THE ART OF THE ART OF LEADERSHIP: LEADERSHIP:

Providing a Template for Personal and Corporate

Excellence towards Nation Building

Presented By: Dr. David O. Oyedepo

Chancellor, Covenant University

Covenant University, Ota Executive

AdvanceAugust 2015

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WHAT IS WHAT IS LEADERSHIP?LEADERSHIP?

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•Leadership is all about taking the lead, setting the pace and blazing the trail in one’s field.

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•Leadership is not occupying a seat, it’s accomplishing a feat. 4

•It’s not occupying a position, it’s making outstanding contributions.

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•Great leaders are not those with chains of degrees but those who change the world.

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•Outstanding leaders are not those with barrage of titles but those whose impacts constitute footprints on the sand of time.

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•The real worth of a leader is in the value he adds, the contributions he makes, the feats he accomplishes and the impact he engenders.

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•Leadership is not talking the lead, it’s taking the lead.

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•Leadership is not an appointment, but an attainment.

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•It is not in the titles we wear, but in the values we bear.

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•Leadership is not an endowment, it is an achievement and it cannot be inherited.

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•But leaders are thinkers and all committed thinkers are potential leaders.

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•Leadership is not about leading people, it is essentially about taking the lead in a given task.

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All of the above implies that anybody can become a leader if he is willing to give it what it takes.

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There’s a leadership seed inside every child of God, but we have to cultivate and nurture it, so that it can begin to produce fruits.

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But how much one invests today in terms of time, energy and resources in his field, will determine the outcome of his life.

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THE WAY THE WAY FORWARD FORWARD

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•We live in a thinkers world not in a title-holders world.•Thinkers mould and shape the history of the world. 19

•Thinkers rule the world.•For instance, the world of science is moulded and ruled by thinkers. 20

ARCHIMEDES – 287 ARCHIMEDES – 287 BC BC

• A giant, a scientist and mathematicians of extraordinary greatness •One of the biographers said;

“Archimedes, one man and one intellect – a host in itself”

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•He discovered and arrived at the idea of specific gravity today called Archimedes’ principle – while in a Bathtub.

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•He thought years ago that man could float on water, this thought came along in the bathroom, the law of floatation thereafter came to light.

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• Today, the water ways has become a major means of transportation for man and more especially for goods and services. Again, millions earn their living through the water-way industry. 24

JOSEPH PRIESTLY –JOSEPH PRIESTLY –1733-18541733-1854

•Became an orphan at age 7.•A minister and only a part-time scientist.

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•Attended some chemistry lectures; began to experiment on his own and eventually became well known among the local scientists

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•An Inventor of Soda water who became a giant of science through his discovery of the gas of life – Carbon Dioxide

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Antoine Laurent Antoine Laurent Lavoisier - Lavoisier - 1743 - 1743 -

1794 1794 •He was a lawyer but while in college attended chemistry lectures due to his interest in science

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• At age 22 he was awarded a gold medal by the French Academy of Sciences for his competition - winning plan for lighting the street of Paris• He pioneered in chemistry,

physiology, scientific agriculture, finance, economics, government and public education!!!

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Edward Jenner -1749 - Edward Jenner -1749 - 1823 1823

•He was a medical doctor •Between 1700 – 1800, it was estimated that 60 million Europeans died of smallpox.

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• This once dread disease was wiped out by the principle of vaccination that Jenner advanced. •Was called “the father of

immunology” and his work is said to have “saved more lives than the work of any other man” 31

Albert Einstein - Albert Einstein - 1879-1955 1879-1955

•He was a theoretical physicist who developed the general theory of relativity effecting a revolution in Physics

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•He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect• Einstein applied the

general theory of relativity to model the structure of the universe as a whole

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• When he was invited to become President of Israel he declined saying , “Scientific problems are familiar to me, but I have neither the natural capacity nor the necessary experience to handle human beings”• It was this same Einstein that

invented electric lighting bulb34

The Wright BrothersThe Wright Brothers(The Bicycle Repairers)• The Wright Brothers,

thought that man could fly in the air, it was a thought that sprang up in the kitchen.

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•Today, millions enjoy air travels around the world, while millions of other earn their livelihood in the aviation industry directly or indirectly.

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•A young man by name Isaac Newton, while still an undergraduate was taking a rest under an apple tree and one of the apple fruits fell on him and then he began to think why was it not suspended in the air

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Isaac NewtonIsaac Newton

• And what kind of force was pushing it down, to cut the long story short, this young student founded the law of gravity and subsequently the 3 laws of mechanics, which are very fundamental to most engineering feats today.

