By Goke Ilesanmi
Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well. Therefore, it is imperative to aspire to be at the peak of your career or business. That is, the highest level. To achieve this feat, you must have the mentality that the sky is the beginning not the limit of your potential for personal or corporate success because you are capable of reaching farther into the success moon and stars through exceptional commitment, outstanding performance and/or distinction. Your ambition is attainable because whatever good idea you conceive and believe in as an individual or organisation, you definitely can achieve.
Great ideas and self-motivation
To be able to ply your way to the peak, you must have great ideas and prepare. Great ideas are the main asset you need to succeed because all accomplishments begin with an idea. It is noteworthy, however, that creative and innovative ideas are in short supply, and so are people who can turn them into reality. Self-motivation is another tonic necessary for getting to the topmost level. The purpose of motivation is to get specific actions, and the willingness to act on your ideas is as important as the ideas themselves.
Distinction
To get to the peak, you also need to be thirsty for excellence. To achieve excellence, you must aspire to be ahead of your peers. You must be sitting when they are sleeping; standing when they are sitting; outstanding when they are standing; standing out when they are outstanding. Even when some of them try to stand out, you ensure you become the standard with which their stand-out is being gauged. Despite your achievements, you must not rest on your laurels because of the danger of complacency to the ability to successfully race to the peak of your success. Never settle for an average life especially that God wants to launch you past the middle to the top.
Vision statement and success name
Vision statements that articulate leadership aspiration and personal or corporate names suggestive of success or wealth are also capable of challenging people and organisations to spring past the middle rungs of the success ladder to the peak. For instance, if your corporate vision statement reads, “To be the pacesetter in the ABC industry”, you will be motivated to work extra-hard to be the leader. Also names that indicate outstanding success make individuals or corporate organisations work hard to avoid being mocked for failing to live up to the meaning of such names. If your name is Arowolo (“I have sufficient money”) for instance, you will naturally be compelled to work hard and live the life of affluence that matches such a name. Peak-success names chosen by organisations like First Bank, Zenith Bank, Globacom, etc., largely challenge them to perform well.
Recent experience
I was invited to the Lagos School Prefects’ Leadership Summit recently as a keynote speaker to discuss the theme of “Getting to the Leadership Peak in School and Society”. To arrest attention and ensure effective participation of the audience largely made up of school pupils, I asked this question, “What is the meaning of peak?” Then one of them confidently stood up and said, “Peak means Peak Milk.”
Expectedly, most people laughed. But I urged them not to make jest of him because even many old people still ask you to give them “Daily Times” when they want to say “Newspaper” while many still use the word “Indomie” for any type of noodles. I said if we considered the boy’s age and how FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC’s flagship brand, Peak Milk has maintained nutritional peak performance that matches its name in the 60 years of the firm’s operations in Nigeria now, the audience would not blame him. I added that names like Buhari, Jonathan, Kanu, Okocha, etc., sound like exclusive names of some specific people alone because of their peak achievements, even though other people equally bear these names.
Strong belief
To be able to get to the highest rung of the achievement ladder, you need strong belief. Belief is an attitude, the way you think about something. Your belief is your destiny and once you are committed, success will surely come your way. You form attitude through knowledge and experiences and you can change your attitude if you motivate yourself to do so. Irrespective of whom you are, your education or location in life, your attitude can be totally positive if you believe in yourself.
Failure and self-challenge
You also need to embrace failure and challenge so as successfully ply the path to the peak. No matter what happens in the course of your journey towards success, never label yourself a failure. One of the greatest problems people have with failure is that they are too quick to judge isolated situations in their lives and label them as failures. But you need to keep the bigger picture in mind. To get to the top in life, you need to really challenge yourself. It is a reality that most people can do more than they think they can.
Best people
You need to surround yourself with the best people if you must to rise to the top. When you surround yourself with the right kind of people, you enter into the God-given power of agreement. You should not measure your success by what others have and have not, and today is the day to get through what you have been going through. If you think you are doing better than the average person, then you are an average person yourself.
Corporate culture
Any organisation that wants to get to the peak needs to have a strong corporate culture. Research shows that corporate culture accounts for 20 to 30 per cent of the corporate performance in the midst of competition. Some of the elements making up a great corporate culture are a vision or mission statement, values, people, etc. A great corporate culture begins with a vision or mission statement which we discussed last week. Values also constitute the core of a great corporate culture. While a vision articulates a company’s purpose, values offer a set of guidelines on the behaviour and mindsets needed to achieve that vision. Employees are another part of a great corporate culture. This is so because a corporate organisation cannot establish an acceptable culture without people who either share its core values or are willing to embrace those values.
Management and board composition
Any organisation that wants to succeed and get to the peak in these days of cut-throat competition must be effectively managed. Credibility of the people constituting the board of an organisation also determines how far an organisation can go in terms or achievement. Credibility of the board either boosts or erodes confidence of the public and investors, and influences the confidence that employees repose in such an organisation.
Final note
Are you now set to ply your precise path to the peak? If it is so, then discard performance of mediocrity and move to where you really belong at the top. There is consistent demand for mediocrity but you should turn down the offer and cuddle peak performance.
PS: For those making inquiries about our Public Speaking, Business Presentation and Professional Writing Skills programme, please visit the website indicated on this page for details.
GOKE ILESANMI, Managing Consultant/CEO of Gokmar Communication Consulting, is an International Platinum Columnist, Professional Public Speaker/MC, Communication Specialist, Motivational Speaker and Career Management Coach. He is also a Book Reviewer, Biographer and Editorial Consultant.
Tel: 08055068773; 08187499425
Email: gokeiles2010@gmail.com
Website: www.gokeilesanmi.com.ng