December 12, 2024
Hexavia Business Club
News Feed

Break The Damn Door- Challenge Status Quo

Yesterday, I found myself pacing back and forth  the board room of Lufthansa Air just before our  meeting in the fancy top level office in Victoria Island. My confidence is easy to notice as if I am never under pressure. But this time, it was different.  Last week, we were at Google. It was easy. But this one,  I needed to pull this off. I told my team something wasn’t connecting, but I cant find the keys. This one was hard.  “If we can’t find the keys to this door, We’ll break the damn door” one of my colleagues said. This is our typical mindset at Hexavia!

And then the Lufthansa execs walked in, and the meeting started. But cracking the code they needed and breaking the barrier (the damn door) was still on my mind. We can challenge the status quo. I’ll go Roger Banister on them. And then one of my colleagues asked me after the meeting what that is.

 

Well…Let me explain.

 

There used to be something in athletics called the 4 Minutes Barrier, no one had ever crossed it.

 

So it was said that the human body does not possess the ability to run so fast, that it can go past a mile in less than 4 minutes. It was a scientific fact for over a thousand years, till 1954.

 

In 1954, a man called Roger Bannister broke it in the Olympics.  Wow, tens of century myth has been broken! But guess what? It took almost a thousand years for just one person to break it, but ever since 1954 to today, over 20, 000 people have ran past the 4 minutes barrier including high school kids. So what changed in these years?

 

no failure
Last week was crazy, I found myself selling confidently Nigeria to Americans and Germans. These guys are no small fries, but neither am I. That’s my spirit, it may come off as arrogant, but who cares.  Yes, young guys like us still in our twenties, the good news is,  we got two new accounts in Hexavia, and they are both multinationals, “Google and Lufthansa”. But the sacrifice was enormous. I’ll save the details for later. But it’s an epidemic infection of a team aggressively ready to create our own door if no one gives us the damn keys to get in. All greatness, all revolutions are sparked up by one persons’ challenge of the status quo and truly that is all it takes.

 

 

 

 

Be a pace setter. All it takes in life, is for one guy to break a barrier and hundred others will follow. So don’t succeed or do it for yourself, do it for others. This last week has been hectic, I’ve found myself juggling between two high rise offices in Lagos (and I usually use the stairs and not the lift) , the offices sit in the skies, (Google and Lufthansa) it is good growth but a lot of work. Sometimes, I’m tired, I got home 2 days ago at 1 AM, after midnight because I had to still meet up with a mentee and their team at a golf course hotel,  because they were heading out the next morning to South Africa as winners of the University Idea Trophy hosted by Unilever,  to represent Nigeria at a global undergraduate entrepreneurship competition and I needed to help them master their presentations. I drove almost asleep on my way back. I was tired but I had to keep on. At times like these, when my back hurts, I think of the people I am responsible for, the Hexavian communities all over Nigeria, my team, our family members who’s school fees depends on us, the mentees who look up to us. We need to succeed and change things, our circumstances and that of those around us. Decades from now, my kids, your kids will either be starving or succeeding from a decision we made today. I’m reminded of this every time I am on a cross road of decisions.

 

Always have a deeper purpose for what you do, the “why”.  In relation to management consulting and business, there’s something called the Golden Circle of a start up, it’s 3 nested circled drawn as a Venn Diagram. One is the “what”, the “how” and the “why”.  Great people and businesses starts with the why, then work towards the what.

 

The why is to break barriers.

 

We need people to set new paces. We need you and more people to start up. And from Start ups to Business and from Business to Upstarts (spin offs).

 

Written By Eizu Uwaoma, 
© Hexavia!.
08035202891

BusinessPlan. Strategy.
Brand. Mgt Consulting. Training.

 

About Eizu Uwaoma

Eizu Uwaoma is the founder & lead strategist of Hexavia, a business, brand, training & management consulting firm. Through his weekly features nationwide on radio, he connects with more than 5 million professionals, personally interacting with over 500 top executives & has intervened in over 50 businesses. He has a proficient gift, skill and experience in enterprise development. He is an authority in brand, human capital and business training as well as project consultancy.

He runs the Decoded, a monthly hangout for professionals in all major Nigerian cities facilitates at the Hexavian Masterclass and is the founder of the Hexavian Business Club.

Join HBC

Not already a member? Join HBC here.

Related posts

The Nature And Types of Ideas

admin

Which Would You Rather Be: A Big Fish in a Small Pond or a Small Fish in a Big Pond?

admin

Extra Ordinary Work Ethics

admin

9 comments

Obakam Tom-George January 26, 2016 at 6:07 am

This I know; that you have a big heart for the big vision. The big picture has not just you in it…Thanks for the encouragement this morning. It sparked a nerve.

If you’ve not met Eizu Uwaoma, know this; He’s got the calm sophistication of a true professional, gifted in business and social skills, style and sensibility, communication and elocution, leadership and a synergy of professional specialties.

Reply
Ogunmekan Opeyemi January 26, 2016 at 7:27 am

I really appreciate this piece, excellently crafted and I would like to add, at this time where people are loosing their jobs, the need to acquire a skill is important which plays a major role in starting up. Once there is skill, develop it and learn how to turn it into a business.

God will continue to lift you up Eizu and the entire Hexavia team.

Reply
Eizu Uwaoma January 26, 2016 at 10:01 am

Thanks. None of us is as smart of all us. the underlining concept is team work. #HexavianTeam

Reply
Chidi Ugbaja January 26, 2016 at 9:31 am

Always a masterpiece from Eizu. “….they were no small fries, neither am I ” . That struck me, I love the spirit and it’s by no means arrogance. Many times we’ve missed out on opportunities because we allow the title or the personality of the person in front of us to intimidate us. Someone said the stars u see on TV are not really the most talented Musicians or Actors, they’re the ‘bold’ ones.if you don’t believe in urself, u’ll never be bold enough to challenge the ‘status quo’.

Reply
Eizu Uwaoma January 26, 2016 at 10:00 am

@Ugbaja, very true.. Breaking barriers requires bold steps. Thanks

Reply
Lawrence January 26, 2016 at 12:49 pm

Always inspiring when young people question the status quo and go against it for all the right reasons… thanks Eizu for the very insightful piece.

Reply
Cecilia Agu January 26, 2016 at 5:56 pm

Thanks Eizu as always for an insightful and thought provoking article. I’m no small fry. S

Reply
Linda January 26, 2016 at 6:22 pm

I wonder which post supersedes another? With Eizu… every write up, strategy and post is captivating with great lessons to build on. So far… this would be my best post yet because of the 3 why’s stated here. Thank you Mr. Eizu. Congratulations on your achievement, I wish you many more record breaking achievements #stillfollowing

Reply
Funmi January 27, 2016 at 2:30 pm

Wow, #Nosmallfry, great post, and congrats on your big accounts right there, I am proud to belong to HBC! Yes we can do it! #goglobal #vision the WHY….

Reply

Leave a Comment

three × two =

Will you like to subscribe to our Newsletter and to join our HBC?