CONVERSATION WITH MY BILLIONAIRE FRIEND

“When you have found your voice, you can begin inspiring others to do the same – this is really about Leadership. Great leaders have always inspired people to be self-aware and find themselves and their voice – that is the essence of greatness. People and organisations who have truly found their voices go on to become great” ― Stephen R. Covey

“Sometimes, it is said that, if a man cannot be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the form of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.” ― Thomas Jefferson.

“That is why character is so important. If you cannot trust yourself, you won’t ever be able to grow. Character growth determines the height of your personal growth. And without personal growth, you can never reach your potential. Good character, with honesty and integrity at its core, is essential to success in any area of life. Without it, a person is building on shifting sand” ― John C. Maxwell

FIELD REPORT-3

ENLIGHTENED WEALTH-BUILDERS ARE MASTERS OF PERSONAL LEADERSHIP

Sam Adeyemi, pastor, success coach, leadership strategist (PhD), spiritual entrepreneur, and deeply committed family man, is one of the very few brands in the country that have been able to command such an across-the-board influence laced with integrity that appeals to secular and non-secular audiences. In this third FIELD REPORT, Ayo Arowolo, a friend and protégé of Adeyemi, attempts to unravel the anchors of this deeply charismatic thought leader.

Adeyemi often tells his rags-to-riches story, most times with a tinge of humour. “When I moved to Lagos from Kwara in 1991, I remember I had on a white shirt, a pair of brown trousers, and a pair of white shoes. Weird colour combinations! I had a travelling bag hung on my shoulder, and nobody looked a second time at the guy who had just arrived in the city”.

THE LEVEL HAS CHANGED!

The story has since changed.

Adeyemi has created and nurtured a network of mega organisations all built to last, including Daystar Christian Center, Daystar Leadership Academy, Success Power Media, a one-of-its-kind primary school and a few others. He has created influential platforms in and outside Nigeria that allow him to dispense wisdom to those far ahead of him in ministry and the corporate world. Through what he often describes as painful and stressful personal development initiatives, Adeyemi is easily one of the very few leaders who have mastered Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People . He has also raised a broad network of protégés, who are also carrying the flag in different areas of endeavours.

Outside his preaching platforms and leadership classes, which he takes, Adeyemi’s physique can sometimes mask his real personality. Regularly, Adeyemi conceives and executes incredible entrepreneurial, spiritual and business ideas that are ground-breaking.

I asked one of his top associates at Daystar, who has worked with him for more than 20 years, to share with me his impressions of Dr Adeyemi. He drafted the notes below and whatsapped them to me yesterday:

“The attributes that stand Dr Sam Adeyemi out, based on my over 20 years of following him, are:

“1. Contagious visionary: He shares the vision with clarity that you see your transformation in his vision”.

“2. Separates position and person: He understands clearly that your position does not equate to who you are. He treats everyone respectfully and prefers others above himself, regardless of your level”.

“3. Love for people: He truly shows his love for people by the way he serves them”.

“4. What you see is what you get: He highly values integrity. He is true to himself. Authentic. Willing to make personally-inconveniencing decisions that communicate his submission to corporate governance”.

“5. Innovative thinking: Ability to move ideas from conception to execution resulting in growth”.

Another person, a lady who managed one of Adeyemi’s development companies in Nigeria, also scripted this and sent to me:

“Self-leadership stands Dr Sam Adeyemi out among many. He is a man that, by God’s grace, has grown the capacity to tame himself. He allows others to express their views and explains his own while acknowledging their views contrary to his own”.

HOW OUR JOURNEY TOGETHER BEGAN AND DEVELOPED

I was first drawn to Dr Adeyemi around 2000 when as the CEO of a leading financial newspaper in the country, I created a column for him to write on success and entrepreneurship. His column became an instant hit and soon became a great selling point of the paper, along with a column I wrote in the paper titled The Millionaires’ Capsules. I got increasingly fascinated by his simple but profound ideas. We were closer, and he once invited me as a guest speaker at one of his hugely successful Parables of the Dollar conferences.

In 2010, I attended an INSTANT CASH digital and information marketing workshop hosted by my late mentor, Dr Emmanuel Sunny-Ojeagbase. In the advert he ran for the conference, he had made a provocative promise that if we attended the workshop and implemented the strategies he shared with us in the class, we would recoup the seminar cost (N67,000) while still in the class. That caught my attention. I enrolled immediately. And truly, while the class was still on, I implemented just one of the strategies we were taught in the class, and I raked in N676,000 (six hundred and seventy-six thousand naira). I was declared the best student in the class and was given a cash prize of N50,000. My story was published in the Success Digest Edition of that period, and I was given the platform during graduation to share my strategies with incoming students and other invited guests.

