It’s no longer news that Dr. Ngozi Okonji Iweala has emerged the 7th Director General of the World Trade Organization. She is the first African and most interestingly, the first woman to lead the organization. As the world and women celebrate this worthy achievement, I thought to share 5 lesson young people can learn from her story.
As much as talent counts, effort counts twice: There’s no doubting NOI’s capacity. Her bio is completely accomplishment-based and her track record communicates pure excellence. Despite these, her rise to the position of leadership in the global organization was not without a fight. After losing to Dr. Jim Yong Kim in 2012, she went in for the challenge for the second time even when she knew her opponent was backed by the power houses of the world. Last year, it was inconceivable that her opponent would back down from the challenge and that an African would eventually take on the leadership position. We know many people who are more talented and qualified than NOI but do not have the determination to put in the effort required to succeed, and this is what separates the good from the great. The truth is, there are no shortcuts to excellence. Developing real expertise, figuring out really hard problems, it all takes time-longer than most people imagine. This is where effort comes to play, people who go on to make massive impact are those who are willing to put in the effort to bring their vision to life no matter how long it takes.
There is power in having a strong vision: Despite NOI’s exceptional academic and professional achievements, it was surprising that not everyone was in favour for her candidacy. There were many naysayers, many said she would not get the position because she is an African, others had concerns because of her gender. Others would have been discouraged by these, but NOI? NEVER! This woman has a strong vision for the World Trade Organization and for her life as a whole. From the way she talked to the way she dressed, it is almost impossible not to buy into this woman’s vision. NOI went as far as documenting her campaign for the WTO on Twitter, from her ideas on how to reform the organization to retweeting letters from world leaders who has endorsed her and sharing supportive opinion pieces on her candidacy, she was so hard bent on what she wanted to accomplish that she used everything in her power to push that vision. You guys! nobody can believed in your vision for you. There comes a time when you have to articulate your vision and if you do not believe in it enough to fight for it, you will sell yourself out. Great things are accomplished by those whose visionary actions are active in one direction, who employ everything as a powerful resource and who never tire of combining the means available to them for the furtherance of their vision.
Visibility is a currency; If you’re reading this post and you are not already positioning yourself as an aspirational brand, then I don’t even know what to say to you. You guys! Build your brand and get VISIBLE. NOI is never afraid to put herself out there. She documents her thought leadership through the power of media. A google search of ‘Ngozi Okonji Iweala’ will give you a quick education in media visibility. From press clippings to prime interviews with the most coveted media houses both locally and intentionally, this woman does not play! Her expertise is well documented online. She has been very very intentional about her brand, all the while she was wearing ‘ankara’ and investing in PR, she was using her visibility to build the big asset that is brand credibility. She understands that it is not enough to do good work, people have to know you as the go-to-expert in your field; Now, when it comes to Finance in world, she has built top-of-the-mind awareness and she will most likely be recommended for opportunities in that sector. Like NOI, young people need to start building brands that will make them get noticed for their work because ‘opportunities go to those that are known and not necessarily those that are good’. Read that again.
Your network is your networth: Relationship is the greatest wealth, and the power of people that you have in your circle cannot be overemphasized. For NOI, it was never about merely holding a leadership position or getting the work done. For her, it was more about developing strong relationships everywhere she went. This is particularly evident in the number of global leaders, international scholars, politicians and technocrats that came out to vouch for her credibility. Nobody rises up the ladder of success alone, we as young people must learn to build strong relationships in every corner we find ourselves. We must be intentional like NOI, about adding value to every person that crosses our path knowing that someday, everyone we meet will speak about us based on the experience they have had of us and we must do our best to make sure that have something good to say.
Greatness is doable: The most dazzling human achievements are, in fact, the aggregate of countless individual feats and each of them is doable. NOI did not come out of the blue to contest for the leadership of the World Trade Organization. If you study her track record, you will find a follow-through career path that points to her recent accomplishment at the WTO. Everything she has been doing over the last 30 years of her professional career in finance has helped her gather the experience and credibility that is needed at the top-level position. She started nationally, she did an excellent job in her two-tenures as finance minister, this helped her gain credibility at the African development bank as a result of the work she did in fighting corruption in Nigeria. From there, we entered the global scene and rose to the post of the managing director of world bank. It is her stellar performance in the leadership of the World bank amidst other things that made her eligible for the post of the Director General of WTO. When you look at it, there is nothing extraordinary or superhuman in any one of these actions, only that they have been done correctly and consistently over a long period of time and now, when synthesized, they produce unmatchable superlative performance.
NOI might look like a superhuman from afar, but she has many things in common with you and I. The only difference is the determination to achieve individual feats and do that with excellence consistently. If you’re aspiring to greatness, don’t give up. Greatness is within reach. Greatness is many many individual feats and each of them is doable.
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