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Food for Living: Exceed Expectations
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By Henry Ukazu
The first step in exceeding your customer’s expectations is to know those expectations – Roy H. Williams
Greetings Friends,
In today’s world, everybody wants to succeed. Nobody wants to fail. Hence, the saying, success has many fathers while failure is an orphan. The desire of every progressive and rational mind is to be successful. No company, organization, entrepreneur or even association wants to fail. No student wants to fail. This is the more reason every parent trains his/her child not only to be morally sound in character but also academically empowered. The same goes for every cooperate organization which provides training opportunities for their employees in order for them to be properly equipped to do the job.
Entrepreneurs on the other hand never give up in their struggle to succeed, especially when they look back to see how far they have come. They put in so much work by researching, learning, and unlearning in order to be relevant in our contemporary society. Service providers are not left out, they go all out to exceed their customers’ expectations by giving them the best of services.
During the course of this article, we shall be discussing in a holistic and detailed manner dynamic ways on how we can exceed expectations. But the bigger picture will be on how you can exceed your expectations, the expectations of your clients, and the expectations of naysayers who didn’t believe in you nor saw the big picture. You may have had dreams of becoming a distinguished Captain of an industry, you may even have a desire of going higher in cooperate ladder, but your supervisor or director tends to limit your opportunities due to roadblocks which has programmed to make you fail on arrival. You may have never had the desire of going over and beyond due to the limiting factors like your environment, financial circumstances, physical disability or even health condition which might have limited your capability. All these are the strange voice which might tend to limit your dreams or chances of succeeding in life.
To exceed is to go over and beyond expectations. It can even be an inspiration to someone. It takes a lot of courage to exceed expectations just like it takes a lot to succeed in life and business. In order to truly exceed expectation, you must create something of value which must be appreciated. When you create value or become a person of substance who addresses problems, the world will celebrate you. Value is the hallmark of exceeding expectations. A typical example of someone who exceeded expectation is Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba. Billionaire Alibaba founder Jack Ma was rejected from every job he applied to after college, even KFC. After college, Ma applied for 30 jobs in his home city of Hangzhou, China. He was rejected from every one. At KFC, 24 people applied for the job, and while 23 were hired — he wasn’t one of them. The same thing happened when he tried to be a cop. This time four of five applicants were hired, all except Ma. According to Jack Ma “My cousin and I waited for two hours in a long queue to be the waiter for the four-star hotel in my city, on a very hot day,”. “My cousin’s score was much lower than mine, but he was accepted and I was rejected!” Ma was even turned down by Harvard 10 times. Ma says the continued rejection was painful. But it prepared him for his entrepreneurial future. Ma believed in himself. His fortitude came in handy when he founded Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba in 1999. In the beginning, Ma heard “no” a lot, but never doubted his capacity to exceed expectations. According to Ma “When you share a lot of failure stories, you learn.”
Jack Ma turns 55 on Sept. 10, 2019, and is currently worth $38.2 billion. Yet Ma once made $12 dollar per month as an English teacher. His achievements are practically unbelievable considering his meager, humble beginnings. Along the way, he failed more times (and more spectacularly) than most of us could stomach in a lifetime.
Exceeding your expectations are not limited to only to you, but it also transcends to other people who have never believed you in you. We all have experienced one form of a disservice in one or way or the other. This can be either from an employee, an elderly person who never saw anything good in you, a friend, colleague or even a sibling or parent who had a form of doubt about your ability to succeed in life. In order for you to cast out their fears and doubts, the onus is on you to exceed their expectations by humbling them with your success. According to Roy H. Williams, “The first step in exceeding your customer’s expectations is to know those expectations.”
We shall be discussing how to exceed expectations. The first step and requirement of exceeding expectation are believing in yourself. You just have to think positive regardless of the opinion people have around. Yes, sometimes it can be challenging when the odds are against you, for instance, you may have great ideas, but lack resources to execute it. Let me share a personal experience with you during my formative years in the USA, I had terrible writing skills. My writing skills were horrible, to say the least. I had “supposed mentors” who were meant to assist me in honing my writing skills, but the experience wasn’t rosy as expected. I was technically helpless, but fortunately, my networking and personal relationship skills connected me to resourceful mentors who look beyond my horrible writing skills to horn my writing skills. They were kind enough to edit my works at regular intervals. This process enabled me to learn and in turn improved my writing skills. The teachings and mistakes I made enabled me to write my first book. Mere looking back I can say, my supposed mentors wouldn’t believe I will come this far. I exceeded their expectations.