Confident that it would work anywhere, my consulting company approached Success Power Media, owned by Dr Adeyemi, with a proposal to execute some instant cash digital projects with them. After discussions involving a series of presentations to Dr Adeyemi’s top aides and with him in attendance, my consulting firm was appointed as the lead firm to work with SPM to create and help develop the Sam Adeyemi Coaching Programme. I worked directly with Dr Adeyemi and some of his top associates, who became associate consultants for the project. We worked under his supervision, and within five years and with his creativity, the programme became a force to reckon with. With his own creativity, he has since taken global.

WHAT MAKES HIM TICK?

One evening sometime in 2015, I was in Atlanta in the US, which was to be my transition place to Fort Worth, where I had planned to meet Kenneth Copeland and Mike Murdock (aborted, as I had explained in my past article), I was walking around the beautiful garden where I was staying. I just decided to send a short note to Dr Adeyemi to explain to him why we needed to meet to plan the next steps for the coaching programme. He told me he was in the US and that we should meet on his return. I asked for his location in the US, which happened to be in Atlanta. Unbelievable! He asked for my location so he could come around, but I insisted I should be the one to go to him. So I booked Uber, and in less than 30 minutes, I was in his very exotic office in Atlanta, where he introduced me to his consultants, who were developing the international extension of a coaching programme.

During my one-hour chat with him on that trip, I used the opportunity to ask him several questions.

One of the questions I asked was the secret behind the seemingly effortless ways he gets things done. His answer: “systems!”. I create systems and stand behind them to make them work.”

On another occasion, I asked him to share how he was able to transform his mind-set so quickly. His answers:

“Candidly, the most difficult problem I have encountered is changing my thinking. I teach people that they need to change their thinking. If their thinking can change, their lives will change. But I always add that many people’s lives don’t change because it is hard to change one’s thinking. It is warfare. Thoughts have a way of strengthening themselves in the mind over time to the extent that the Bible describes a mind-set as a stronghold. When thoughts come into our minds, they are in a fluid state. If they stay there long enough, they solidify. I discovered that with persistence, mind-set change, and with that, success beyond imagination follows.”

APPLYING DEEPER SCREENING TEMPLATE

Truly so. But in putting together the materials for this article, I decided to delve a little deeper to unravel the persona of this individual who is gradually becoming an enigma. I decided I would screen him through the template of the phenomenal leadership work done by Stephen Covey: THE 7 SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE. I wanted to see how Adeyemi fared in each of the 7 Habits. I decided to involve one of Adeyemi’s closest aides, Dr Taiwo Ojo, who also happens to be a personal friend. Dr Ojo is a leadership expert who has produced two creative books on leadership and is currently in the US. He has just launched his third book, LEADING TRHOUGH AFRICAN UBUNTU, a joint work with Dayo Olomu dedicated to the South African legend Nelson Mandela.

I have read the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People more than 10 times and have summarised the content in my notes which I shared with Dr Ojo and asked him to share with me examples of Dr Adeyemi modelling each of the seven habits from his interaction with him. We took the habit one at a time and compared notes on our findings. Covey thoughtfully divided his book into three sections, starting with the first one, which he described as Private Victory accommodating three sets of habits.

The central theme of this section is that you should win the battle over yourself before you try to launch into a relationship with other people. The reason is simple: unless you have gained complete control over your emotions (such as an inferiority complex, getting others to validate your decisions, fear, etc.), you cannot relate with others successfully. In other words, you must win the internal battle (private victory) before you can expect to win the public battle (public victory). The three habits listed in this section will show you how to win the private victory.

HABIT 1: BE PROACTIVE

Being proactive is more than taking the initiative. It means taking complete responsibility for every event in your life (negative, positive, past, present and future). You have lost your powers when you shift the responsibility for what is happening to you to others.

Dr Ojo’s submission. “Take Initiative: God has endowed Dr Sam Adeyemi with profound wisdom that he uses solely to solve problems for others sometimes at the detriment of himself. Having known and served him closely for over two decades, I know he not only takes the initiative about his life goals but also focuses and strategically acts on them. He is other-centric and works for the collective good of all”.

