The Leader and Mentor-
But beyond just being a
leader, he has since gone on to become a mentor to others. Some may wonder are
these two not the same? In answer to this, he often says in his teaching on the
“Differentiating between Mentorship and Leadership” :
So “Mentorship and
Leadership: Any Relationship?”.... Mentorship and leadership speak of one
thing: “Leaders”. Leadership speaks of leaders, mentorship speaks of leaders.
Though mentorship and leadership speak of leaders, you don’t become a mentor
till you are first a leader. Leadership is a rung on the ladder you must climb
before attaining mentorship. Permit me to quickly state that every protégé
today is a potential mentor tomorrow. You can’t be a protégé forever. What do I
mean? As you grow in personal and professional life under the tutelage of your
mentor, you gradually will start to gather some experience which will help you
to deliver certain results that will be admirable enough for others that admire
you and your result to seek you to be mentored by them. As a fundamental rule
of mentorship, for well rounded grooming, after growing from being just a
protégé yourself to being a mentor to others, you must still be a protégé to
your mentor- hence you are a protégé as well as a mentor. You must be able to put
the principles that you have gleaned or are gleaning from your mentor and are
‘making’ you to work by using it to help others (your protégés) become ‘made’. It
is the continuous maintenance of this protégé-mentor position that helps you to
become (among other things) a well rounded person personally and
professionally. You won’t attain
mentorship (become a mentor) however, till you’ve attained leadership (become a
leader).
Becoming A Leader-
No one was born a leader; every leader became a leader by
going through a process. Leadership itself will be a mirage till another rung
on the ladder of mentorship is climbed. If it is true that the rung of
leadership is must climb on the ladder of mentorship before attaining
mentorship and before this is another must-climb rung. This rung is the first
rung to climb on the ladder of mentorship. It is at the bottom of the ladder of
mentorship. Until you climb this rung, never aspire to become a leader let
alone a mentor. The question therefore is “What is this rung on the ladder of
mentorship that must be climbed before that of leadership, before leadership
becomes a reality?” What rung I’m I talking about friend? That rung is SERVICE! Until you climb the rung of
service, never dream of becoming a leader! Service is the foundational step to
leadership.
Until you pass the service test, never dream of the
leadership nest. Stewardship involvement is the master key to leadership
empowerment. There is no leadership empowerment until there’s a stewardship
commitment. It is absolute commitment to stewardship that precipitates absolute
attainment in leadership! Until you are a certified servant, you are not a
qualified leader! It is your service mentality that qualifies you for
leadership opportunity/responsibility. Until the mantle of service falls on
you, you can’t lay hold on the mantle of leadership.
Stewardship-
Stewardship to a large extent has been relegated today to
many’s personal and professional peril. Many have made futile efforts to attain
positions of honour being ignorant that stewardship is key. Stewardship is
foundational if leadership must be functional.
Service-
Service from my
perspective in this context is the giving of your time, talent(s) and treasures
for the benefit of the other. In this case your mentor. Apparently, you are the
one who needs your mentor in the first place as it were and not the other way
round.
If you must carry the
mantle of exploits the leader carries, you must first of all bear behind him
the mantle of service. You must pay the price of service to the one whose
mantle of exploits you desire. If you want the mantle of exploits on someone,
then provoke it by serving him or her. Mantles don’t fall on colleagues but
servants. No one has ever retained and sustained the increase of the anointing
without the mantle of service. If what you are after is the title, you will
definitely lose the mantle. It takes the mantle of service to be distinguished
as a leader. The unction to function is available but it only gets to those who
show the readiness and availability to serve. If you will care to bear the
mantle of service, you will soon wear the title of a leader.
Two Categories of Service-
1. Service by your might- Menial or Manual Service.
2. Service by your means- Material Service.
I dealt with these two
categories of service in details in one of my previous editions on this blog.
Please kindly look up “Relating With
Your Million Dollar Mentor”- Monday, March 7, 2011.
