Throw away your certificate!

THROW AWAY YOUR

CERTIFICATE!

DEJI McWORD

Certificates are only ‘advance receipts’issued to show that you made a school richer. If after 4yrs on a campus,you cannot apply the knowledgeof physics to solve problems for humanity and make our world abetter place; you are likely to end up as a burden on humanity.

From the best-selling Author of ‘How Jesus Became The World’s Best Selling Brand’

DISCLAIMER

he dominant tone in this book is rather radical and stand the risk of being wrongly interpreted. Let me start by saying that I am one of the biggest fans of education and schooling. In my own estimation; you have done absolutely no wrong by choosing to go to school.

What I don't buy is doing it like a religion laced with futility. I only have an issue with it when it fails to make you a better person that can impact humanity.

For everyone who seem to have been lashed in this publication- it is nothing personal. We just

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need to point out our faults to each other so we could mind them and work towards getting better. Nothing would change for this nation until we can boast of graduates who can truly give invention, innovation and products with comparative advantage to Nigeria.

What we have been churning out are largely 'parasites' with no symbiotic ability, who parade nothing but a weightless, colorless and mere 'advance receipt' called certificates.

Now that I have set the agenda for this discourse, we must keep addressing it until our system attain a better shape and state of being.

Published & Printed byMcWord & Leaguers Publics

International Standard Book Number:

Copyright 2012 Deji Ajomale Luther McWord

This book is recognized and protected by the international standard book number and law through the department of bibliography of the National Library and the Intellectual Property Protection Law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and that makes it a punishable offence to use it for any illegal/unsolicited commercial purpose without prior consent of the publisher or the author

978-978-903-3

Content

“Education is what happens as a result of the deliberate and systematic attempt to get the human mind to be in the know of certain ways through which solutions can be b rought to our p r o b l e m - r i d d e n world.”-Deji McWord

CHAPTER 1

WHAT EDUCATION

IS NOT

ducation is NOT a ritual that every human must supposedly perform in a life time. In fact, before I go on, I'd like to distinguish between being educated and going to school: there is no such guarantee that you would get educated just by attending a conventional school like university, polytechnic or college of education.

This is because no one can hand education to you like a N1000 note- it is rather thrown into the air for anyone to catch. So, if you are not positioned from your inside, you would only

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spend or squander 1460days (or more) of your life within the four walls of a school with only a mere and weightless document called certificates to show for it.

Education is NOT the same as schooling because a school is only the most popular and conventional place where you MIGHT get education; there are other ways and places where you can get educated. People like Les Brown, Deji McWord and Brian Tracy have been able to prove that.

Education is NOT certificate. Certificates are only 'advance receipts' you get from a school to show that you made the institution richer by patronizing it, participated in the activities of going to class to sit under the tutelage of a lecturer and wrote tests and exams 'successfully' (only you can tell how you did it- maybe you paid your way with cash, your body or you applied the 'copy and paste formula'). My dear, success is not success if it can't reproduce itself.

Certificates are all-time formalities and a shadow of the real thing. Shadows are mere and faceless escorts that are not privileged to always be around while the 'real thing' is visible everywhere.

Throw Away Your Certificate! 2

During the day without sun or when there is light in the right proportion, shadows go into extinction like a dodo. On the scale of hundred; there is only about 10% tendency that you can identify a person by his or her shadow.

T h i s p e r f e c t l y i l lustrates what certificates are. They are not the real thing and that's why they can be forged. Wrap your brain round this and continually be in bed with it; no one would pay you for parading a couple of documents called certificates/good GPA. That's one of the chief reasons why some of your elder bros and sis are still unemployed.

Employers only ask for it as a proof that you Indeed attended a school and took an academic course. This is why interviews are staged- to verify if you have taken in what you were taught and, as a result, truly have what it takes to contribute your own part to the realization of the corporate goal. That document and some stunts might get you in there; only education would keep you there.

Certificates are all-time f o r m a l i t i e s a n d 'advance receipts' you get from a school to show that you made the institution richer by patronizing it.

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CHAPTER 2

WHAT EDUCATION

IS

have spent the last numbers of paragraphs in telling you what education is not- it is time to tell you what IT truly IS.

