Latest / King Dems Podcast | Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights / Ep. 10 with Ore Bukola

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Ep. 10 with Ore Bukola · King Dems Podcast | Growth Mindset, Leadership, AI and Business Insights

• 0:01
  Welcome to the Kingdom's podcast, sharing the stories of
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  ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
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  Ladies and gentlemen, you'll once again welcome to another
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  Results. Let's go.
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  This is a lifetime lesson, so start now.
• 2:11
  We are life. Ladies and gentlemen, you once
• 2:14
  again welcome. To the King James Podcast and
• 2:16
  today I have a very, very special guest.
• 2:20
  So I have. Written down your introduction,
• 2:23
  right. So this this woman is a leader.
• 2:27
  She's a teacher. She's a coach.
• 2:29
  She's a mentor to carrier status.
• 2:32
  She's a career woman. She's a finance professional, a
• 2:35
  chartered accountant, BIG4 consultant and audit manager
• 2:39
  with one of the Big Four, accounting.
• 2:41
  Firms. She's a wife.
• 2:42
  She's a mom and pop. She's a lover of God.
• 2:46
  Please make welcome, alright, because how are you doing today?
• 2:52
  I'm good. I'm good.
• 2:53
  I'm I feel sort of it's my first podcast ever and and so when you
• 3:01
  reached out to me to say you wanted to talk to me, I'm like,
• 3:04
  OK, so I've been doing more of like just training and you know
• 3:09
  chatting to people over calls and all that.
• 3:11
  But they've really done like podcast where I would, even
• 3:14
  though people had reached out to me to sort of do some sort of
• 3:16
  publication and rack up on myself, I I I I'm the worst.
• 3:23
  So whatever that is. So I thought, this should be
• 3:26
  fun. Let me go see what this actually
• 3:28
  sort of food looks like. Ohh, interest is anyways, the
• 3:37
  kingdom's podcast is about sharing the stories of ordinary
• 3:40
  people doing extraordinary things.
• 3:41
  You know, and I have identified you as one of those ordinary
• 3:44
  people doing, you know, extraordinary things.
• 3:46
  You know the worst can be the best, right?
• 3:49
  You are the worst that describing yourself, right.
• 3:51
  But then on the King discuss, you're actually going to
• 3:54
  transfer to being the best because the next question is,
• 3:58
  you know, how would you describe yourself in a few words as a
• 4:01
  question? So I'll sort of just say I'm,
• 4:07
  I'm a professional just like you've introduced me.
• 4:10
  But outside of that, I am very, very keen about people and I
• 4:17
  feel like this is what drives me the most is the fact that when
• 4:24
  you're interacting with people in whatever sort of situation at
• 4:28
  work, in relationships and all of that, the first basic
• 4:33
  fundamental thing is the people on the other side of whatever
• 4:37
  interaction, we just all go transaction and a lot of people
• 4:41
  go transactional. I think what has really helped
• 4:44
  solidify who I am is to 1st think about that person.
• 4:49
  And so at work, whatever it is I'm doing, family, any anything,
• 4:54
  I'm thinking about people first like them, are they OK?
• 4:57
  Are they fine? I feel like everything is
• 5:00
  secondary. So I see myself as very people
• 5:03
  centric and that has helped me sort of find purpose and has
• 5:08
  helped me in everything I'm doing in my life.
• 5:11
  So I'll sort of describe myself as very people centric and
• 5:14
  professional and just love our people basically, and that has
• 5:19
  just helped ship who I am as a person.
• 5:22
  You're not interested. So in order to understand a
• 5:25
  human being, don't you believe that they are tattooed is
• 5:31
  usually an important part of their life to backtrack, right.
• 5:36
  And you know, get to understand them because a lot of the
• 5:38
  values, right, the core values, basically that's from a person's
• 5:44
  character are usually picked up, you know, in those are formative
• 5:47
  years. So that being said, I would like
• 5:50
  for you to talk briefly about, you know, your childhood and how
• 5:54
  growing upwards like for yourself.
