Reflection on Choices

Choosing to do the right thing, I dare say, takes a lot of guts.  The topic of personal and business ethics is constantly being tested and pushed to its limits, especially in a country like Nigeria.  I will share my views on business ethics in the coming days.

On making choices, I will like us to take a step back and look around. Listen to what everyone has to say. Everyone complains about something in Nigeria, we hear outbursts like:

“Government is corrupt, they can never change!”

“Nothing works in Nigeria.  No light, no petrol and now no cash to spend”.

“I am my own local government”

“It is difficult to do business in Nigeria.”

While we pontificate on what is not going well, it is also time to think about how things became so bad in Nigeria. How did morals become so bankrupt?  Where did we get it wrong?  Why are all these happening?  Who will help us fix the multifaceted problems of Nigeria?

My friends, just like we were briefed in our “Search Inside Yourself” module moderated by Yinka and Tunde Reis, together, let us take deep breaths, clear our heads of the noise around us and look inwards.  Then ask and answer these rhetorical questions:

• When I look at the mirror, who do I see?
• Who am I and where do I fit in the scheme of things that will make Nigeria better?   
• What impact has my decisions and indecisions had on the people in my circle of influence?
• Can I truly say I am not part of Nigeria’s problem?
• Would I do better, if I am given the staff of authority to take charge of a sub-sector of the economy?
• The little I have been given to manage in the office, how have I managed it? The “Parable of the Talents” is quite instructive here.

The choices we make today, determine how our future will be.  Just as we made a calculated, well thought out choice to undertake an EMBA at the Lagos Business School, we should apply the same criteria with respect to every other decision we make.   The small or the big good or bad that we do, add up to the bigger picture in our future. And guess what? The future is that next second, next minute, next hour, next day, next year!

How hard can it be to make one decision that has a ripple effect that touch several people in our line of sight positively? What do we do when no one is looking?  Do we genuinely care about the people who work in our homes (cleaners, washmen/women, cooks, gatemen amongst others) or wave them off as nobodies? Do we go to work and barely do our jobs and expect to be paid in full on pay day? As business owners, do we treat our staff as people with lives outside the office or as mere tools?

A lot of reflections and questions from me today.  What I am sure of is that if we choose to make the right choices, first for ourselves, then for and with the people in each of our influence points, we will surely be able to make the right decisions that will change our Nigeria for good.  While we point our index fingers to what is not working in Nigeria, remember the remaining four fingers point right back at us.

We need to embark on a courageous journey towards creating an army of ‘right doers’ in the short term and social change champions for the future. #EMBA28