Education is what happens as a result of the deliberate and systematic attempt to get the human mind to be in the know of certain ways through which solutions can be brought to our problem-ridden world.

In other words; it is purposed for active application of knowledge which has a deep root inside of you and culminates in solving

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problems for humanity. That, my friend, is the original purpose of education. Anything that falls short of this is mere activity and ritual. If there is any problem-ridden world that I know of, it is the one we live in.

A problem is not necessarily negative- it simply means anything that needs to be put in place or displaced to make the human living better.

Go back to the history of how those who propounded the theories that integrated to make the course you are studying did it; you would find out that chief among their intentions was to solve a problem. Every sane course that a university, polytechnic or college of education offers is directly related to human life and living. Take a look:

FOODThere is agricultural science, biology and chemistry in what we eat and how they were come about. There is physics and chemistry in the process of their preparation.

CLOTHINGThere is biology, chemistry and physics in the making and sewing of the fabrics we wear.


SHELTERPhysics and mathematics guild architectural design, planning and building.

AUTOMOBILESThe cars we d r i v e a r e purely the end product of putting the knowledge of physics and mathematics to use. There is chemistry in the refining of the fuel

that we use in driving them.

Psychology is for the human mental health and functionality.

Sociology is about how we behave and relate to our environment and other humans.

Political science deals with how human beings govern themselves.

Economics teaches us how to create and

The next time a lecturer comes into the class to tell you that X x Y equals 1, ask him how the interplay of the two affects human life and living, and how you can apply its knowledge to make our world a better place.

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manage wealth as individuals and a nation.

Linguistics is the study of human languages. Language is largely about how human beings communicate among their kinds.

I can go on and on telling you how the courses that students study affect humanity. If you are on a campus for four years or more, and you can't apply these to making the human living better, you are likely to end up as a burden on humanity. You are either an asset or a liability- no grey area here. Such are those who lament that there are no jobs.

The next time a lecturer comes into the class to tell you that X x Y equals 1, ask him how the interplay of the two affects human life and living, and how you can apply its knowledge to make our world a better place.

If he tells you what a verb is, ask him: “how does the par t of speech af fects human communication”. It is time to stop being the kid on the stoop and set yourself on the track of being listed among men and women who would live and leave a mark for the world to remember that they were once here. That, you can’t achieve without deeply rooted knowledge.


Education teaches you how to solve problems but it does not mandate that you must be employed by someone before you can be a solution. What matters is that you can make something happen for good. If no one would employ you or you believe that you would do better running things on your own, go ahead- employ yourself. It is only a matter of time, hard and strategic work, you would employ others.

Education is liberation. It is civilization. It is light to the human mind.

Education is knowledge and knowledge is only relevant when applied. This is why education would never be the same as schooling.

It is a dynamic lifetime venture. It doesn’t end after your four years in a university or after Masters Degree/PH.D. As long as the earth keeps rotating; there will always be changes in nature, climate, human taste, need, preference, culture and mode of operations. All these need to be studied, probed and solutions proffered, in adaptation to change- per time.

Therefore, if your own education stops after school; you would sentence yourself to the jail of mundanity and irrelevance in ten years from now.

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Education is like the salvation of a man’s soul- no one can force it on you. Your parents or guardian can encourage or compel you to go for it, an idolized human figure may even inspire you, but it isn’t enough- being educated in the true sense of it like I have been talking about only works with personal resolution, deliberate effort, drive and commitment.


CHAPTER 3

THE CIRCLE OF

ABSURDITY(The Nigerian Case)

y one and a half years on a campus made me see some of the madness that characterizes our system, over here.

It is pathetic that we run a government that is so large and increases current expenditure by the day, while areas that directly affect human lives like health and education are less prioritized.

I do not have anything against anyone but the lashes must go round to everyone who played a part in getting us to this sorry state.

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LECTURERSIn the bid to survive and make ends meet, teachers and lecturers have misplaced their priorities and forsaken their purpose of educating the human mind. Many of them come to classes only once or twice in a while- to rush within a hour a topic that should take weeks to teach.

They do this not necessarily because they have stepped up their game by sending tutorials to students via email or some technology, but because they want to subtly force students to buy their textbooks which are sometimes inadequate.