• 5:58
  So I was born in Ilaro state for my dad moved to Lagos when I was
• 6:05
  really little, like a year old kind of deal.
• 6:08
  And my dad was a civil servant before he retired and my mum is
• 6:14
  still Isabel servant now and so growing up in our also.
• 6:18
  So my dad was an internal auditor with the University of
• 6:22
  Lagos before we retired and my mom is a professor now in one of
• 6:26
  the investors in Lagos. So we've always had in terms of
• 6:30
  like ordering them with holiday home where education is
• 6:34
  paramount and my dad is also a preacher.
• 6:38
  So I, you know, growing up in that Christian, I was old.
• 6:41
  And at the same time like growing up in a household where
• 6:45
  you just have to go to school, you know, you just have to do
• 6:48
  the right things. So there was a lot of learnings.
• 6:50
  So if you see the things that I do right now on LinkedIn, that
• 6:53
  used to be my dad. My dad already lost my, my dad
• 6:58
  has this very big library of books.
• 7:00
  I don't even know how he does it read and read and read.
• 7:03
  So he tells us, I think one of his biggest coaches, to be
• 7:08
  echoed around while people, ordinary people, sleep.
• 7:12
  Great men, they burn the midnight kangaroo and all of
• 7:14
  that and all of that. So you keep telling us all of
• 7:16
  those things. And so I think from a very, very
• 7:19
  young age, my dad had instilled teach.
• 7:21
  You had to be hard working. It was very, it was very keen
• 7:25
  about the schools we went to. We're enjoying the process.
• 7:29
  We're doing well. It would be very uncomfortable
• 7:31
  if you were not sort of on top of it.
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  So that was the sort of my mum or DO also.
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  So I saw my mum. I grew up, you know my mum as
• 7:41
  having NC, just NC. And I saw my mom grow from
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  having NC till like having a PhD.
• 7:49
  My my mobile, yeah, I think I think should go up pH.
• 7:54
  D in 2011, when I finished university, that was when she
• 7:58
  got her pH. D So, and I think the central
• 8:02
  person to all of our stories is my dad.
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  And because he is a motivator, he pushes everybody to be at
• 8:10
  their best. He said he wanted all the
• 8:12
  students to be Chartered Accountants and three out of
• 8:16
  four are accountants. Brother did computer, he did
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  computer science in school. It still says you should go and
• 8:24
  do it so, so that's when that pushes.
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  Everybody pushed. My mom also she got a pH.
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  D so I saw him at the centre of it and it will do just about
• 8:32
  anything in response. So you it would give you if you
• 8:35
  needed time, whatever it is it would give that to you.
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  So I grew up in that sort of household where, OK, let me chat
• 8:41
  to you also about when I was in the university.
• 8:45
  So at the time I was getting to university was when my dad was
• 8:48
  retiring from full-time service. And then it was the case that
• 8:55
  obviously it was retired and it was, it wanted me to attend a
• 8:58
  very good school. He wanted me to attend Babcock
• 9:00
  University. Quite expensive compared to what
• 9:03
  a civil servant was there and you know.
• 9:06
  Private schools. He just wanted us to go to like
• 9:10
  the best schools and all of that, and it will do just about
• 9:12
  anything for us to be able to sort of attend those kind of
• 9:16
  schools. So I I got him something like
• 9:18
  something that really, really helped me throughout my stay in
• 9:22
  university is my dad called me every day around 6:00 AM every
• 9:27
  single day, and that's when he's finished, probably his own early
• 9:31
  morning routine or prayers or whatever.
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  So he will come in. Now my dad is sometimes my my
• 9:35
  dad. As much as he's a push is he
• 9:39
  also holds us accountable. So once he calls you at 6:00 AM
• 9:44
  and you sound like you're still sleeping, he doesn't like it.
