How would you describe your tenure as the President of the Rotary Club of Isolo?
Honestly. I thank God for making it possible for me to lead a club that has been in existence for the past 42 years in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. That, to me, was an expression of the confidence of club members in my leadership quality. So, I feel really good that I took up the mantle of leadership and faced the tasks with determination, prayers, and trust for my team members led by my Incoming President, Hajia Abimbola Oseni.
I led with a sense of humility and modesty, always willing to learn from others and consulting with members of the team. I did not impose my ideas on them, and I did not discountenance their ideas and inputs. We all worked together in harmony and concert. Hence, we were able to achieve all we did. I salute the entire team for giving their best. I intentionally adopted a motivational cum inspirational leadership style. Arising from my experience, I will advise everyone aspiring to any leadership position to first do a self-examination of their leadership skills through the Prentice Hall leadership tool to understand better the qualities inherent in them.
Overall, my tenure was a huge success to the glory of God. I am happy that I was able to motivate and inspire two females in the club who are taking up the challenge of becoming Presidents in the UK and Isolo respectively for the year 2023/2024.
What are your major milestones in terms of accomplishments?
I accomplished quite a lot and executed about 24 laudable projects within twelve months. I led the club to win citations from Rotary International (RI) for meeting the goals set from the start of the year to the end. I also led the club to win the DEWEF Award from District 9110 as the highest donor of the sum of N5.5 million to the District. Below are some of my activities for the year:
- Isolo Training Assembly (ITA)
- District Governor’s Installation
- District Governor’s Visit
- Imaginative We Care Insurance Scheme 2022-23
- Rotary Club of Isolo 2022-23 Free Eye Test
- Support to the District
- Imaginative Year Free Cervical Cancer Screening
- Imaginative Year Free Prostate Cancer Screening
- DEWEF
- Polio Plus Society 5.5 Million
- Launching of Isolo Micro Finance Fund
- Tree Planting Projects
- Basic Education & Literacy Projects
- Reading and Spelling Competition in Isolo School
- Education & Literacy Conference
- Economic and Community Development Projects
- Micro-Finance Scheme for Isolo Market Women
- Empowerment for Tailors and Hairdressers
- Imaginative Paul Harris Fellows
- Rotary Family Health Week
- We Care Projects
- Annual 4-Way Test Essay Competition
- Commissioning of Global Grant Wash Project
Are you fulfilled and satisfied with what you were able to do?
In all honesty, I thank God for being able to lead from the Diaspora and achieve the numerous goals and projects set forth. I was blessed to have a trusted and loyal Deputy in the person of Hajia Abimbola Oseni. She effectively and effortlessly coordinated affairs from the Lagos end. I was also blessed to have a graphic artist by the name of Noah dedicated to me and extremely loyal. He captured all my activities and kept a 24-hour communication line open with me for the entire year. It’s huge leading people from thousands of miles away. The time difference was also a challenge we had to surmount. It was indeed a fulfilling year of leadership for me. God is faithful.
What’s your plan after your tenure?
Thank you for this question. I am now an Immediate Past President (IPP) and my goal is to make the next President succeed. I am a member of the Hope Year Board, so I will still be relevant to participate in the core administration plans of the club. That’s next on my agenda. I have gained enough experience to foster and promote growth. I am indeed happy that I was able to unite and move the club forward, riding on the achievements of my predecessor who left a huge achievement and success for me to ride on.
Which words best describe you and your personality?
This is an interesting question and thanks a million. As a Doctorate holder in Management & Leadership, words are powerful and it’s what attracts the success one becomes through the positivity concept. The words that best describe me are Generous, Dogged, Honest, Motivation, Inspiration, Determination, Reality, Perseverance, Trust, Faith, Positive, Friendly, Selfless, Believe, and Hopeful.
What does success mean to you? What does it look like?
Ha! Success means a lot to me because failure is the beginning of success. I plan for failure to project success. According to John C. Maxwell, “Success is achieved in inches and not in miles”. For me, every day of my tenure was a success. We met virtually, I deliver speeches at my project completions and commissioning. And I was blessed with the head of the technical and communication team, Past President Adedayo Dauda, which was again a huge success from a relationship management perspective. So overall, success remains the accomplishment of goals through the manifestations and testimonies of Club members that they were all happy that I led successfully.
What are your success principles?
My success principle which I would recommend to anyone desirous of success is to adopt the first principle of PDA (Perception, Decide & Act). This implies that I perceive to plan. So before perception, I adopt the second principle of IPDA (Identity, Perceive, Decide, and Act), which implies that I Identify what to perceive before planning. Moving further to adopt the third Principle of SIPDA (Search, Identify, Perceive, Decide & Act), which also implies that before Identifying what to perceive and plan for, I searched for them. Lastly, I kept it simple and adopted the final principle, SEE (Search, Evaluate, & Execute), which, implies that I was always searching for everything to make success, evaluating them, and executing to make the desired success to the end of my tenure.
What advice would you offer your successor?
I will use a Latin phrase – ‘Res ipsa loquitur’, which means “The fact speaks for itself”. So there is no reason to reinvent the wheel! My successor has gained a lot of experience by shadowing me all through the years so she was the “Shadow President”. She should just be rolling out and unify the club better. The only enemy of success in an association is Polarization!! So I will advise her to watch out and anticipate and adopt the principle of SEE.
How can the Rotary Club be more effective and impactful in Nigeria?
Rotary Club in Nigeria can be more effective through the emulation of the Rotary International structure and leadership. Currently, the existing structure and leadership are delivering results. We can do better if avoid politics and continue to practise the 4-Way Test of the Rotary. Adoption of Rotary principles, ethics, and objectives can be more impactful to Nigeria’s administrative systems in my opinion.
How do you surmount life’s challenges?
Hmmm! According to Ray T. Bennett, “Life is about accepting the challenges along the way, choosing to keep moving forward, and savoring”. I see challenges as my source of strength, I move because movement is the only thing that keeps you alive! So we move!!! For every challenge, there is an opportunity waiting there for discovery. So I love challenges and rejoice over solutions to enjoy success.
