BOOK REVIEW_ DRIVE BY WALE AKINYEMI
A BOOK REVIEW OF DRIVE BY DR. WALE AKINYEMI
It’s a slow lazy Sunday and the passengers on the outbound
mid-morning flight seem to be eager to fly to the coast away from all the
capital frenzy, in my hands I have two passports with a familiar name.
“Excuse me are you the writer?”
“Yes I am”
“Do you have any of my books?”
“No”
“Okay”
He instructs a young man probably in his teens who looks
like his son who chucks out a book. My true feelings can only be expressed by a
cardiograph as I wait patiently. What a day what a moment what a gift. ” Keep winning” he autographed, well
it seemed like a magical spell had been cast but I have never understood why
such moments never actually last long and why they happen so rarely in our
lives. It’s really important for us to be much vigilant of opportunities and on
such an occurrence then I can now affirm why one philanthropist said
success comes in odd hours. Five years ago I made an inter campus
transfer to the capital and the reason behind this move was to hunt for the
massive opportunities.” Mji ni shule “I can affirm but here
how savage you are will save and prolong your survival, it’s means and stay.
Well this book has just come at the perfect moment and it
met me at crossroads. Our minds seemed to like have synchronized in a kind of
advanced telepathy even before he arrived or before we thought of it now. The passengers
are a bit loud in small groups having a snack or some coffee over the other
side of the lounge but this man’s attire can talk louder than all. Being a rich
educated man you expect wealthy western sophistication around him but he is
deeply buried in simple Africanism. He dons the Nigerian national fashion with
the highest African simplicity.
Drive is the
title and this being the second last month of the year I surely needed some
inspiration and motivation to push a thing or two harder, the last ten of them
have been almost a total flop almost for 90 percent of the humans on earth. Our
reality has been altered and we’re standing on shaky grounds. It’s not been
easy swimming in these waters though happenings of events has two perfect
opposite outcomes. When one dies another is born, a win is accompanied by a
loss. As a young savvy African I’m passionate about winning and when I win I
like to shift my goals and dream bigger. However it’s always suave until you
finish paper work and reach the ground when you discover “ vitu kwa ground ni different.”
However being soldiers of the same struggle we were born to last and win.
Sometimes all a man needs is a pat on the back but most
importantly is drive and passion.
Sometimes the passion is there but the drive is not. These are the
moments you just drift in the winds of life going where they take you. We
always have to have a force that propels us forward just as an engine needs
fuel, however do we know the source of the energy of our goals? Is it innate or
is it extrinsic. I agree that the graveyard is the richest place full of
treasure. Many rich dreams lie dead buried in there. The solution to this
problem can be solved by a simple question I believe. “How do I get my drive?’
You may be vicious or ambitious but how long does drive take you? Do you rely on faith or hope?
Years ago I used to watch dad read the dailies once in a
while and I must confess I liked wafting through them staring at pictures and
subtitles. Over the years as my language skills grew the passion for some
columns also did and here look I met a notable columnist for the East African.
Writing and poetry came to me from chaos or let’s just say by “chance”. I loved
essays in school but never knew where they could take me in adulthood. Writing
was an unknown career however now that I’m here trying to overcome this turbulence
I need some serious drive. They say if you picture it you can drive it and if you
dream it you can achieve it and surely drive
will take me there.
My intent has always been to inspire and awaken to A NEW
RACE AND RACE. Nothing gives me joy than development, progress, folks just
winning, society, CHANGE. We all are after success but we should remember that
success is a moving target and we need to refuel frequently that we may never
run out of gas. It is for a fact that turbulent times come and go but who are
we after passing through the fire of adversities? What lessons do we retain? Staring
at the DRIVE whose sub title is Intentional Living for Exceptional Leadership
I promise my mind “nitararua hiyo kitu” and true to my
word in two sittings of almost eight hours and
under 24 hours came this review. This is one of those titles you pick up
and not wanna put down till you get through.
Picasso effect.
Life is about evolution the smartest who adapt less risk dying out and to put
it more simply your dreams are not for every ear around you. Just get out there
and put your shit together in the best way possible. Dream and make it work,
slide out of your comfort zone in what Dr. Wale calls the big swap. Indeed we
must lose sight of the shore and evade the risks that come to us for not taking
a risk. As we now take course or plan to, then we have to be cognizant that
dreams are costly but it’s a fact many aren’t built to pay that cost. For many
of us we are always rocking in the same spot but never making progress for I
presume we are anchored to the little pleasures and are therefore afraid of
losing these comforts. Most times we
underestimate our value and let other people define and set standards for us
and this makes us forget the potential of our purpose. We therefore should
brand our minds for legacy.