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  So once I see my dad's cool, I get up and I'm and I get myself
• 9:53
  like, you know, I don't want to sound like ohh look, I'm like, I
• 9:57
  don't have any. How are you?
• 9:58
  I'm fine. I'm OK.
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  Ginger. You know, you would say,
• 10:07
  everybody would say where are you now?
• 10:09
  Do you have any test today? Do you have any sort of
• 10:12
  assignments? Have you done your assignments?
• 10:15
  I'm telling you, you invested so much time and call every morning
• 10:19
  and you would say, OK, so your GPA, have you spoken to?
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  Do you have any courses that you sort of struggling with?
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  Do you want to go and meet the lecturer?
• 10:27
  Is there anything you need to do and the textbooks you need to
• 10:29
  buy? You know it was always in the
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  story and they would call me every morning and all of that,
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  not just me for my siblings as well.
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  We all went to same school So we'll do the same for all of us.
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  And my dad pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and pushed and
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  it will remind us that look, we are poor as it is.
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  You you can't even consider as average we are poor as it is.
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  If you really want to break this course, if you really want to
• 10:52
  break through and all of that, the story starts with you and I
• 10:56
  really want to put you on that pedestal where you are able to
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  do that. So, so that push that I saw from
• 11:01
  him encouraged me to have my own routine.
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  So I didn't wait for him to call me.
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  I will be up myself. I would read and read and study.
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  So all I was in school was read, study what?
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  So that set me up really nicely to be able to finish with the
• 11:14
  grid I finished with and you know the rest is history.
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  And he kept on like that until I think I got married and then he
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  ohh. So he doesn't call me everyday.
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  So yeah. So that was the sort of
• 11:26
  upbringing and that that I had. It was hard no doubt.
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  I didn't have friends or I didn't go.
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  Parties never went partied. Great.
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  Never ever, ever, and I mean it never went partying.
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  It would it would come to school, check on.
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  It will come to school like once, like every other week.
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  It will travel from Lagos to edition every other week to
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  check up on us. I remember that my mum would
• 11:50
  call us to say your dad is coming.
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  You guys, that is on his way. Get ready.
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  It was, so I had to say it was really tough.
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  But I think that all of that idea prepared me for everything
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  going on with my life right now, because I don't have to struggle
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  with consistency or with resilience or with everything
• 12:11
  I'm going through right now. I I think you you you read my
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  mind, right? Because for me, as you were
• 12:18
  speaking, I was speaking out like certain recurring themes,
• 12:21
  you know, that formed a pattern in your childhood.
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  So basically you were able to pick up certain core values that
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  are that resonate with me that I appreciate.
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  You know, things like hard work, like integrity, like ambition,
• 12:39
  motivation, right, consistency, very, very important because you
• 12:44
  know it's it's one need to be determined is another thing to
• 12:46
  be consistent. You know talent is never enough,
• 12:50
  right? But then you know you can be
• 12:53
  averagely talented, but then if you're persistent and you're
• 12:56
  consistent, right, you will keep the blocks away and you won't,
• 13:00
  you know, find ways to become like a really, really successful
• 13:03
  as as a human being. And it's really, it's really
• 13:07
  remarkable to see how these, you know, wonderful values have
• 13:11
  actually played out for right from your childhood to your
• 13:16
  adult food and seeing you become a successful person and not just
• 13:20
  becoming a successful person. Because for me, I always tell
• 13:23
  people there is no success without a successor.
• 13:27
  And I see the great work you're doing in building successors,
• 13:30
  you are paying it forward. And you know the big, big, big
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  ups to you, Big kudos to you for for for you as a person, right?
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  So as I said, from your. Father, were there like any
• 13:43
  other any like influences or mentors and Providence for
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  yourself? So I think yes, obviously the
• 13:52
  way the way some people who had immense contribution towards my
• 13:58
  my growth and all of that. There were some friends of my
• 14:02
  parents that were actually like always really brilliant.
