SOME RANDOM WAKING THOUGHTS …

Seed is the law of harvest.

Investment is the law of profit.

Work is the law of reward.

Except in cases of philanthropy (which we most times call favour), it’s theft to eat without working. Whatever you are eating now came as a reward for the work of someone. When you are not the person who’s worked for it and if it doesn’t come from the generosity of the person who’s worked for it, you are a thief to eat from it.

Don’t take anything for free. Always pay for whatever you get from someone no matter how little it is. You won’t get more if you don’t give back to the generosity of your benefactor. Yes, you have something to give ALWAYS. You can give appreciation.

Reward value … always.

Don’t allow selfishness to make you exploit the loyalty of your teammates.

Never reinforce disloyalty. If someone doesn’t take advantage of a first opportunity at showing honour, he’s entitled to forgiveness, and not reward. Never confuse forgiveness with reward. Forgiveness takes you to the place you were before you fell but it doesn’t take you to the place you should have been if you did the right thing.

Forgiveness gives you an opportunity to try again. It doesn’t leapfrog the law of work. You have to work and get it right before you are rewarded.

Get skilled people close; get loyal people closer.

There are loyal leaders. Then, there are loyal teammates. (I call followers “teammates”). In Africa, we stress loyalty for teammates but we don’t emphasize it for leaders. We’ve built fascists across the spectrum of social, political and spiritual leadership amongst us. Leaders exploit the loyalty of their teammates here.

Dear leader, use the loyalty of your TEAMMATES to advance the dream of the team and not for your selfish reasons. That’s why David didn’t drink the water those loyal guys fetched for him in 2 Samuel 23:15-17. He felt he would be by drinking the water, exploiting the loyalty of those mighty men for his selfish reasons.

As a leader, whether spiritual, political, social or corporate, whenever you get a teammate to do something which you later commercialize, make sure you pay them the financial benefits whether there was a prior contract or not. For instance, when church members SELL pastor’s books, they should be entitled to reward except the pastor isn’t getting financial benefits personally and this must be communicated to the teammates. Always reward value. Don’t exploit people’s labour for your selfish ends.