A Rose By Any Other Name

I think we've hit rock bottom. And if we haven't, then we have only a few more years left to hit it. A nation that preys on itself in every sense. Where all manner of depravities come to roost (... okay sue me for telling it as it is)

The mere mention of values is enough to get you the backward head jerk like 'where in the world is this fool coming from?" Its all gone, there is no need to for detailed stories of how immoral our beloved country is. I'm comfortable that we all have seen, heard and lived enough stories to fill plenty of books. As the saying goes, "Been there, done that"

But wait.

Is that how our story ends? Do we crash and burn, never to rise again? Or do we get a "do-over"? Don't we get the chance to start afresh and show what we are really made of?

I think we do

But this new story starts with you and me. Its time to get serious. I have been following this discussions carefully and I have read lots of good ideas mostly business and I agree that we have to definitely to establish ourselves economically.

But the one thing that I think we have pushed to the back or failed to notice as we talk about business organizations is the fact that most of these major business entities start with a value.

For example, Sam Walton of Walmart was determined to to build a line of discount stores that would provide even more value to it's customers than their competitor - KMart. His vision was to not only build the best value discount chain ever, but to employ a "family" of employees (associates) where he would enrich their lives.

Bill Gates stated early on that his goal was to put a PC in every home; it wasn't to make billions - it was because he truly saw the potential computer applications and how they may help educate, entertain and enrich people's lives.

Walt Disney's past is filled with vision and dreams of making people happy, improving the world - making money became important ONLY out of necessity of realizing his dream of improving the world!

Other examples include Sears' commitment to trusting the customer. (From the 19th century onward, any product could be returned to the company with a money back guarantee, which engendered great trust in both directions, enabling booming sales, and, the great success for the firm that followed.)

Apple Computer's belief in the values of solving problems of society. (The company created the IPod player and ITunes online music store to overcome a conflict between those who sought to download copyrighted music for free and the music industry which sought to protect its artists and its revenues.)

Marriott's values of systemization and standardization. (The company created a standard model hotel, and then duplicated it hundreds of time around the world, enabling it to grow incredibly fast, and become the leader of its industry.)

When we examine the lives of famous people, we often see how personal values guided them, propelling them to the top of their fields.

This leads me into my message for the day.

I think for there to be a collective change in our nation we need to make some individual changes. Firstly, I think its time for us to have values.

What is a value?

A value is a belief, a mission, or a philosophy that is meaningful. Whether we are consciously aware of them or not, every individual has a core set of personal values.

Why is it important to know what your values are?

Simple. So you can make better choices.

People who don't know their values tend to wander around, bouncing from one thing to another, trying to find themselves. They're like puppets, pulled along without any clear direction.

Knowing your values helps you:

Follow a clear set of rules and guidelines for your actions. You’re less likely to take the easy way out or chase after short-term gains at the expense of your long-term goals.

Make good decisions. You quickly know what are good choices for you and what are not.

Find compatible people, places, and things that support your way of living.

Live with integrity. Integrity here doesn't mean honesty or honor. Integrity means wholeness or completeness - being a whole person. Nothing left out. Being true to yourself

There is a saying that if you stand for nothing, you'll fall for everything. With values, we have a core, a reason for living. The value may be as simple as concern for others or as ambitious as world unity but we got to have something, its worth everything!

We can talk all we want about the changes we want to see take place in Nigeria but its not going to happen if we are not prepared to change ourselves. Now hear me, I said "change ourselves", not other people.

Let's NOT start with the corrupt policeman, lets start with keeping traffic rules (gasp!), doing an 8 hour job when we go to work, taking time to put our trash inside trashcans, not on the floor! Need I give more examples? Its on you and me to change our world.

We can't keep putting new wines in old vessels, its not going to work. An average Nigerian wants the Jeep, the fancy duds, plenty of throw around money, the big air conditioned office but yet, there is rarely any talk about working 16 hours a day to get all that.

We have to get our values straight. Not everyone is going to be a millionaire or close, thats why the word "poor" exists. Because it describes a state of being.

Did you say "thats not going to make a difference"? Well I beg to differ. One person CAN make a difference, can influence another person to change and lead to exponential change.

We all have to remember that NO country is devoid of corruption,immorality or negativity but the fact is countries have learnt to excel in spite of that. Because they have people that still have core values, people that will not support wrongdoing, people that will take the trouble to stand ...or even die for their beliefs

Does change sound impossible? Maybe it is, maybe not. But remember, according to Napoleon Hill, “Whatever your mind can conceive and believe - you can achieve.”