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  And they kept every time I sort of I'm in their presence or
• 14:10
  whatever they tell me to keep doing whatever I was doing.
• 14:13
  And I was just basically what while I was back at school,
• 14:15
  official books, you know, that kind of deal.
• 14:16
  Make sure you reading, make sure you're on track.
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  And so I think my parents kind of created this.
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  They don't have many friends, but the friends they they have
• 14:27
  now or did have there. And we're really valuable people
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  that always had the right words for the moment.
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  And I'm sort of, I love when people sort of challenge me or
• 14:38
  inspire me to do more so. So I have that.
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  My parents had those circular friends that sort of would tell
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  you every time they meet you to always be that best version of
• 14:50
  yourself. And the rest, I think another
• 14:54
  sort of thing that really helped me was because my dad had a lot
• 14:57
  of books you read. Now, I am not a voracious reader
• 15:00
  of books, especially hard copy books.
• 15:02
  I don't for some reason I've tried.
• 15:05
  I don't really like reading add copy books so I don't, but I do
• 15:10
  audio books a lot so I'm always floored listening to self help
• 15:16
  leaderships, like all of those things I do when my dad is a
• 15:20
  resource reader, so he reads the outcome.
• 15:21
  So he had all of those books. So from him I learnt that I
• 15:25
  could get inspired by other people that I may not know.
• 15:30
  And and one of the books it gave me then was one of the books I
• 15:34
  had the best impact on my life then was by Katherine Coleman I
• 15:38
  think Daughter of destiny that my dad gave me.
• 15:40
  Then I read it before I even entered into the university at
• 15:43
  all. And I think that that's probably
• 15:46
  the only book I've read cover to cover several times over,
• 15:50
  because I just loved this story. And for me, since then, I've had
• 15:55
  to be mentored by people that I've never met before.
• 15:59
  So I I pride myself in telling you that every single content
• 16:04
  that is available out there that Jim Run has ever done, I
• 16:07
  probably listen to everything Les Brown has ever done.
• 16:09
  I've probably listened to everything, Tony Robbins,
• 16:12
  everything that is available out there.
• 16:14
  Many, many more people like that.
• 16:15
  Even new generational new generation and motivational
• 16:19
  speakers or business people or as long as it's available out
• 16:23
  there, I am marinating in content.
• 16:26
  So it it it is that for me, rather than just having one
• 16:30
  person, that I just want my life to be like.
• 16:34
  Interesting. So I I think in this age and
• 16:37
  time a lot of people tend to downplay the importance of
• 16:42
  reading is the importance of books.
• 16:46
  So I think in in 18 time there is more like social media and
• 16:52
  information, right. There is a lot of good content
• 16:54
  and also there is a lot of bad content as well on social media.
• 16:58
  It's it's a very big mix of the good, the bad and the ugly.
• 17:02
  But for me, I am. I am a millennial, 32 that this
• 17:06
  year. But I can tell you that when I
• 17:10
  was a teenager, I remember reading like sets and self help
• 17:13
  certain motivational books that helped, you know shape my
• 17:17
  character. That helped you know, give me
• 17:20
  determination, self belief and our resilience in life as a as a
• 17:26
  as a person. And also like setting books that
• 17:29
  also helped, you know, develop certain valuable skills such as
• 17:34
  communication skills, right? But then for for you what what
• 17:39
  books like stick out from that era of you growing up, right?
• 17:44
  That you would probably say they're Evergreen, as you would
• 17:48
  gladly recommend to young people in this generation.
• 17:54
  I think there are the regular books people talk about which
• 17:57
  are probably this into one over again, like How to win friends
• 18:02
  and also in France before and Win over friends, yes.
• 18:07
  Yeah, I read that. Book.
• 18:09
  I read that book, it really helped me.
• 18:11
  How to influence and influence people.