Let me share valuable tip on how to exceed expectations for business-minded people. You can exceed expectations by providing quality service to your customers. Nobody likes shady work. You can also exceed expectations with speed and accuracy. When you deliver great service to your clients, you gain not only their confidence but also their loyalty. Another way of succeeding is by connecting with your customers by applying the three communication rule: 1. Golden Rule: Treat people the way you want them to treat you; 2. Platinum Rule: Treat people the way they wish to be treated and, and 3. The double-platinum rule which literary means give people more than they deserve. Your customers can literally be loyal if you connect with them. Don’t be interested only in their money, but also let them know they are appreciated. Moral: Try to think of something memorable you can do for every customer. Also if you ever get an opportunity to do more, then do it.
Further more, you can give value by doing more than is expected or required from you. Do more than expected. You can exceed expectations in quality or service. A great customer service leaves a lasting memory. The expectations you exceed today become the seed for new opportunities in the future. This may seem to be an obvious fact, but many people fail to connect today’s actions with future opportunities.
1. Manage Expectations:
Depending on where you work, you can exceed expectations by managing your boss expectations. You must make time to understand what your boss expects when it comes to project deadlines and deliverables.
2. Keep your skills up-to-date
As technology evolves, so must professionals. Whether it is the latest version of the software or regulatory changes, “Staying abreast of the latest developments in your industry can show continuous improvement and help you become a more efficient and effective employee.”
3. Differentiate yourself
Last but not least, identify what differentiates you professionally from the rest and make it a characteristic that your boss can depend on. Making small efforts such as routinely showing up to work early each day or consistently finding new, more efficient ways to accomplish everyday tasks can help you position yourself as a valuable resource to your boss and team. While many professionals may have the qualifications to do the job, differentiating yourself and what unique elements you can bring to the table will set you apart. You want to demonstrate to your boss that you can continue to add value to the team and its goals. Ask yourself each day ‘how can I make my boss’s job easier?’ and you can begin to meet and exceed their expectations.”
I’ll end this article by sharing some inspiring secrets about Jack Ma on his entrepreneurial journey to inspire you.
1. Didn’t give up after failing many exams at school; Surprisingly, Ma’s not alone. There’s a tradition of other great minds, including Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, and Abraham Lincoln.
2. He scored 1 out of 120 points on the math portion of his college entrance exam.
3. He wasn’t deterred after being rejected from Harvard 10 times.
4. He stayed optimistic after being turned down for 30 jobs. After graduating from college, he applied to 30 different jobs and was subsequently rejected by all of them. He even applied to be a police officer, but he was rejected with three simple words: “You’re no good.”
5. He was the only interviewee (out of 24) rejected by KFC.
6. He couldn’t convince Silicon Valley to fund Alibaba: Even after he started Alibaba, he suffered multiple failures. It wasn’t profitable the first three years.
In summary, if Jack Ma can exceed expectations, you too can do succeed regardless of your setbacks. Jack Ma is a classic rags-to-riches, but even more impressive than his fabulous wealth is his uncanny level of persistence. He is proof that no series of failures despite how depressing can keep someone from achieving their dreams. What this shows us is that Ma is the paradigm of persistence. As Ma says: “If you don’t give up, you still have a chance. Giving up is the greatest failure.”
I will like to end by asking a question; what expectations would you like to exceed?
Henry Ukazu writes from New York. He works with the New York City Department of Correction as the Legal Coordinator. He’s the author of the acclaimed book Design Your Destiny – Actualizing Your Birthright To Success.
The Enugu State Forest Guard (ENSFG) has recorded major operational successes in separate intelligence-led security operations across Nsukka and Uzo-Uwani local government areas, resulting in the rescue of a kidnap victim, the arrest of three suspected criminal operatives, the recovery of stolen property, and the successful foiling of another attempted kidnapping, National Association of Online Security News Publishers, NAOSNP can report.