Whatever one's values, when we take them to heart and implement them in the smallest details of our lives, great accomplishment and success are sure to follow.

Interested in understanding your values?
http://www.selfcounseling.com/help/personalsuccess/personalvalues.html

LET ME ASK YOU A TOUGH QUESTION
What will YOU do for your country?

posted by lala @ 9:13 AM

11 Comments:

At Fri Mar 16, 09:21:00 AM 2007, Nilla said…

Hi Lala,

Is this the last change you're going to make to the title? Any time I link you, it doesn't work because the title is changed again.

I'll be back.
At Fri Mar 16, 11:00:00 AM 2007, Nilla said…

Great post!

I think QUALITY is also important as well, in whatever we do.

"LET ME ASK YOU A TOUGH QUESTION
What will YOU do for your country?"
You didn't answer your own question oh!...lol
But in answer to your question, there are so many things I'll like to do, but the one that's my long term goal is planning, construction, and maintenance of our structures - particularly roads and bridges.
At Fri Mar 16, 07:45:00 PM 2007, lala said…

I would leave a well paying job to start a pharmacist-run clinic in naija. All my training has been geared towards working in naija. One of my major values is concern for others and as such, public health care has been a strong desire of mine.
I will accept no appointment from a govt I don't believe in (dreams, dreams)
At Fri Mar 16, 11:46:00 PM 2007, SOLOMONSYDELLE said…

I like your emphasis on the importance of personal values. Having and understanding your values, or as I like to call them "personal isms" will help you traverse the many twists and turns of life.

These values also help to finetune our dreams. There are so many things we all want for Nigeria but as you noted, we have to start with ourselves. I will refrain from sharing my intentions, but can confidently state that they involve the betterment of the arts, education and the reinforcement of the rule of law.

Thanks for a post that challenges us to tackle Nigeria's difficulties by looking within. It is good to frequently look at ourselves and determine what we can change/modify so as to serve the larger good.
At Sun Mar 18, 10:21:00 AM 2007, omohemi Benson said…

I am doing the best I can in my own little sphere,
working,supporting,encouraging and standing up for what is right,no matter how shameful it might be sometimes.

Good post.
At Mon Mar 19, 06:16:00 AM 2007, Anonymous said…

Lala!

I must say that you're very outspoken, and i like the way you listed the nigerian problems, but we all know about these problems, but no one has accepted the fault, because before you can solve a problem, you have to accept the problem first of all whole-heartedly, because if you touch a nigeria now, and say you did this and thaty... they deny and point the fingers to other people, but this is not going to make things work, we all have to accept it, because you're talking about the average nigerian's attitude and behaviour, only a few are different all of us are the same, so to change our country we all have to accept the problem and the fault we all posses individually, and not collectively.....

nice post anyway.... please check me out atimes,,,

Obinwanne!
At Thu Mar 22, 04:51:00 AM 2007, snazzy said…

I like this article cos you personalised the issues that are affecting nigeria. You placed the impetus for the creation of an enabling environment on individual Nigerians. You don't even have to use American companies, for example Accenture in Nigeria, and Delta Afrique are two examples that showcase what you are talking about. So before people start saying oh that was done over there, there are few examples of it being done over here. Nice one.
At Thu Mar 22, 06:20:00 AM 2007, Daddy's Girl said…

Very well-written and motivational post - we can each do our part by recognising our own strenghts and passions and challenging ourselves to harness them at every opportunity. Thanks Lala.
At Thu Mar 22, 01:54:00 PM 2007, lala said…

I'm glad y'all liked. Its easy for us to criticize but the truth is to heal our country, we have to search deep within ourselves to make sure we are the cause/part of the problem.
At Thu Mar 22, 02:48:00 PM 2007, NaijaBloke said…

U made a comment that there is no country devoid of corruption,but how many country with the resources that we have have her citizens lavishing in so much abject poverty?

@Snazzy..Accenture and the other company u mentioned are not naija companies o

Nice post though
At Thu Mar 22, 03:18:00 PM 2007, lala said…

Mexico,Venezuela,Indonesia etc
Have you read "The Paradox of Plenty"?
In Terry Karl's book "The Paradox of Plenty" she offers an explanation "oil booms (like all commodity booms) put enormous power in the hands of the state that suddenly has vast sums at its disposal. How these states collect and distribute taxes, in turn, creates incentives that pervasively influence the organization of political and economic life and shapes government preferences to respect to public policies."
In other words, "the origin of a state's revenues influences the full range of its political institutions."
What appears to be a chance to do almost anything, it turns out, is in fact a very circumscribed choice.