• 18:13
  And then he he did another one titled the The Art of Public
• 18:17
  Speaking or something. Yeah, yes.
• 18:19
  Yes, I think I. Regret that one as.
• 18:20
  Well, but I think I've listened to that once, but I think the
• 18:25
  biggest one is that first one because that that that just
• 18:29
  underpins everything you do. So I think that's one of the
• 18:35
  books that I really loved. Then there is another one, the
• 18:39
  richest man in Babylon. Sorry I'm not really good with
• 18:42
  names so and I don't remember the name of the auto but the
• 18:47
  richest man in Babylon is so good.
• 18:49
  Teaches you about money basically and also also
• 18:53
  obviously about your relationship people and all of
• 18:56
  that. And it was actually my dad that
• 18:58
  I pulled myself and my siblings to read that book then so I read
• 19:02
  it a long time it was one of the books I've actually read read
• 19:04
  out copy it's that frog was another one that I and I think
• 19:09
  it's that frog. I read that book I think a
• 19:13
  couple of years back, probably slightly like five years ago,
• 19:17
  and that changed our approach. My task day in, day out
• 19:21
  basically just changed it for me.
• 19:24
  The Psychology of Money is another one.
• 19:29
  There is this one. I don't know it.
• 19:30
  It may not be one of those books you just see out there as well.
• 19:33
  It's called Do Epic Shit, and I think it was written by an Asian
• 19:39
  guy who talked about a story about how he built his wealth
• 19:42
  and lost it and all of that. That's really good and that's
• 19:44
  like very practical for me in this era of my life now.
• 19:50
  And You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero.
• 19:54
  I listened to it last year like twice.
• 19:57
  I want to say I listen. I use Audible, so I listen to it
• 20:00
  last year I twice, very practical, very like top notch
• 20:05
  content. When I started this year, I
• 20:07
  started listening again to it because I felt like there was a
• 20:10
  sporadic change in. My life when I listened to her
• 20:16
  the first time last year. So I I I started listening to
• 20:19
  her again this year and I'm almost done.
• 20:22
  I think there was one I found late last year, around November
• 20:26
  last year, also December, sometime between November and
• 20:29
  December. And I think that's the almanack
• 20:32
  of Naval Ravikant. Fantastic content, fantastic
• 20:38
  when it comes to like business and dealing with people,
• 20:41
  negotiation, social media and all of that.
• 20:45
  And I think it was written by Eric Jorgensen.
• 20:48
  So that is premium content. That's a book I want to listen
• 20:52
  to over and over again. Now, other than those major
• 20:55
  ones, what I do when I say my relating content is I have two
• 21:00
  major apps. I have the Audible app and I
• 21:02
  have the Blinkist app. Now, Blinkist, yes, Blinkist is
• 21:08
  a book summary. Obviously I'm very, very busy,
• 21:11
  so I don't have time to, you know, flip books for, I don't
• 21:16
  know, I don't just have that time.
• 21:18
  So. But I make sure that I once I
• 21:21
  get plugged in, I listen to Blinky.
• 21:23
  So Blinkers gives me all the books on psychology,
• 21:27
  biographies, everything you can about leadership, time
• 21:31
  management, so it keeps ringing. So when I'm taking my kids to
• 21:34
  school, when I'm going to pick them up, when I'm cooking, when
• 21:38
  I'm cleaning, I'm. I always have something that I'm
• 21:41
  listening to. Obviously there's some other
• 21:43
  content creators on on on YouTube that do it for me from a
• 21:49
  business side as well, like Justin Welsh and Dan Koi and
• 21:54
  some other creatures. I think Sayo Bloom as well.
• 21:57
  So there are a lot of creators like that, but for every era of
• 22:00
  my life I had people that helped me get through it.