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•The findings of Bill Gates has redefined the face of education globally and accelerated the speed of learning, particularly through the internet.

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Bill GatesBill Gates

•Bill Gates, the thinker has suddenly as it were become Bill Gates the ‘ruler’ of the scientific world.

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IT IS THE THINKERS’ IT IS THE THINKERS’ WORLDWORLD

•Today, we have Lots of educated folks, but few thinkers. •Too many Workers, very few thinkers. 41

•Too many teachers, like they say ‘talk is cheap’ but obviously few thinkers.

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•I believe that Self esteem is essentially a product of self discovery and self awareness.

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•We have to think our way out or we sink all the way through• In my view, the whole

essence of university education is to empower man to think solutions.

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•It is interesting to note that most scientific inventors were only committed and robust thinkers.

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• All technical facts that characterize scientific inventions are products of focused thinking.• It is clear that most outstanding

mortals of all ages were only – ‘wide’ readers and ‘wild’ thinkers.

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• For instance, all human beings are made up of same number of organs.• That is, all organs of the human

body, the lungs, the heart, the liver, the kidney, and of course the brain; all the organs that make up human beings are all the same in size and content.

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• That is the reason why all transplantable organs are transplantable from one to another irrespective of race or colour such as the kidney.

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•Most importantly of course is the human brain, which defines the limits of a man’s worth in any field of human endeavour.• It is absolutely the same in all

ramification and that for all men.

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It is interesting to note that the human brain for all human is:Same sizeSame contentSame number of cells

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Same number of nerves running through

Same colourSame weight Same potential, which impliesSame capacity

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Where then is the Difference?Where then is the Difference?• It is in the robustness of the

engagement of the brain. • It is the active engagement of

this ‘principal gift’ of nature that defines the limits of anyone’s worth.

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• First, we must recognize that we share same capacity of brain with all other humans and that consciousness should arouse the confidence in us to engage this precious gift most pragmatically.

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• The story was told of one Albert Einstein; how that he was a very poor boy in school and that one day the teacher had to invite the mother. And in the course of speaking with her on his poor performance, the teacher made a sharp remark ‘your son has no brain’ his mother reacted violently ‘my son has got more brain than you’ve got.’ This was the first time it dawned on Albert that he’s got some brain.

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•Today, Albert Einstein occupies a prestigious place in the history of scientific development with the invention of the electric bulb among others.

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• As Dennis Waitley once said “the empires of the future will not be built of concrete stone walls, turrets, armies and gates. The empires of the future will be empires of the mind.” •We have to think our way out

or we sink all the way through56

•Africa must wake up to the fact that we have got enough brain to match our seemingly insurmountable mountains.

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• This implies that how actively and productively we engage our minds in seeking solution to the challenges of our time will determine how soon we overcome them whether as individuals or as nations.

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• The only empire that will survive in the 21st century will be the empires we build with our own minds.• Today, the whole world is being

threatened by a global economic collapse! And what we need in my view is ‘Intellectual Bail out’.• In the word Ayn Rand “wealth is the

product of man’s capacity to think”. 59

A Need for Radical Curriculum ReviewA Need for Radical Curriculum Review• It is interesting to note that most

scientific inventors were only committed and resourceful thinkers. • All technical facts that

characterized scientific inventions are by products of focused and resourceful thinking.

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•Michael Faraday, who had little or no formal education as it were but a committed reader and an unusual thinker, became a world acclaimed scientist.

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• Benjamin Franklin, a ‘bookworm’ who virtually taught himself to read because he had only a two-year formal education, grew to become one of America’s foremost philosopher, a Diplomat and a Research Scientist.

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• He also founded the University of Pennsylvania, which is still currently ranked number 15 in the league of world leading Universities.• It is clear that most outstanding

scientists of all ages are only – committed and addicted thinkers.

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• Show me a committed thinker and I will show you another leader, inventor/solution-provider in the making.• I therefore, believe that the existing

regimented training programme of our University system is long overdue for a review, this is the role that Covenant University is out to play.

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• Our mission is to promote the relevance of University education to the society.• Our mission is to promote the

mental dignity of the human race particularly the Africans who have largely lost their intellectual bravery to colonial entanglements.

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• As Delayo Adadevoh put it “Africa today is n eagle that is yet to soar. She needs to tell herself she is an eagle which belongs to the sky. Every imagination that places Africa in a lower category in relation to other people shall be replaced with new thoughts that see Africa in the centre stage in global development.”