Please kindly know that
no man will ever be more inspired or challenged than the quality of leadership
he follows. The man you follow to an extent determines your inspiration and
aspirations.
It Happened For Me-
Having discovered in my
third year in the University that acting is one of the vocations of my livelihood,
after graduation and with no formal training in this area of my pursuit but only
raw talents that I have kept working and growing in phases, I went in search of
a mentor with admirable results in this regard to groom me. (Remember as I have
taught previously in “Discovering Your
Million Dollar Mentor”, result is the number one condition that should
attract you to the one you consider should be qualified to mentor you.)
So having discovered through
a bosom friend of his who was impressed by my effervescent performance in a
one-man act of mine he saw me enact on stage; Reverend Albert Femi Oduwole (a
renowned inspirational speaker and author) referred me to the very dynamic and
‘A’ list actor, prolific playwright, a masters degree holder in Theatre Arts at
the time from the premier University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria, who had
written, staged and produced numerous box office- smashing stage productions,
founder of the renowned Fourthman’s Theatre Company International and Fourthman’s
School of Positive Theatre- Reverend Akinola Christopher Ola-Kris (popularly known as
Ola-Kris-his stage name). I approached him to kindly groom me (following all
the steps I previously shared in a previous edition “Discover Your Million Dollar Mentor”)
It is very important to
state here that that priceless concern of a mentor over a protégé in my case
from my mentor- Ola-Kris was (still is ) simply magnanimous, gracious and
priceless. He looked out for me beyond my expectation. Beyond a mentor, I saw
and had in him a ‘father’. He taught me so much and still teaches me, by the
most magnetic form of learning- observation- by showing me things. I learnt how
to write better theatre scripts, direct stage works like a professional, manage
a theatre production play house ( outfit ), organise and stage theatre shows,
manage a theatre business, picked up alongside dynamic and contemporary compere
skills as he used to compere events back then (he doesn’t anymore with his
expanded scope of work locally and internationally. I still do). In addition to
all I was gleaning from him professionally, I also received other personal
grooming largesse which made me a better person. Ola-Kris rocks!
As I continued to serve
under him faithfully (as my only give back for all my mentor was freely and
selflessly doing for me) I observed my rapid development form phase to phase.
First in the theatre business I came to be groomed in, partly compere and as a
better person. The scope of my capacity mentally, psychologically,
professionally etc. to handle professional tasks began to increase. As my
mentor also recognised this he generously began to share not just his
experience with me, but also his influence, affluence, platform and give me
more responsibilities. A number of times when he could not honour an invitation
to perform in a stage production- theatre he would confidently send me. Some
other times it is to go and speak on his behalf or compeer events on his
behalf. The feedback that often gets back to him from our clients was always
gladdening to him as it was always nothing short of my impressive performance.
I was growing! I was developing! I was getting better!
I can still vividly
remember speaking second in the roll of speakers. I spoke on “Dynamics of Stagecraft.” At the end of
my presentation it was an unexpected and an unprecedented standing ovation that
I received from the audience and my fellow guest speakers. Imagine a packed
theatre with those class of speakers I mentioned earlier giving a rookie like
me a standing ovation. Wow! It was a momentous time for me at the time in my
acting/speaking career and mentorship tutelage under my mentor. Mr. Evlon
Jarret (who up until that time I had never met in person but watched only on TV
and movies just like all the other speakers-Bamiloye, RMD and co. whom I deeply
revered and were to me screen icons) asked for my contact. Of course I elatedly
gave it to him. “What?!” I exclaimed
in my humbled and icon-struck thoughts. Other participants in the audience
asked for my autograph. If I felt like a star in that short moment of glory, as
I signed autographs for a waiting hoard of admirers, you won’t blame me would
you? Because I did! With this kind of admirable progress and many others that
soon followed despite still being under my mentor and still running my 4 years
exclusive mentorship programme I started receiving offers from other
youngsters, peers and older ones for me to mentor them. A protégé turned mentor
through genuine and committed service. These offers began to open greater
opportunities for me to advance and expand my career in acting, perhaps I
should say theatre. Because I had become more than just an actor. Invitations
for my personal appearances in my own capacity for stage performances, theatre
seminar speaking-training started coming for me. Magnanimously my mentor
encouraged it, even though I was not done with my training under him. He gave
me all the support I needed and whatever I made in terms of remuneration he
never asked me to remit anything. I had and still have in Reverend Ola-Kris, a
master who desired endlessly that his protégé will be like him and even better!