• 22:02
  While I was in the university was wrong when I joined the BIG4
• 22:06
  firms and I was trying to, you know, when I was trying to, you
• 22:09
  know when I was trying to get into the UK from Nigeria, it was
• 22:12
  Tony Robbins doing it for. Me.
• 22:15
  And now I have got these other people, this new generation guys
• 22:20
  doing it for me and then just sort of giving me that internal
• 22:23
  push and motivation. Interesting.
• 22:26
  So I very much agree with you in terms of you know having that
• 22:32
  drive towards absorbing information right from from from
• 22:36
  these books and you know leveraging our technology like
• 22:39
  you said we have apps like Blinkies, I think Headway as
• 22:42
  well at some point I had like a heartbeat subscription.
• 22:45
  So basically they summarise these books for you and then you
• 22:48
  get the the major information about the the the content of
• 22:55
  these books. Right.
• 22:56
  But then also I still feel like some some books are Evergreen
• 22:59
  like you said, you know. Yeah stuff like the richest man
• 23:01
  in Babylon. I remember very early in life by
• 23:04
  my my father gave me the book Think and Grow Rich, right.
• 23:07
  Right. Now that that was one book that
• 23:10
  like if really shaped my life as well.
• 23:12
  So I remember reading books like 0 to Hero, Phil Carnegie's
• 23:17
  publications as well. You know how to win friends and
• 23:19
  influence people that are public speaking.
• 23:23
  So they were like quite a lot of these books, right?
• 23:27
  But for me, I I feel like when you're very much younger and you
• 23:30
  have like less responsibilities, it's a good time of your life.
• 23:34
  To. Try to cover a lot and you know,
• 23:37
  beat a lot of our books because as we grow older and have more
• 23:41
  responsibilities. Right.
• 23:42
  It becomes like more, more, more difficult.
• 23:47
  I mean, I I was just looking at my own, so I don't have a
• 23:50
  properly built shop, but I just have this place where I I buy
• 23:54
  this book. One of my one of things I do, I
• 23:59
  walk into bookstores. I know I don't read article
• 24:02
  books, but I enjoy going to bookstores and seeing new
• 24:05
  things. So once I go into bookstores
• 24:07
  that I see a book, I just buy it.
• 24:08
  I know I'm not going to read it. I just buy it.
• 24:11
  So I was looking through that place where I don't use books
• 24:14
  and I picked out Founded by Idiots just like 2 days ago.
• 24:20
  And I just went straight in the middle and I just opened the
• 24:23
  middle and I'm like ohh and I said well there got stuck with
• 24:27
  you, but I always said ohh you have that time so I could
• 24:29
  continue. So what I did was to go back
• 24:31
  into Audible and then just buy one because I know that and is
• 24:39
  one of the books and trying to finish up one.
• 24:41
  Now once I'm done, I'm moving into that one.
• 24:44
  So you know, that's sort of so there's no time really, but it's
• 24:47
  just finding the good thing is there's technology, there's way
• 24:50
  to cope and still getting the information that you need.
• 24:53
  Yeah, we we we are in the age at the time of our digital
• 24:55
  libraries, you know. Yeah, exactly.
• 24:57
  Back in the days I I I used to have a lot of physical books,
• 25:00
  but now I. Discovered that wow, I didn't
• 25:02
  have like more books, you know, soft copies, right?
• 25:05
  And then you can do that, do that on the go.
• 25:07
  But I think like this, these apps with audible audio versions
• 25:11
  of books and summaries are actually the the the way to go.
• 25:15
  So speaking. About books and books and books,
• 25:18
  right? Like.
• 25:19
  Can you talk briefly about your academic background?
• 25:21
  I know you said you went to backpack, You've chatted the
• 25:23
  content then like your academics, right?
• 25:27
  Like what really you know did you do?
• 25:31
  And like, do you think education is important for individuals to
• 25:39
  have success in life? So look, we're in a day and age
• 25:43
  where everybody is. A lot of people are championing
• 25:47
  the course of we don't all need to go to university, right?