There are students who have the cognitive ability to look at X x Y and tell what the answer is. There are many more others who need to be taught why X had to be multiplied by Y, at the first place, before you can go ahead and tell them what the outcome would be when you multiply them.

Classifying the latter with the former based on the assumption that everyone can study and understand on his own is not good enough. The only reason why that student pays a school fee is to obtain the right to be taught by someone who is believed to be a master at that subject.

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If all he comes to school to do is to buy textbooks and read what he never understood with the supposed expectation of someone that he should be able to figure it out it all by himself, with little or no tutorial from the lecturer; he could have as well bought even foreign textbooks, sat at home and studied on his own without having to pay any school fee.

There are dimensions to this; even the supposedly brilliant ones can only tell what the outcome of multiplying X by Y is. Many can't tell how the interplay of X and Y affect humanity and our world.

What refining does to gold is what exploration does to knowledge or information. Whatever a student is taught; allow him 'scatter' it, see for himself- what and what integrates to make it, discover new angles that are yet to be considered, find out new and possible applications- finally- let him tell you what he thinks and believes (from understanding and reasoning) it to be. That's how to make the next lecturer that would rightly teach the minds of the next generations.

Don't kill the expressive being inside of students by restricting them to telling you, in


Continuous assessment tests and exams, only what you told them during your lecture or via your textbooks/handout. There is one or all of these four issues involved when a lecturer insists that students must give only the definition he gave them:

1. He doesn't know what he teaches, too well.2. He doesn't like to be challenged so that

he could be propelled to improve.3. He has a shallow understanding of the

subject and doesn't want to be exposed by any student who dares to be different.

4. He is also a product of the 'copy and paste' culture and system.

Lecturers/teachers, don't allow someone's darkness to influence your light. Wake up to your ultimate calling of educating the human mind. Textbooks and handouts are products of your ingenuity and you deserve to profit from it.

However, you need to stop prioritizing the sales of your textbooks over your purpose of molding lives. The best you can probably do with proceed from such is to build a bungalow and buy a car- maybe more. Some years after now, they would have depreciated in value.

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This is nothing compared to the prestige of being the economics lecturer who taught Oba Otudeko, Tayo Aderinokun, Mike Adenuga, Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola (assuming they attended the same school).

The billionaires might just be reminiscing at the club house after playing 18 holes at Elizade's golf course in Ilara Mokin and remember how you never missed a single class and took the pain to explain comparative advantage or the laws of demand & supply (with some sense of humor) till they understood it. One of them might just suggest that they give back to one of the men who molded them. If each gives you a check of N20m- that's N100m in total- could you have made that from your textbooks and all your years in service- plus the fact that you could have churned them out without any significant thing to remember you for?

THE SCHOOL AUTHORITY/GOVERNMENT

Schools, like our political offices, are now being seen as an avenue to line up pockets. Many vice chancellors, provosts and rectors prioritize the income over the real thing. They keep admitting students without improving the capacity of facilities.


In my one and a half years on a campus, I saw a student slump during a lecture, because the ventilation wasn't enough in a class of about 500 students. Some sat on each other's laps, others stood and hanged on the window to receive lectures.

Some schools libraries and laboratories are thalmost like 18 century forsaken museum.

There are vital apparatus needed for scientific experimentation and research that are not available in many schools laboratories. Modern self-help books are wanting in libraries. Computer students may not be able to access the computer labs more than twice in a semester. Same goes for broadcast students who only access the studio once or twice a semester. It is probably not well equipped. No

internet to runeffective e-library.

State governments politick with state schools. They find a way to put their allies in the position of vice chancellors et al without bothering if they are fit for the job or not. They increase school fees at will, with close to no commensurate project to justify the hike. They under-pay the teaching staffs especially- causing them to err from their purpose in the bid to earn a better living.

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We can do far better. Let’s build our colleges of education & technology, vocation schools and give them some inspiring carriage so that the handymen of tomorrow who should attend a college of technology today won’t be insisting on attending a university that’s meant for others forging a different path- simply because they dread being looked down upon tomorrow.

This would go a long way in helping us create much more jobs and restore the middle class who are a vital part of any developed economy.