What a rare mentor!
Service->Leadership-
“Until you climb the rung of service, never
dream of becoming a leader! Service is the foundational step to leadership.”
–Oladele Olunike.
If you must carry the
mantle of exploits the leader carries, you must first of all bear behind him
the mantle of service. You must pay the price of service to the one whose
mantle of exploits you desire. If you want the mantle of exploits on someone,
then provoke it by serving him or her. Mantles don’t fall on colleagues but
servants. No one has ever retained and sustained the increase of the anointing
without the mantle of service. If what you are after is the title, you will
definitely lose the mantle. It takes the mantle of service to be distinguished
as a leader. The unction to function is available but it only gets to those who
show the readiness and availability to serve. If you will care to bear the
mantle of service, you will soon wear the title of a leader.
In the service of your mentor
seek correction and not ‘commendation’. A servant whose objective is to seek
his master’s ‘commendation’ will never be perfect. I desire correction and not
‘commendation’. I don’t think of what next I can take from my master, but
rather what next service to render to him. Servants who seek for their ‘rights’
instead of their master’s service, never get to become anything in life. I
didn’t seek a close relationship with my master so as to act or speak or
compeer on his platform, but rather to serve him as I get “mentored for destiny”.
I am so addicted to
service I know not how not serve anymore. Even now, years after I first met my
first mentor- Ola-Kris to serve under him and I have since met other mentors to
groom me in other areas of my life in line with my destiny which they are savvy
in I still serve them despite currently being a mentor to others too who have
asked me to mentor them. I have over the years gladly accepted to mentor others
again and again to a win-win end. I have since established a School of
Mentorship (first of its kind in Africa as confirmed by fact-based research) on
September 14, 2001 with 13 protégés of mine being the premier students at the
time. Every second Saturday of the month in Lagos, Nigeria, we had a School of
Mentorship seminar, bringing to my teeming protégés (mentees) contemporary but proven-with-results
unconventional insights on charting a sure way to their destinies in life. Soon
due to the recreatable solutions that these teachings brought these youngsters
in diverse aspects of personal and professional life, the School of Mentorship
(S.O.M, as it was famed, soon became a household name within our locality;
hosting an average of 150 young people monthly).
Afterwards, I had set
aside till date every of my Thursdays of each week between 9am and 7pm to
attend to (mostly young people between the ages of 18- 50) on various issues
(personal and professional ) where they need counsel or guide on issues such as
personal discovery, discovery of potential, starting a business, pursuing a
goal to a logical conclusion, convincing their parents to allow them to study
or pursue a particular career, transiting from one business, career, job to
another, finding a direction for life, succeeding in a chosen career or
business etc. Thursdays of my every week is my NOT-FOR PROFIT days in which I
don’t speak, train, facilitate, coach, write, act, compere etc. anywhere for
money but counselling, coaching, guiding, strategising on projects etc. with
and for young people. The summary of our transformational message at the School
of Mentorship was (and still is, as captured in my favourite saying on the
subject of mentorship) -
"If you know where you are going your
journey is short. If you know how to get there your journey is shorter. If you
know who has got there your journey is 'shortest'. If you are willing to submit
to who has got there by apprenticeship, and he or she is willing to take you on
by mentorship? Congratulations! You...are...there! -
Oladele Olunike.
Ever since then, I have
seen (and still see) to a humbling and (oftentimes) tears-inducing state, how
the personal and professorial lives of over 360 (a mix of individuals and
corporate organisations dotting 3 continents; I refer to my regular or
consistently-following protégés or mentees) have positively turned around for
the better and progressively too. The Creator alone be praised for these feats.