• 25:51
  Which is fine. I mean, to each their own, their
• 25:53
  people who did not watch university and they're doing
• 25:55
  great stuff out there. So it's fine to each that I
• 25:58
  don't really have a strong view about if going to school is
• 26:03
  going to help you succeed in life or not.
• 26:05
  I don't have a strong view there, the only thing.
• 26:08
  So from my own personal perspective, it really, really
• 26:11
  helps me to set the peace now. I after leaving Bakri went to
• 26:17
  Bangkok University, studied accounting, finished with the
• 26:20
  first class, then went to work and then I returned back to
• 26:24
  backup university after a couple of years to do my masters
• 26:27
  programme and then I was hoping to go to my pH.
• 26:32
  D for it was stressful and and I did not think it aligned with
• 26:39
  what I was thinking for myself in the long run.
• 26:42
  Now at the point that's why I goes change, right?
• 26:45
  At that point I'm like I can just build a career in audit.
• 26:50
  I do need a PhD to build a career in audit.
• 26:54
  I don't even think I need masters to view the current
• 26:56
  order. So I'm like, so why do I need to
• 26:59
  go through? Except maybe there will be
• 27:01
  something, maybe want I want to go into lecturing or into
• 27:05
  education, which I don't think so.
• 27:06
  So I would rather put that effort into something else.
• 27:10
  So I did OK, obviously I I am a chartered accountant and
• 27:14
  chartered banker. I did the diploma in FSC and and
• 27:19
  then I did this in the CF programme, the CF programme on
• 27:24
  board me basically. I don't know.
• 27:26
  It's not if I don't feel. I really I don't know.
• 27:30
  I'm I feel pretty much a lot of exams.
• 27:32
  When I even did my account exam it was only my GTS 3I pretty
• 27:36
  much did once. I passed everything once.
• 27:38
  Maybe it was a test one. Other than that I feel very
• 27:41
  well. Then CF programme level one.
• 27:45
  I think I wrote you twice. Level 2.
• 27:47
  I wrote it three times before I passed.
• 27:48
  Then Level 3, forget about Level 3.
• 27:50
  I'm writing for ages, so I'm not.
• 27:53
  I don't know. It is.
• 27:56
  It is. It is really.
• 27:57
  Wonderful to to see successful people talk about their
• 28:00
  failures, right? Because for for, for, for me,
• 28:04
  for me, I feel like. We live in an age and time
• 28:08
  where? People grow Y success, people
• 28:11
  grow further gains, but then they don't talk about the pains.
• 28:15
  We have the games, right? And the truth is, you know,
• 28:18
  successful people are people who have failed forward, who have
• 28:22
  failed repeatedly and do not take no for an answer and have
• 28:26
  found you know, ways to make things work for themselves,
• 28:30
  right. So but people tend to front a
• 28:34
  failure in society. But then successful people are
• 28:37
  people who have owned their failures.
• 28:40
  Until you own your failure, until you accept yourself as a
• 28:42
  person, right. You really can't be successful.
• 28:45
  But it's it's sad. You know how people tend to look
• 28:49
  at, you know, failure, something that is negative, but then it is
• 28:52
  not negative. Because I tell people, if you
• 28:54
  try, you may fail, but if you don't try, you have failed.
• 28:59
  You have actually. Failed, so failure is a part.
• 29:02
  Of, you know, a part of life. And it's something that, you
• 29:05
  know, we should own and, you know, be proud of and, you know,
• 29:08
  let young people know that, yeah, it is always good to try.
• 29:12
  Yeah, but I lost. And I mean in most of the
• 29:17
  mentoring courses that are old or virtual events are old and we
• 29:22
  get to the point where we're talking about, I'm very clear to
• 29:25
  them that look. So people would go into my
• 29:27
  profile on LinkedIn and say, well, I'm so happy about your
• 29:30
  programme. I just like your profile.