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• The greatest challenge to Africa’s development is the underdeveloped mind of Africans.• African minds should be transformed

into new minds that can dream a new Africa into existence.• The time to rethink is now. • The time for new resolve is now. • The time for action is now.

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CHANGE: Our Capital PhilosophyCHANGE: Our Capital Philosophy

• Resistance to change is universal; it seizes every generation by the throat and attempts to stop all of its forward movement.• Resistance to change is the

worst enemy of advancement.68

•Many well-educated people, after being confronted with the Truth, have been unwilling to change their minds. Why? Because they have been trapped by tradition.

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• For example, Aristotle said that the heavier an object, the faster it falls to the earth. He was regarded as the greatest thinker of all times and surely, he could not be wrong.

• However in 1789, Galileo, about 200 years later, with someone landed professors, went to the base of leaning tower of Pisa, ascended to the top and pushed two weights, one ten pounds and the other one pound.

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•Both landed at the same time, but the power of belief in the conventional wisdom was so strong that the professors denied what they had seen. They continued to say Aristotle was right. 71

• Again with his telescope, Galileo proved the theory of Copernicus- that the earth was not the center of the universe and that the universe revolved around the sun. Yet when he tried to change people’s mind or people’s beliefs, he was thrown into prison and spent the rest of his life under house arrest.

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• Tradition is the worst enemy of development and advancement. • Someone once said, “Until

you are willing to lose site of the shore, you cannot discover new islands.”

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OURS IS PHILOSOPHY OF CHANGE OURS IS PHILOSOPHY OF CHANGE • Covenant University is built on a

strong philosophy of ‘change’;• ‘Change’ is the capital

philosophy of this University• A departure from the traditions

of learning into the dynamics of discovery.

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• It was this demand that led to the grafting of the founding philosophy of Covenant University, which in the main, emphasizes a needed departure from the tradition of schooling to dynamics of learning and living as stated in our founding ethos –

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•A departure from 'Form' to 'Skill’ •A departure from

'knowledge' to 'empowerment’ •A departure from 'figures'

to 'future-building’ 76

•A departure from 'legalism' to 'realism’ •A departure from 'points'

to 'facts’ •A departure from 'mathe-

matics' to 'life-matics'.

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The Challenge of HistoryThe Challenge of History•A people not conscious of

their history hardly make history•We live largely today as a

people without history.

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• This is because the history of the outstanding feats of our ancestors were either not documented and where they were, they lacked required details. • We have been victims of oral history

which is largely void of facts and figures of the gallant feats of our ancestors but rather full of fictions.

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According to fact of history;• Black people built the 1st civilization.We all agree that Black people built the

pyramids of Egypt with archaeological discoveries and mammies that dates back over 3000 BC. • Black people first developed

Architecture, Geometry and Astrology.

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• Greek historians, artists and Mathematicians went to Egypt for their education between 2900 – 2400 BC.•Madam C. V. Walker, a black

woman was the first female millionaire in US.

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•Daniel Hale William who conducted the first successful open heart surgery was a Blackman. In addition, the following inventors were all blacks.

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•Frederic Jones invented the Refrigeration System•Charles Drew invented the Blood Bank.

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• Our untold story is what makes us look like a people without history. • No one will tell our stories for

us. Just like no company commits itself to selling the goods of a competing company; that will be an anathema.

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•Only men who can think the unthinkable, can dare the undarable and move the immovable.

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Daring the UndarableDaring the Undarable

• Only the brave ever become great. • It is bravery that begets

greatness. • It is not just a dreamers’

world anymore it is the darers’ world.

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• It was Hillary Edmond, the first man to conquer Mount Everest who said, “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.• Bravery is the cure for

slavery. 87

• We need intellectual bravery today in our universities in Africa if we must attain to relevance.• The intellectual machine of our nations

must begin to respond to the changes demanded or it remains irrelevant.• No institution can maintain relevance

operating on obsolete curriculum.

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IN CONCLUSIONIN CONCLUSION

• There is nothing unthinkable until we think so and there is nothing undarable until it is dubbed unthinkable and there is nothing immovable until it is dubbed impossible.

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• I came across the following scientific assertion sometime ago which claims that: “only 10% of humans think,

25% think that they think and

65% would rather die than think

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•Until we start to think about the unthinkable we may never dare the impossible and may never be able to move the seemingly immovable.

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Thank you and

God bless

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