In Nsukka Local Government Area, operatives of the Enugu State Forest Guard, working jointly with members of the local hunters’ association, successfully rescued Mrs. Asadu Calistar of Opkuje Community, who was abducted by suspected kidnappers while working on her farm with her children along the Anuka Road axis.
Acting swiftly on credible intelligence, the joint security team launched a coordinated search-and-rescue operation and engaged the kidnappers in an exchange of gunfire. The victim was rescued unharmed, one suspected kidnapper was arrested, while three others fled into the forest. The victim and the suspect have been handed over to the Nigeria Police Force for further investigation, while bush-combing operations continue to apprehend the fleeing suspects.
In a separate operation in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area, operatives of the Ogboli Forest Guard, in collaboration with the Ogurugu and Ojjor Neighbourhood Watch groups, arrested Mr. Ugbedeojo John and Mr. Chidi Adaji, who were allegedly conveying two dismantled stolen motorcycles.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the motorcycles had been dismantled, with the engines and several major components allegedly sold at Adani, while the remaining parts were recovered during the operation. The recovered exhibits were later identified by their owner, Mr. Edwin Dibiagu. The suspects and recovered exhibits have been handed over to the Nigeria Police Force for further investigation and necessary legal action, while efforts continue to identify and apprehend other members of the suspected criminal network.
Later the same day, at about 1820 hours, the Enugu State Forest Guard successfully foiled an attempted kidnapping along the Opi–Agu-Agu–Ekwegbe–Agu-Ukehe (Ugwuogo) Road in Nsukka Local Government Area.
Suspected armed kidnappers reportedly emerged from the adjoining bush at Opi-Uno and opened fire on a passing Toyota Sienna vehicle and other road users in an apparent attempt to force vehicles to stop for abduction. Responding promptly to the distress call, operatives of the Enugu State Forest Guard Headquarters Special Squad, working alongside the Distress Response Squad (DRS) of the Nigeria Police Force, engaged the armed suspects in a gun battle, forcing them to abandon their operation and flee into the surrounding forest.
Security operatives recovered several expended 7.62mm calibre cartridge cases believed to have been fired from AK-pattern rifles. No person was kidnapped during the attempted attack, and joint pursuit operations by the Nsukka Forest Guard Command and Ezimo Sector are ongoing to apprehend the fleeing suspects.
The Enugu State Forest Guard commends the courage, professionalism, and vigilance of its personnel, the Nigeria Police Force, local hunters, and neighbourhood watch groups whose continued collaboration has significantly strengthened the fight against kidnapping and other violent crimes across the State.
The Command reassures residents that intelligence-led operations and proactive security patrols will continue across Enugu State to deny criminals safe havens and protect lives and property. Members of the public are encouraged to remain vigilant and continue providing timely and credible information to security agencies.
The Enugu State Forest Guard remains steadfast in its commitment to working with all security agencies and community stakeholders to ensure lasting peace, security, and public safety throughout Enugu State.
By Tolulope A. Adegoke PhD
“Progress endures on three quiet anchors: leadership that roots institutions deep, security that keeps possibility alive, and nation building that weaves the many into one lasting strength.”
Leadership, nation building, and security are not abstract ideals. Together they form the operating system that determines whether societies advance or stagnate. When these three elements work in concert, nations generate stability, shared prosperity, and resilience. When they pull apart, insecurity, exclusion, and institutional decay take hold.
Nigeria, the wider African continent, and the global community face converging pressures—multi-dimensional violence, weak institutions, economic exclusion, climate stress, and shifting geopolitics. The response cannot be piecemeal. Progress requires deliberate, solution-oriented strategies that treat leadership, nation building, and security as mutually reinforcing. This article outlines practical pathways and illustrates their impact through specific case studies that convert these inter-linkages into tangible gains for national development, continental advancement, and global well-being.
Core Principles That Guide Effective Action
Three principles underpin workable solutions.
First, security must be both protective and enabling. It creates the space for investment and daily life while drawing its legitimacy from fair and inclusive governance. Second, nation building succeeds when it expands shared economic stakes and a sense of common citizenship, rather than simply managing diversity. Third, leadership delivers lasting results when it prioritises strong institutions over personalised power and links immediate stabilisation to long-term capacity.