POVERTYThere is too much cares and concerns for the young minds of our students. A large chunk of parents live below poverty line. Some of them can hardly provide half of what their children need in school.

This causes them to hustle in order to provide for themselves what their parents cannot. They even do some illicit when the legit isn't available. I remember a BBM friend telling me how she had to sleep with six guys at a time because she needed some cash to run some schooling expenses.

You would be shocked to know that some of


them provide for their families. There is nothing wrong in a student doing something on a campus to earn some income but not the one that affects his studies.

Gone are the sweet good days when all you need to take to school are your spirit, soul, body and the resolution to make something worthwhile out of your life- everything was provided in good proportion by the government.

That was when we last produced the largest number of true scholars- not the wishy-washy we churn out now. The governments of nations who make education free for their citizens up to the level of the first degree are not dumb neither is it that they don't know how to cut cost or make money hugely from school fees like our own here. They only want to encourage everyone to get education and they have also discovered that the less your concern as a student, the better you are likely to do at taking in what you are being taught.

Here, lecturers compel them to buy textbooks/handouts at all cost or risk the loss of some good mark that can improve GPA. Normally, the one that doesn't have should borrow from the one who has and read,

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but since he knows that the receipt which is the evidence that he bought his own copy would be his continuous assessments mark earner, he hustles to buy it.

M a n y o f t h e s t u d e n t s b u y t h e textbooks/handouts religiously. They either don't read it at all or just copy some stuffs to paste in exams and tests.

There is the fear of been unnecessarily victimized by lecturers. As a lady, if a lecturer asks you out and you don't give in to his desires or find a way round it, you are joking with 'carry-over'. As a guy, if you go out with a gal that Mr. lecturer is interested in; you are likely to graduate two years after your mates.Many of them are only trying to put up; they are not in the best of shape psychologically. What meaningful studies can such have?

INADEQUATE ORIENTATION/MOTIVATION

The song sung to the hearing of almost every young Nigerian by parents, elderly ones, peers and teachers/lecturers is that he should work or study hard so as to have good grades cum certificates. Good grades would never qualify


For a bad idea. However, it's been discovered that only a few can successfully combine the pursuit for good GPA and application know-how of whatever course they are studying.

They take in this wrong or better put, inadequate motivation and it propels them to channel their energy in chasing after a thing of second-hand value. The most important thing is for you to be able apply the knowledge of what you went to study in school- to life and living. Good grades void of this is mere text and figure finely arranged on a piece of paper.

THE CORPORATE WORLD

I cannot castigate employers for insisting that an intending employee must have a certificate and good grades- you own your business and that is the standard practice. However, I am of the belief that it would do you, your business and our economy some great good if we start looking beyond certificates and give opportunities to geniuses who are in disadvantaged positions for being unable to attend a conventional and formal school or graduating with lower GPA.

Of course, the standard practice remains but we

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Can find a way round this. You can take a cue from Barclay Bank of Nigeria in the 80s and how it gave a young man without a university degree a chance to prove his worth. He sat for the examination organized by the bank, performed well, he was given a cash reward and an employment as a low level staff.

From there, he worked his way up. Today, he has built one of the largest banks that employed over a thousand people.

Wole Soyinka is one of the few healthy faces Nigeria has on the global scene and the first Nobel Laureate Africa produced. He graduated with lower grade. Today, he is so much of an authority that words he coined have made their way into the English dictionary.

Gani Fawehinmi is one of the most visible activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He graduated with a pass. If no one had given these geniuses an opportunity to prove themselves, they probably would have only been roaming the streets.

It’s not going to be easy going about this though, we must consider it. Show me a society that is bent on growing and I would show you a


Society that creates opportunities for its citizens to express their innermost being and make up.

There are many disadvantaged geniuses walking the streets of our cities and towns while some empty brains play their nepotism card to clinch chances they cannot produce anything with.

It’s time to turn the table to suit a full-fledged egalitarian society. If the government would concern itself with legislating on matters of less relevance, I believe that the corporate world can step in and do the right thing and later compel them to legislate in favor of cogent matters such as this.

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Chapter 4

FEAR OF

THE KNOWN

know your fear. I know why you can think of nothing better than GPA/certificates. You are afraid that no one would give you a job if you don't graduate with first class grade and that's why you pursue it at the expense of true education which is the knowledge and understanding of how a thing gets done.