Due to this result oriented (may be surprising to know for you) NOT-FOR-PROFIT
program I have received tonnes of offers over the years and they have not
stopped coming to speak, facilitate, groom, strategise at seminars,
conferences, workshops in tertiary, corporate and spiritual institutions in
addition to the starter of all these...being asked to mentor individuals, and
now corporate organisations.
Because this
ceaselessly coming and mounting offers any time I speak, train, coach, mentor,
compere (MC), present, facilitate or act (theatre), at any event and seen,
listened to, watched, or my articles are read in magazines, blogs, social media
sites, by youngsters, peers, or even those older than I am who magnanimously
admire my (personal and professional) results, and because I am fast becoming
unsatisfactorily ineffective (by my own ‘steep’ standard of leaving nothing to
chance in the bid to achieve excellence) in attending on time/real-time and adequately
to every individual or organisation’s needs I accept to mentor, I have hence
put up a mentorship blog- “Mentor Me For
Destiny...” where I blog weekly mentoring more hundred of thousands,
perhaps millions online across the world.
With all these admirable
and humbling progress I still take time to serve my mentors that are now 3, who
groom me in different areas of my personal and professional life. No mater your
success as a protégé or mentee, please never be too proud or successful not to
be able to serve your mentor. There is no position I am placed today, that will
make me forget my basis of involvement-service. Please kindly note that what
you did that got you to where you are now is what will keep you maintaining
that level. The rung of service remains non-negotiable if you must be
distinguished as a leader.
On Becoming A Leader Via Stewardship-
It is not enough to
become a leader; it is effective leadership that channels your path to
mentorship. Please remember like I stated earlier (though in different words)
that the success principles by which you have attained is the same by which you
sustain what you have obtained. If by stewardship you obtained leadership, if
you must sustain leadership, it must also still be by stewardship. Leadership
obtained by stewardship can only be sustained by stewardship. Leadership is
nothing but a calling to a higher level of servanthood. Leadership is nothing
but ‘glorified’ servanthood! No matter how high you are lifted you must never
be too big to serve. If service lifted you into leadership, service it is that
will sustain you in leadership. Leadership is not a celebration of your
position but disposition- disposition to serve.
A Leader Not A Mentor-
You may be a leader but
not necessarily a mentor. A mentor is a leader but a leader may not be a
mentor. A mentor is always a leader, but a leader is not always a mentor.
Mentorship is superior to leadership in hierarchy in the scheme of leadership.
Both; mentors and leaders are leaders but not all leaders are mentors. Until
you are tutored you can’t become a mentor. Tutorship remains the principal
foundation for graduation from leadership to mentorship. You may be a leader to
many but not a mentor to any; because the people you lead may appreciate your
principles but not your person. Why? If your person is contradicting to the
principles you teach. For instance, a lecturer in a faculty of medicine in the
University teaches that smoking is dangerous to your health, but he or she is a
chain chimney. Now you may not find such person admirable, but you will follow
his or her principle-teaching to save your life. That lecturer is your leader
by virtue of being your lecturer but you may not admire him or her enough to be
mentored by him or her-because of his or her lifestyle. So not all leaders are
mentors, but all mentors are leaders because they must have gone through the
rung of leadership in the scheme of leadership before becoming a mentor or
being submitted to as mentors. The true mentor is the one whose principles and
patterns- words and ways have fused into one! Who he or she is is what he or
she says and does.
What makes a mentor is
not just the leadership position he occupies but the person of emulation he
exemplifies. This is character. Crystal clear character is what translates a
leader into a mentor- the one others want to emulate, learn from, follow,
submit to, and guided by.
Service remains the first
rung on the ladder of mentorship that you must climb. In serving faithfully you
translate to a leader and as you remain faithful in leadership through
creaseless service to others and being a person of character, you become a
mentor, who others admire, want to learn from, follow, submit to and be
mentored by.
Time to serve. Go and
do likewise!