These principles shape the concrete measures and case studies that follow.
Nigeria: Building Security and Inclusion Together
Nigeria’s security challenges are complex and multi-theatre. Residual insurgency in the northeast, widespread banditry and kidnapping, farmer-herder conflicts, separatist tensions, and resource-related criminality all strain state capacity. These threats thrive where governance is thin, economic opportunity is scarce, and public trust is low.
A dual-track response is essential. On the operational side, sustained investment in the welfare, training, and equipment of police and military personnel remains critical. Intelligence-led policing, better inter-agency coordination, and technology-supported border management can improve results. Expanding professional state and local security structures under clear national standards can ease the burden on federal forces without fragmenting authority.
Parallel nation-building efforts must tackle the drivers of violence. Targeted programmes that create productive opportunities for young people and rural communities in high-risk areas reduce recruitment pools for armed groups. Transparent resource-revenue sharing, accelerated delivery of education, healthcare, and infrastructure, and practical land-use and livestock reforms can ease competition over scarce resources.
Leadership is the critical link. Clear performance metrics for both security and development outcomes, stronger independent oversight, and policy continuity across electoral cycles increase the chances of durable progress. When citizens see improved safety accompanied by rising incomes and better services, confidence in the state grows and social cohesion strengthens.
Case Studies in Impact: Continental and Global Lessons
Concrete examples demonstrate how aligned leadership, nation building, and security produce measurable results.
Botswana: Institutional Foresight and Sustained Stability Botswana stands as one of Africa’s clearest long-term success stories. At independence in 1966, it was among the poorest countries in the world. Founding President Seretse Khama and successive leaders made early institutional choices that proved decisive. Mineral rights were placed under national rather than tribal or sectional control before major diamond discoveries. Regular multiparty elections, relatively independent institutions, and prudent fiscal management channelled resource revenues into public goods rather than patronage.
The impact has been substantial. Botswana avoided the resource curse that affected several peer economies, maintained political stability for nearly six decades, and achieved consistent economic growth alongside improvements in human development indicators. The case shows that leadership decisions made before resource wealth materialises, combined with consistent nation-building around inclusive institutions and security under the rule of law, can generate broad-based and durable progress.
Rwanda: Rapid Recovery from Catastrophe Rwanda’s experience after the 1994 genocide illustrates the catalytic potential of focused leadership in extreme fragility. The government prioritised rapid restoration of security, centralised administrative capacity, and ambitious economic modernisation. Investments in infrastructure, public services, business environment reforms, and social programmes produced notable gains in poverty reduction, life expectancy, and economic growth over subsequent decades. Kigali’s transformation and the country’s improved rankings on various ease-of-doing-business and governance metrics reflect deliberate nation-building efforts.
At the same time, the highly centralised character of governance has generated ongoing debate about political space and long-term institutional resilience. The Rwandan case demonstrates that decisive leadership can restore order and accelerate development after profound trauma, while also underscoring the importance of gradually expanding inclusion for sustained legitimacy.
Singapore: From Vulnerability to High-Performance State Singapore offers a powerful non-African parallel. Upon independence, the small city-state faced severe security vulnerabilities, ethnic diversity, and limited natural resources. Leadership under Lee Kuan Yew and successors combined rigorous public order and security measures with meritocratic governance, strategic economic positioning, anti-corruption systems, and deliberate nation-building around shared prosperity and multi-ethnic coexistence.
The results transformed Singapore into one of the world’s most competitive and stable economies. High levels of public trust, efficient institutions, and sustained investment in human capital turned geopolitical exposure into a source of disciplined state capacity. The experience highlights how leadership that integrates security, institutional integrity, and inclusive economic opportunity can overcome structural constraints.
Additional African Illustrations Post-conflict recoveries in Sierra Leone and Mozambique further reinforce the pattern. In both cases, progress depended on integrating security-sector reform with political settlements and economic reintegration of former combatants and affected communities. Ghana’s record of successive democratic transitions shows that institutionalised leadership change can reinforce stability and investor confidence even under economic pressure. These examples confirm that context matters, yet the underlying logic remains consistent: security creates space, nation building creates cohesion and opportunity, and leadership aligns the two over time.
