless they were tried or hurting”; and I simply interpret the statement as benefits of crisis. I have concluded that adversity is a weapon or a tool that we must engage to build our “muscles” in a bid to bear the “weights” (responsibilities or demands) of glory.

Many people don’t even recognize that “glory” is a weight. It isn’t just a blessing, but purposeful responsibility on our shoulders to respond to and with the abilities created within us as HUMAN to MANifest Ab(ove)-normally, because the creations are waiting for the MANifestation of the Sons of God! (as seen in the Holy Book of Life – Romans 8:19). It is our responsibility to shine (reflect or MANifest) the Great Living Light to the world in their gloomy days. That’s why we have been charged never to sleep on purpose, never to sleep on the abilities lavished upon us by God, by responding with these abilities (Light) to meeting the goodly and Godly needs of Mankind and his environment.

Adversity is known to the wise as a weapon or a tool which we (must) manipulate and engage to build our “muscles” in all spheres of life in a bid to bear the “weights” of glory. It is our responsibility to be responsible at all times, most especially in trying moments, and never to give excuses for not fulfilling the mandate of MANifestation, the intents of the Maker, God Almighty! I need you to understand clearly that an excuse is a beautiful way of describing why you have failed to MANifest at any given task or opportunity! I charge you to be responsible by engaging your gifts which have been lavished into you by the Maker to MANifest the Great Light (solutions) in the gloomy days of the world, and never to take credit or glory for it but to the Giver, The Maker, who is the Greatest! Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven (Matthew 5:16); For we have this treasure (abilities/solutions) in earthen vessels (us), that the excellency of the power (MANifestation) may be of God, and not of us, that He may be better known (revealed) to the world through us – 2Corinthians 4:7-10. This is why you are supposed to be a greater leader, a better leader because your skills must be tested. Put in another way, Abraham Lincoln was an amazing personality, he became the greatest president in the midst of trials. Today, many sages are convinced that he’s the greatest of the United States in history, because, he used adversity to create a federation that lasted over 300 years and still working, but it came out of the heat of crisis.

Dr Myles Monroe’s (of blessed memory) definition of leadership is straightforward, yet complicated, “leadership is the capacity to influence others through inspiration, not manipulation, and that inspiration comes from a passion which is motivated by a sense of vision, sense of purpose. So, leadership isn’t something that you pursue, but something you discover. Leaders are born when human discovers something much more important than their personal ambition. True leaders do not seek followers; leaders are actually pursuing a passion towards a purpose that gives them a sense of destiny! The likes of Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa never sought followers. He discovered a purpose that was much more important than his private preservation and private ambition. He pursued his purpose privately and then attracted people. Leaders are more concerned about discovering a purpose for improving the life of humanity, which is much more important than their personal ambition. So, they sacrifice themselves to accomplish something for the greater good. We find that very rarely. Most people we call leaders are simply professional manipulators. And they actually are more concerned about their promotion than promoting the well-being of the people. We are simply the product of everything that we have been through! The best for us isn’t to regret or try to change what happened but to interpret it properly, maximize it and use it to serve other people. Arise and shine! It is simply an instruction from the Holy Book of Life in Isaiah 60:1 to MAN up! MANifest and show up! See others through, and not see through them in their gloomy days…and that’s simply leadership! Take responsibility responsibly!

Dr. Tolulope A. Adegoke is an accredited ISO 20700 Effective Leadership Management Trainer.