My radical tone from the very first paragraph of this book may have made you think that I am against good grades and certificates. That's absolutely untrue. However, I need you to get this straight and continually be in bed

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with it; IF the pursuit of good GPA/certificates would pose itself as a veil to your vision and limit you from knowing how to apply the knowledge of physics to solving problems for humanity, after spending four or more years on

a c a m p u s , drop it and go for the real deal. You can s u r v i v e without that document but y o u c a n ’ t s u r v i v e without true

e d u c a t i o n - formal or informal

You must understand that if you would ever be relevant in this world, you cannot afford to make normal but ‘crazy’ and tough decisions.

The likely similarity between the guy who can get the job done with or without good grades/cert and the one whose only skill lies in parading the documents is that anyone of them can stumble on opportunities.

The difference between them is that the

Make a choice today- whether to be the guy who parades certificates/good GPA or the one who knows how to make things happen or get done well- wi th or wi thout the 'documents’

Throw Your Certificate Away! 23

Problem-fixing guy can seize an opportunity for a long time, build his profile/cv and move on to higher place or even pull out to start running things on his own while the document-parading guy stands a risk of being flushed out every now and then because no employer is a ‘Santa Claus’. Good credentials are prestigious and they can give you some leverage. However, caution must be taken in their pursuit as such quest has the tendency to make you loose sight of the real thing.

Many of the things that students do to secure good GPA bring them momentary gratification but work collateral damage on the long run. The topic you read to cram in order to pass an examination cant remain with you. It is not the same as studying to know for yourself.

If the three or four months in a semester is not enough for your to take in every topic- study at your own pace but do more than normal. Scatter it, break it down, probe it, ask questions, find answers- and ensure you are mating with knowledge and practical know-how of its application, in order to get pregnant. When it is time for tests or exams, sit majestically and

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express yourself as you answer the questions on the topics you have been able to digest.

If you have some slight idea on the topics you are yet to cover, put them down also. They might fetch you some more marks. Let the lecturer give you what you deserve. During the holidays, take your time to digest the remaining topics.

If you can digest everything within the given time of a semester or session, it would be fantastic and great! Go ahead- express yourself during tests and exams and cart away the ‘A’s. If you cant, please take to the piece of advice in the last two paragraphs.

Do you know why? It is not the food you chew that nourishes your body, neither is it the one that you swallow. It is the right one that makes its way into your digestive system at the right time, in the right proportion, under the right condition and undergoes the required process without been truncated.

If anything happens at the final year that warrants you to stop schooling, you would have been a pie full of stuff and not a doughnut empty in the heart. That’s why some of the


greatest of men that ever lived who had to drop out of school could still make their marks.

Every human being has his own learning mode, culture and pace- find yours. Listen to this; the original purpose of tests and examinations is to assess and confirm if you are taking in what you are being taught or not.

The idea of scoring you is to let you and everyone know how you are doing at catching education so that you can take necessary step at getting better. Some forces militate at exam periods that could reduce your performance at providing answers to questions and that’s why the outcome may not be your best. You might even do well at exams and be unable to apply the same knowledge you wrote down as answer.

Schools issue certificates to students after the stipulated period of their academic programme because they have tried them out through examinations and continuous assessments tests, therefore, they are made to believe that such students have caught education. However, you and I know that there are a number of ways through which you can pass tests and exams- copy ‘n’ paste (cram), pay your way with money, ladies pay with their bodies, the giraffe method etc.

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Another thing is, many of the lecturers are not practitioners- apart from teaching what they know, they don't apply it on a daily basis like the masters of the game on the field. Knowledge has life in it and every living thing grows. Since they don't practice it, they are likely to find it difficult teaching you how to apply it. That’s why the true test of your knowledge of whatever course you have/are studied or studying does not lie with any lecturer or school authority; it lies on the field where you are required to apply it. And over here on the field, unlike your school days when you cut corners all through, it is an open-air affair where you have ‘it’ and get celebrated or lack it and get flushed out.