While confirming this note from Dr Taiwo, the manager who worked with my team while we were developing the coaching programme sent this note to me to corroborate this point. She said:

“A situation still comes to my mind readily when we wanted him to announce the CEO Class in church. All gave laudable reasons while DSA calmly listened and nodded on each point. He answered, validating each point but sticking with his position not to do so because it’s unethical though all other pastors are doing so. He said he knew it was wrong. All of us were baffled, if you remember, because it seemed he was finally going to agree but declined despite all the rosy benefits such announcements would have given SPM. During a strategy session, we suggested he take advantage of the number in Daystar to announce the coaching programme. He turned it down. In one of the discussions he had with me, he said he noticed that many of the people who brought collaboration proposals to him were only focusing on how many books they could sell to the crowd without understanding that it took years of trust and denials to build what they now regarded as a crowd. He turned most of them down.

HABIT 2: BEGIN WITH THE END IN MIND

One great foundation key for personal effectiveness is to see where any event or action you are taking would lead to ultimately before you embark on it. This is called vision. Covey submits that when you can see the end clearly from the beginning, you are likely to come up with hypothetical solutions to problems you are likely to meet on the road.

Dr Ojo’s submission: “He has mastered this second habit as well. He chooses the life he wants to please God and his family because you can’t be a man-pleaser and fulfil God’s purpose. He enjoys his calling and vocation with openness, rest and peace of mind. He is very intentional with the mindset of delayed gratification and patience. He has taught us to write down our personal goals and act strategically on them”.

After we had submitted the outcome of a strategy session we had on the coaching programme to him, Adeyemi showed up one morning and started to paint a rather scary vision of the project, where he saw the coaching programme getting to in the next five years. It looked impossible then, but I am happy to announce that before our very eyes, he has since taken the coaching programme into a successful global concept where he coaches executives spread around the globe from his Atlanta office and sometimes his two other global locations.

Habit 3: PUT FIRST THINGS FIRST

Many people have got their lives upside down. They do what they should do first last and what they should do last first. Lasting success cannot result from such living, according to the 3^rd habit by Covey

Dr Ojo’s submission: “Dr Sam Adeyemi is not materialistic, having risen beyond mammonic acts and ethical sinkholes rampant in our culture. He prioritises the important over the urgent. He lives by various acts of sacrifice based on LOVE. FOCUS is his word as he avoids distractions. He separates wants from needs”.

My observation: In one of our strategy sessions with him, he shared the story of his encounter with a global leadership conference organiser which many leading speakers lobbied to be invited because of the global visibility that follows attendance, apart from a handsome honorarium. The organisers wrote to Dr Adeyemi and picked a date when he would be required to travel to the US to participate. When Dr Adeyemi checked his calendar, it happened that the date coincided with the date his daughter’s school was organising the Parents Teachers Association and he had pencilled it in his diary to attend personally. He declined the invitation and gave them the exact reasons. The organisers were baffled. They had never witnessed anything like that. They wrote back to thank him, and this time they slated him and Sister Nike for the next edition of the conference. How many leaders can forgo that offer for what many could describe as a not-so-important matter?

Covey called the second session of his book PUBLIC VICTORY.

The central theme of this section is that you can only successfully build a relationship with other people after you have gained total independence; that is, you have won a private victory. This section accommodates three habits as well.

HABIT 4: THINK WIN/WIN

There is more than one way of looking at any issue that comes for deliberation, and the hallmark of Habit 4 is that both parties to an issue can win without anyone feeling a sense of loss. Covey identifies six paradigms of human interactions: Win/Win, Win/Lose, Lose/Win, Lose/Lose, Win, and Win/Win or no deal.

Dr Ojo’s submission: “Dr Sam Adeyemi is a simple, humble, empathetic leader who is an otherish giver that seeks mutual benefits for all. He is a reproducer of leaders, and he is very SECURE. We are currently in Washington DC where we have been attending the International Leadership Association (ILA) annual conference, since Thursday, 13 October 2022, where his new book; Dear Leader, was chosen among the 30 best leadership books at the meet-the-author session of the conference. We, his protégés, my humble self, Dr Kenny Folarin, Dr Toye Sobande and Dr Solomon Kpandei, all attended the event and shared the same global platform with him where I equally unveiled my new book, Leading through African Ubuntu. What an honour and privilege for a secure leader that wants his protégés to do better than him. That’s Christlike behaviour, and he has lived by it. Mutual Benefits for all remain his exemplary life”.

I couldn’t agree less. I have seen this character trait in Dr Adeyemi in all my years of associating with him. A trait that is not common in this part of the world is that Adeyemi sees all his organisations as factories producing leaders who are deployed to stand independently. And when they leave, he does not pronounce curses on them. He brings them out onto the platform, blesses them and lubricates their pockets with handsome ministry take-off money.