Continental Solutions: Strengthening Agency and Shared Resilience
Africa can scale these lessons through pragmatic regional action. Strengthening issue-specific security cooperation—intelligence sharing, joint border operations, and efforts against the financing of armed groups—remains essential even where broader political alignments are contested. Expanding intra-African trade, infrastructure corridors, and skills mobility creates shared economic interests capable of transcending political differences. Investing in a new generation of public leaders oriented toward institutional performance rather than short-term extraction reinforces these gains.
Global Dimensions: Mutual Gains from Local Progress
Stable and productive African states deliver clear benefits beyond the continent. They reduce pressures that fuel irregular migration, limit space for transnational criminal and extremist networks, expand legitimate markets, and contribute to global climate and food-security efforts.
External partners amplify positive outcomes by prioritising capacity strengthening over substitution. Support for African-led security initiatives focused on training, logistics, and institutional reform; investment in climate-smart agriculture and resilient infrastructure; and trade frameworks that reward governance improvements and value addition all align external resources with local priorities. Global leadership that models long-term orientation and respect for institutions reinforces these efforts.
Turning Pathways into Results
Implementation requires realism and discipline. Early, visible improvements in security and basic services build the political capital needed for deeper reforms. Transparent monitoring that tracks both security indicators and development outcomes enables adjustment and accountability. Inclusive consultation—bringing in local communities, traditional institutions, the private sector, and civil society—increases legitimacy and practical relevance.
Leadership development itself is strategic. Structured exposure to comparative experience, evidence-based design, and ethical standards expands the pool of actors capable of sustaining integrated approaches across political cycles. Civic education that connects individual opportunity to broader national and continental progress strengthens the social foundations of security and nation building.
Conclusion: From Interdependence to Shared Progress
The challenges facing Nigeria, Africa, and the wider world are serious, yet they are not insurmountable. The case studies of Botswana, Rwanda, Singapore, and other recoveries demonstrate that aligned leadership, nation building, and security produce measurable improvements in stability, prosperity, and human well-being.
National strategies that professionalise security forces while expanding economic inclusion, continental approaches that strengthen African agency and shared prosperity, and global partnerships that reinforce local capacity generate reinforcing gains. The ultimate measure of success is the steady expansion of human security, productive opportunity, and institutional trust.
When leadership, nation building, and security operate as a coherent system, they contribute directly to national stability, continental advancement, and global well-being. The pathways are practical and adaptable. Their realisation depends on sustained commitment to a simple truth: order, inclusion, and capable institutions are not competing priorities. They are interdependent requirements for lasting progress.
Dr. Tolulope A. Adegoke, AMBP-UN is a globally recognized scholar-practitioner and thought leader at the nexus of security, governance, and strategic leadership. His mission is dedicated to advancing ethical governance, strategic human capital development, resilient nation building, and global peace. He can be reached via: tolulopeadegoke01@gmail.com, globalstageimpacts@gmail.com
A 19-year-old housewife, Saudat Jibrin, has been sentenced to death by hanging for the murder of her 30-year-old husband, Salisu Idris, nine days after their wedding.
Jibrin, who lives in Kumbosto Local Government Area of Kano, was charged with culpable homicide.
Delivering judgment, Justice Maryam Sabo of Kano High Court held that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.
“I hereby sentence Saudat Jibrin to death by hanging for culpable homicide. You have 90 days to appeal,” the judge ruled.
Earlier, the Prosecution Counsel, Lamido Abba-Sorondinki told the court that Jibrin committed the offence on May 5, 2025, at Farawa Quarters in Kano.
He said that at about 9pm Jibrin laced her husband’s “Zoho” drink and slashed his throat with a knife nine days after their wedding.
Abba-Sorondinki presented two witnesses to prove its case against the defendant.
The convict denied committing the offence.
The prosecutor said the offence contravenes the provision of Section 221(a) of the Penal Code.
The Defence Counsel, Abdulfatah Muhammad, presented the convict to testify in her own defence, Muhammad pleaded for leniency on behalf of his client, saying she had become a changed person while in custody, having memorised the Holy Qur’an.
He also urged the court to consider that the convict is the oldest child of her parents, adding that her siblings depend on her for their survival.
NAN