Knowledge is not the beautiful picture of a dog on one of the pages of a magazine you once glanced through; knowledge is the dog in your house that wags its tail at you, robs its fur against your body and barks at any stranger. Knowledge has life- a body, soul, spirit, face and a voice. It is not passive like the dog in the picture. It is active like the dog in your house and it finds its essence when it barks and gets heard. Many young people leave school with that beautiful picture of a dog that has no.

propensity of barking, talkless of being heard

Graduation day, for some graduants, is not a day for celebration but a time to weep and refuse to be comforted because they are like armies that have just been sent to a war front without adequate or any ammunition- or worse still, given ammunition they don't know how to use.

Therefore, focus on taking in and retaining what you are being taught- the GPA/certificate is secondary. Enjoy the ride all the way. Make your learning some sort of fun. Never live with the fear that someone might victimize you . Play your part well. And live everyday has a quest to know one more thing that can make you a solution to humanity.

Have you ever taken a pause to wonder why a Bill Gates left school when he had only a year to go in Harvard University of all schools (na beans?)? Here is a guy whose parents had enough to see him through masters' degree and even PH.D programmes in the same prestigious institution or any other of its caliber.

Mark Zuckerberg, the dude that invented facebook was expelled from Harvard, still, he


didn't sink because of it. Today, he has a product and invention that more than half a billion people have bought into and he is one of the world's youngest billionaires.

Erastus Akingbola didn't attend any university. He sat for an examination organized by Barclay bank here in Nigeria- in the 80s. He did well and the bank gave him some cash reward and an employment as a low level staff. From there, he worked his way up to become the CEO of one of the new generation banks.

Les Brown attended no school, yet, he made the list of world's five best speakers in 1992. He is an accomplished best selling author, popular tv and radio personality. In fact, I recommend that you read his biography.

Brian Tracy is a product of no tertiary institution but he has written tens of best selling books. He is a world renowned authority on management, leadership and success tips. He has trained and spoken at conferences in not less than thirty countries across the world continents.

This is to make you see that it is not by certificates- it is rather by being able to grab

Deji McWord 29

knowledge wherever you find it, explore it and apply it in solving problems for humanity, thereby making our world a better place.

Do not allow the fear of being jobless cripple and make you chase after shadows. If no one would give you a job because you didn't go to school or you graduated with a lower GPA-never mind- as long as you can apply what you have learnt.

It only means that your journey won't be like that of everyone else and that's why the world would find your story more fascinating.

A problem would show up someday at a time when no one else (who can solve it) but you are available. After a persistent knocking at the door of opportunities, they would give you a benefit of the doubt and you would get the chance to prove to the world that you are a genius. From that day on, you would do but little to get them calling on you when such problems need to be solved again.

Les Brown and his twin were found in an uncompleted building in the low-income Liberty city of Miami by a low-earner woman in her 30s who adopted and raised them.


He was one of the kids with no flair for schooling rites. He was wrongly labeled the ‘dumb twin’ by his teachers who stigmatized and ran down his self-esteem. This coupled with his restlessness to encounter purpose made him take the drastic decision to stop after high school.

While his peers were in school, he went to the public libraries to a have a personal study time. I was at one of his speaking engagements where he shared the story of how he became a radio personality.

Les told his mentor his dream of been on the radio. His mentor asked “which of the radio stations do you prefer to work with?” He mentioned it and his mentor told him to go there and talk to the director of programmes.

He went there and did exactly. The DOP asked if he had any credential. “No” he replied and the man told him off that there was no space for him within the organization.

Les went back to his mentor to tell him what the DOP said. His mentor asked him to go back and ask for the chance. He went back and the man looked him straight in the face and said

Deji McWord 30

“you have been here before and I told you that there is no place for you here- my last response still stands”

On the third time, the man looked at him in the face and said ‘Les, run down now and get me a cup of coffee”. He had been seeking opportunities to go on air which was his original purpose but remained an errand boy until one night when Bobby the hip-talking Dj got drunk and couldn’t continue the show.

Les noticed it and went to tell the DOP who asked him to get Bobby off the seat and sit on the Dj’s seat. He was specifically warned not to say anything into the microphone because it was a live show. Les left the man’s office, called his people at home to tune their radio set to the frequency of the station and added that he was going live on air.