HABIT 5: SEEK FIRST TO UNDERSTAND, THEN BE UNDERSTOOD

According to Covey, a common communication error is inherent in most of us: we do not understand that listening is a form of communication. When you are listening to someone talk, rather than listening to him intently, you are busy processing how to respond to what he is saying. When someone comes to you for counselling, for instance, in most cases, you interrupt him and rush in to provide answers to his concern. The truth is that you have no clue as to the dimension of his problem. That is a big problem for most of us; we are not involved in empathic communication.

Dr Taiwo’s submission: “Dr Sam Adeyemi is a good listener who seeks better understanding with love and empathy. His humble stature and introverted nature are a magnet that stands him tall any day to stand in front of kings, not mere men. This is a gift and work of grace”.

I can confirm. I remember when I first started to go to his office for agreed mentoring meetings, I noticed that I was the one who was always asking the questions and answering them myself. He would just nod his head without uttering a word. This continued for a long time until I asked his PA to explain how I could make the best out of the relationship with Dr Adeyemi. He simply pointed my attention to a quotation he posted close to his table that read something like that: “When you are in front of a wise man, ask your questions and keep your mouth shut, he knows far more than you can ask”. I became wiser and our relationship blossomed.

HABIT 6: SYNERGISE: The Principle of Creative Communication

As you can see, the more you learn how to relate well with others through effective communication, the more interesting it becomes and the more you can get done. At its ultimate, when you have completely mastered yourself, your relationship with other people can produce amazing results. It would produce synergistic outcomes.

The bedrock of Habit 6, creative communication, is that there is always a third alternative that produces a better result.

Dr Ojo’s submission: “Partnership and collaboration hardly work in sub-Saharan African culture due to trust and credibility issues. But having served God through Dr Sam and Nike Adeyemi over the years, I can personally testify of his propensity and will to collaborate well as he is a serial learner and always willing to give. He always seeks the good of everyone he leads by creating possibilities for their personal growth. I am highly honoured and privileged to enjoy his trusted mentorship over the years, and this is not based on transactions and self-personal gain. Pure grace at work”.

I cannot agree less.

HABIT 7: Renewal Sharpens the Saw

The principles of balanced self-renewal: This is the last habit and the one that makes all the difference to all the other six habits, according to Covey. When you get it right here, you will get things fixed in all six habits. Nothing else can work when you get it wrong. It is such a powerful habit. It is one habit that hits at the core of your being. Simply put, Habit 7 says you have to take time to shape four key areas of motivation in life: physical, mental, spiritual and social/emotional.

Dr Ojo’s submission:

“Practice Self-Renewal: Any leader that is too big and old to learn cannot be self-renewed. I remember an incident vividly in the spring of 2013 when I started my doctorate in Strategic Leadership at Regent University, Virginia Beach, United States. I informed him to consider enrolling on the same doctorate programme because of the future of African leadership. He humbly accepted and didn’t look at me like a protege, especially serving as his protocol officer in the church. He immediately acceded and commenced the program where God helped us earn our doctorate a few years back. He has encouraged many of his associates to also go for the same programme and many of them are PhD holders now”

Dr Sam remains an intelligent, avid learner who intentionally practices self-renewal of personal development and growth, which is very costly and sacrificial.”

“In summary, he has not only lived the seven habits but has consistently exemplified them as a great role model. What a life worthy of emulation, especially now that our world requires leaders with humility, empathy, competence and love”.

Before his death, Covey also developed what he called the 8th habit, which simply means “Find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.” Voice is Covey’s code for “unique personal significance.” He believes those who inspire others to find theirs are the leaders needed now and for the future, according to Covey.

This is one area where Dr Adeyemi towers above many. When we submitted the proposal for the coaching programme, I did not want to include the cost. I wanted to do it pro-Bono, but he insisted on us including the fee for our professional work, a certain percentage of every cash we helped them generate.

To my surprise, when the final letter appointing us got to me, he had increased the percentage and also proposed a one-off upfront payment which he paid even before we started properly. When his manager told him that we would like to go on a retreat to further develop the concept, he asked for the cost and footed the entire bill.

The highest dimension of the coaching programme was the CEO class we organised at the Eko Hotel, which cost N650, 000 per head, and over 50 people attended.

All his associates and our team suggested that we did not need to stay in the hotel for the two-day event to save money. When they told Dr Adeyemi, he instructed all of us to be put in the Eko Hotel Signature, the same hotel where he stayed for two days.