Web density. An
unattended to house eventually becomes covered by a network of webs it’s therefore
important for us to keep evaluating ourselves and moving our target constantly.
One of the things that hold us from progress is stereotypes and unless we walk
out of them then we can be assured of stagnation forever. We are currently
facing stagnation because we are making decisions from within “WALE’S TRIANGLE” and what we ought to
do is step outside of this triangle where there are no limitations and there’s
where drive is. If we limit ourselves to what already exists we become
imitators. Our advantage therefore lies in our difference with all others. We
must therefore take risks and break stereotypes. Drive is what produces power to act and
without drive ideas remain ideas while on the other hand ideas that have drive
change the world. If indeed we need to increase our drive potential we need to unclog our minds of the web density
in our minds.
Finality thinking.
This book not only tells us where our problems are but also provides solutions
to most of them too focusing greatly on our motherland; the research is well
conducted accompanied by furnished examples. Having progressive minds will help
us see a chance to start once again and oversee failure. As we do this we have
to keep a flow and vision that leaves impact. People with finality thinking
lack drive for they are convinced that there are no opportunities. To make it
out in the current competitive world we need a growth mindset. There’s no
ultimate destination in life, we are always in a flow as a stream, the gases of
the ether, or the blood in living organisms, and everything has a purpose.
Chapter six talks about
leadership and the purposeful leader.
As always Wale pokes those holes but I
expected him to go savage on these oligarchs for he is a powerful writer who
enjoys a very wide readership across the continent and globe. He has however
molded a perfect sculpture of who a leader is. Offices don’t make leaders. A
leader is a person whose vision of tomorrow can move men to leave their present
in pursuance of that future. No man is to be underrated just as in battle of
two equal beasts, terrain determines the outcome. He awakens using faith, of tales
of people from nowhere to somewhere and this reminds us from the other chapter that
finality thinking is the killer of dreams. Leadership starts with every
individual and we should always see ourselves and be part of the solution. What
do I say more?
The African Curse. I wouldn’t share a lot on these but everyone
ought to have their own thought on this. Africans what’s wrong with us? Till
when are we going to play ourselves? Colonialism stripped us of our identities
but it is absurd how we’re now shedding Africanism embarrassingly and succumbing
to westernization. Pan Africanism is
well rooted in this book, the key major problems and their solutions too. We
have been conditioned to memorize than to think or imagine and this has
hindered progress or advancement. We must develop a culture of transformation
and change the world or ourselves. Imagination is the father of invention and
here we are talented but our drive to achieve big dreams like global African
brands seems to have been washed, brainwashed by religion. However I differ
with him on the aspect of voyage as the human DNA tree shows Africa as the root
home of humanity therefore Africans might have made voyages just as the TWA who
inhabited Ireland and the black moors who ruled over Europe.
Over the years I have always seen capitalism as a monster
but this book introduced me to another perspective of it that’s compassionate
capitalism. Humanization of capitalism is also one integral thing we should do.
We therefore have to work hard and multiply what has been given to us instead
of hating on the successful. Above all compassion is the greatest thing we can
give for it’s the language of the heart that the deaf can hear and beauty the
blind can see.
Just as I had mentioned earlier this book was a gem and it
came at the right time personally and I am very certain that its influence is
going to ripple even further. It has simple easy to understand language and
vivid examples and polished research. It is a book that will indeed provoke you
to rethink of your purpose as it also tries to look at where the rains started
beating us. Though it offers us solutions that will help Africa out of its
problems I definitely believe that it should have gone a little deeper on the
matters of corruption for this has been one of the biggest monsters to the
prosperity of the continent and its brilliant minds. Maybe an example or two
policies that we could enact for better governance and leadership.
I would highly recommend this book to policy makers,
strategists, professionals and basically every individual for its contents is
all inclusive from that barefoot village dreamer to that corporate swinging in
his high end seat. It is well written and above all has accomplished its
mission of provoking, awakening, inspiring and creating change to a soul and
souls I believe. Awaken your sense of direction for only you knows where you
are going. Just remember “many times
reading has always made the future of a man”, Ralph Waldo Emerson. As Wale
puts it “If it’s intentional it will
always be exceptional”.
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