He went straight into the studio, took Bobby off the seat and continued the show. The DOP heard him and didn’t know what to do- whether to chastise him for disobeying his orders or give him a pat on the back because he was actually wowed by the dude Les Brown and that was how he went on to be the anchor of a morning show. He later became an emcee, three-term


legislator, one of the 1992 America’s top five best speakers, Emmy Awards recipient, accomplished best-selling author and tv personality. He was practically shot into national prominence.

Let me also tell you a bit of my story. In 2005, there was hell at home and I needed a place of solace. My PCE had just been seized and my SSCE wasn't complete.

So, automatically, there was no hope of getting admission that year. Still, I left Lagos for Mapoly in Abeokuta, in the company of some friends who had secured admission.

I stayed on that campus for one and a half years. I dedicated myself to receiving lectures and pouring myself into others. I taught my supposed mates at tutorials, group readings and even went to their houses to teach some of them individually.

The following year, I sat for PCE and GCE. Shit happened and admission eluded me again. When the bonafide students of that set were about rounding up their national diploma programme, I had to leave because I felt there was nothing left for me to be doing on that campus.

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Because I had no test or exam to write and was afraid of no lecturer victimizing me for not buying his textbooks, I was able to pursue nothing but knowledge and its application. I remember writing creative advert copies which I showed to my advertising lecturer and he commended my ingenuity. There was a particular one I wrote for a telecom brand which he accused me of stealing from somewhere.

I came back to Lagos and I seem unemployable. I was fond of going to the office of M2 magazine, the foremost publication of the Nigerian marketing communications industry. I wasn't a staff- I was only a young man who made himself available for service. I helped them typeset and ran a few other errands which they could trust me with. After sometime, they started trusting my competence. Whenever I attended events, I reported for their entertainment page.

Luckily, the same person who owns M2 also owns a foremost PR agency- MarketingMix- and the two shared a floor in a building. Therefore, I had access to staffs from both. I went with MM staffs to their PR activation events and was able to learn and meet industry


eggheads and celebrities who impacted me one way or the other.

In 2009, I pulled out of circulation and started writing my first book: 'How Jesus Became The World's Best Selling Brand'. It is now widely acclaimed as a novel idea. It is published by a foremost publisher in the US & UK and made available on the world renowned online sales platform .

A New York Times columnist- Anand Giridharadas- practically begged me to let him keep the copy I showed him. The book has flown on a private jet with a world famous author, speaker and consultant to government of nations. I grew up with a battered self esteem and limited belief in myself. Publishing this book shot up my morale nd I started writing opinion articles for the same M2 magazine. The first one I wrote was titled: CEO BRANDING & PR: WHAT'S THE NEED? I also published it on my blog.

The CEO of Ambassage Group was rebranding his real estate company and also needed some CEO branding. He googled for articles on the subject matter and mine popped up online.

www.amazon.com

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He read it and was impressed. He sent me a text to schedule a meeting with me. We met and after the discussion, he hired me.

This is a well travelled and lettered executive product of London Business School that an SSCE holder consulted for.

I have trained celetoids on the 'Next Movie Star', the reality tv show that produced the three Nigerians that ever won 'Big Brother Africa'. I have been to places and no one has ever had a reason to ask if I am educated or not.

Do you know why? What the world genuinely cares about is what you can offer and not the documents you tender.

The documents might get you a job but significant contribution to the achievement of the corporate goal is what would guarantee your stay.

The employer watches and observes to know who is giving and who is only taking with nothing to give the firm. In due time, the wheat shall be separated from the shaft and those who have too little or nothing to offer would be shown the door.


I must say, on a final note, that most of the pieces of advice offered in this book are not for everybody but strictly for those who would dare to be different and forge the path less travelled.

If you allow any school authority, parent, Government or lecturer to force you to join the crowd of graduates of ineptitude that are churned out of our schools every year- by pursuing the shadow called certificates/good GPA at the expense of true education which would not only make you highly employable but also sharpen your instincts, discretion and initiate to the point that you can employ yourself and others- you would have no one but yourself to blame when you get stalked on the ladder of greatness.

Me, I don talk my own oBye, Ttyl

BrB

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ISBN: 978-978-903-3Education

Picture Credit: Hallyphotography