He did not just prophesy over our heads for our professional work; he paid what he believed we were worth. He is a man that believes in paying for excellence because he often says that excellence will always pay for itself. No wonder people have always associated his network of companies with excellence.

Adeyemi is a deeply committed family man and he has always honoured his wife, Pastor Nike, openly as one of the major influences in his success.

Adeyemi is a leader to watch for he is constantly cooking up something. We can only wish him success in his 4^th dimension adventures.

QUOTE

YOU AND YOUR MONEY

HOW DO I CREATE THE SPARE TIME TO BUILD WEALTH?

“In one of your sessions, you suggested that we could successfully build wealth while working for others. This looks exciting to me, but my challenge is time. Most employers load you with so much work that there will be no space to breathe, leaving no time for moonlight. How then would it be possible for one to create time to create one’s other sources of income?”

I have been asked this question severally, and it amuses me how people complain that they do not have the time to build their own future. My reaction to such people is that they have not properly structured their lives to focus on important issues. I will back this up with practical examples.

One of my junior associates who worked closely with me in 1984 while I was on a board in an executive capacity, was fascinated by how good I was with multitasking- pursued my academic and professional goals while in active work. He had been silently observing and wondering about how I was such a success in multi-tasking. One morning, he walked up to me, requesting me to assist in mentoring him. He stated very clearly what he wanted to achieve in life. I gladly accepted to mentor him because I saw in him some strong determination, commitment and focus to succeed through academics. He started by obtaining a university diploma from the Lagos State University on a part-time basis. He thereafter proceeded to study on the same part-time basis at the same university and graduated with an honours degree in Law. He resigned, using his accumulated savings to study for one year at the law school, only in Lagos at that time. Thereafter, he went ahead to obtain his master’s degree in Law while sustaining himself and his newly acquired nuclear family with some short-time legal practice. Currently, he has built houses in Lagos and his village, sponsored his three kids to graduation from universities and is simultaneously pursuing his PhD and legal practice. He was thus successfully mentored to pursue and fulfil his dreams.

The second example that I would cite has to do with my upgrading the quality of personnel which I inherited as chairman of a board, overseeing two major organizations. At resumption as chairman, I had to introduce the policy that workers seeking to attain top management positions must, of necessity, be in possession of at least, university first degrees. The policy was greeted with massive protests by workers of the two organizations. After consultation with all stakeholders, I got my board to introduce the policy of study leave with pay for all personnel whoever sought to obtain university degrees. Many have, over the years, since benefited from this revolutionary policy to the benefit of raising the quality personnel of the two organizations, their states and Nigeria in general. One in particular, who then courageously led the protest of the workers, later took up the challenge. He thereafter proceeded to obtain his first degree, two master degrees and a PhD with utilizing that policy. As of today, he is the executive director-general of a national parastatal after retiring as a permanent secretary in the civil service of his state government.

As a third example, I gainfully used my evening/night times to obtain a post-graduate degree and pass professional examinations in the pursuit of my knowledge seeking, wealth-building commitment and goals. Most times, in the evenings and at weekends, even as an executive director, as member and chairman of some boards, I had to be reading, while lying on the floor of my offices, to read with some of my colleagues who shared common knowledge driven goals with me. Today, many of them have equally succesfully achieved their different goals. The question then is: Did God create additional time for them? The answer is, capital NO. Indeed, while their colleagues were watching football, drinking and partying away their lives, these individuals were effectively investing their time, to acquire knowledge and literacy for building wealth.

Humans can achieve a lot if they can effectively and judiciously prioritize spending their scarce time acquiring knowledge and building wealth for themselves, family and our nation. The key to this is multi-tasking. When and if we establish clear and compelling goals, we can successfully simultaneously achieve numerous goals, while also excelling in them. That has been my experience. As I was studying for a second degree in one of our nation’s top universities, I had to combine being the chairman of the board of two giant entities with over 300 personnel while also still being an Executive Director of another company, travelling extensively within and outside Nigeria, as my job required and was also supervising my property investment projects. Interestingly, I still ended up with the best result at the end of that degree program.

Looking back now, I remember how I would proceed for lectures immediately after office hours of busy work and while use every available hour, on weekdays, weekends and nights times, to study. One thing that also helped me, was that I encouraged others with the same degree and professional examination goals to read and study with me. Of importance is that I did not allow any of these personal developmental goals to affect my responsibilities to my employers. The point I am making here is that a lot depends on how effectively you multi-task, commit, and manage your time. I recommend reading “the tyranny of the urgent.”- a short essay on prioritizing and maximizing time.