Aye Aye Captain

ALL HAIL THE CLASS CAPTAIN

Him: Mummy, I am the class captain. 

He proudly announced as he wheeled his bag out of the class, his lil brother following close on his heels.

Me: Oh my, I'm so very happy. *hugs in the school reception hall*. More hugs. Hi10.

My lil man now wears the cap of leadership over his 14 subjects, just like uncle Jona wears his inside Aso Rock.

With all the back-slapping, you would think he just scored the winning goal for my fav team -Arsenal against Hull city.

Now in the car.

Me: So why were you made the class captain?

Him: Because I scored 20/20 in my numeracy (mathematics). (So he was chosen based on performance)

Me: Oh really? That's very good.

Him: And Mrs B. (his maths teacher) was happy. Also Mrs O. (his class teacher) was very happy with me, she also gave me hi5.

My boy is a genius, a celebrity in his class.

Never one to miss an opportunity...You know you have to continue improving on your numeracy...and literacy...and verbal reasoning...and ICT...and social studies...and creative art...and spellings / dictations to justify your teacher's decision of making you the captain....

You can't afford to rest on your oars, boy. Keep paddling. On and on.

Him: Mummy, what is 'justify'?

Me: Justify means to prove them right, to make them happy that they've done the right thing.

Do you know what captains do? They set good examples for everyone so you have to set good examples for the rest of the class. Okay? 
Him: Okay. I know class captains also take care of the class, keep everywhere neat and also punish noise makers. Ehn ehn. 

With leadership really comes responsibility.

The conversation continued at home..and the lessons.

Lesson 1:

Him: Mummy...I am not happy my best friend didn't score everything. Who? It's Tim.

He's my very best friend. He should also score everything.

Me: Maybe you should practice additions and subtractions with him when you are done with the classwork in the evenings, that way you both might end up scoring very good marks.

him: Okay.

And it got me thinking...on how I am not taking my own advise.

You see, there was a boardroom meeting earlier in the day which I was part of. Check this scenario, someone was tasked with the job of starting a new business unit and he was not getting it right as expected, but some other members of the management team including yours truly had ideas on how to accomplish it but were holding back probably because it's not our core responsibility.

So you see, I've really got to start taking my own advise.

You know how it is when someone else is in the hot seat...so long my department is fine, then all is fine...with me, that is.

But my 5yr old wasn't fine because his bestie did not perform well and could not share the stage with him.
Those young 'uns take the world -selflessness to a new level.

How better would the world become if we all look out for our colleagues, friends, families, etc.

How nice would it be if we adopt the Musketeers' slogan of 'All for one, One for all'.

(Could never get enough of that movie, still saw it on MM yesternight)

Lesson 2:

Him: I also want him to also score everything and be the next class captain.

(They rotate the captaincy, every new week ushers in a new captain based on performance)

He's not even halfway into his current 'tenure' yet he's willing to relinquish and have someone else step in. 

Ogas at the very top, take note and get cured of the 'sit-tight' syndrome. Maybe there's no crude oil or revenue or contracts involved in this tiny year 1 class with just 15 bright minds to lead but still...power should never be a do-or-die affair. Even the oil is bound to dry up sometimes...maybe not in the next 50yrs but one day monkey go go market...

Helping one another and looking after others' interests could hardly take the shine off our own achievements, rather it would give us the satisfaction of knowing that we had done something to make someone better, to improve a situation which had the tendency to go awry and pull someone down south with it.

Now leadership is the new black, it looks good on everyone and the true test of leadership is really how many people we are able to positively impact. Tweet. Tweet.

It doesn't matter whether you are just a floor member or the least ranked in your workplace or family, we all are endowed with the seeds of leadership (not one not two...) and what we make out of it determines whether it would germinate and transform us into true leaders making impact with the resources resident in us.

It is not an honorary title but rather an attitude. Or put differently, title does not make a leader...the attitude does.

We all can lead where we are. In our workplaces, homes, families, church units. Anywhere. Everywhere.

We can all be class captains in our little space / world, it doesn't really matter who gets the staff of office / authority..first.

Aye, aye Captain.