• 29:32
  Look. Like.
• 29:37
  I can exams ohh like I'm so used to failure now.
• 29:41
  The last CFA result I got, I was in the middle of a meeting.
• 29:45
  The e-mail came in. I looked at it.
• 29:48
  I don't look at it. Ohh, this is a very the chef
• 29:53
  programme is a something and divorce is a very whatever.
• 29:57
  And it's alleged the devil, yeah.
• 30:08
  China is going to come in my life.
• 30:09
  I'm. I'll probably have the chatter
• 30:11
  and if I don't the truth is the time you come out I would have,
• 30:16
  I would have it And if I don't, well, a lot of people that we
• 30:20
  started the programme they qualified.
• 30:23
  Some are not still qualified. It's fine.
• 30:24
  So I I tried to tell the younger people that I coach and I mentor
• 30:28
  to say it's fine to fail. Don't worry about it.
• 30:31
  It's it's not like it's part of the journey.
• 30:33
  How would the story be sweets? Now how will he be sweet if you
• 30:36
  don't have so that that's basically the mic sort of
• 30:44
  journey. I like books, I like writing
• 30:46
  exams. And maybe you would have noticed
• 30:48
  I like writing exams. And the reason why I I write
• 30:50
  exams is not for writing seek. I write it to open the doors for
• 30:53
  me. I got an opportunity because I
• 30:56
  passed a level one. I basically got a job offer
• 30:59
  because I passed the one. I got another job offer in
• 31:04
  private equity because I passed a Level 2.
• 31:07
  I've got a job offer for it's a senior finance manager in a
• 31:11
  private equity firm because I passed the and, and I mean when
• 31:15
  I say because I passed, I'm not joking with you.
• 31:16
  I got into the interview and all the things that we're talking
• 31:19
  about was my CFA exam and my CF programme.
• 31:22
  That's the reason why I do some of these exams and I don't do
• 31:26
  the I don't just an example because sometimes I see Memphis
• 31:29
  comes to me and say, oh, I'm thinking of one example, right?
• 31:31
  And they are talking about an exam that I don't even know what
• 31:34
  it is. And you see this in our
• 31:36
  accounting profession. Go for the one that is hard.
• 31:41
  Like when people hear that you're writing the exam, people
• 31:43
  be like hello, like you give and go for the good ones and suffer.
• 31:49
  Sweats do whatever you need to do.
• 31:51
  But once you have it, people put respect on your name and people
• 31:54
  sort of, you know, that's that's how personally I feel.
• 31:57
  So for me, some of these exams are a point out to the fact that
• 32:01
  if this girl could write this exam and pass it and get to this
• 32:05
  stage and do all of these things, it means she will be
• 32:07
  resilient enough to face whatever it is.
• 32:09
  We throw out her own Disney opportunity.
• 32:11
  That's what it is for me on the job.
• 32:13
  Nobody asked. You have like, no, nobody cares
• 32:15
  about that. But it just opens the door for
• 32:17
  me to come through and for me to then show my the value that I
• 32:21
  have brought. So when I get into my normal
• 32:24
  work environment, there's nothing like all she's got.
• 32:26
  Let's see, I think she's right. In CF there's nothing like that.
• 32:29
  I just go deliver value to what I need to do.
• 32:33
  Interested. So, like, how?
• 32:36
  How did your academic background like help open the doors for you
• 32:39
  to get into the Big Four, right? And how has the journey been?
• 32:42
  You know, in the Big Four, you know, rising from.
• 32:44
  Associates to to manager level. I I know that it's it's it is it
• 32:50
  is No easy feat, right? If not.
• 32:55
  Have you been an ex BIG4 consultant myself?
• 32:57
  Right. So I I know, I know.
• 32:59
  It is no easy feat. So I think first getting into
• 33:04
  PwC Nigeria did, and I'll tell obviously there were people that
• 33:09
  do not have had qualified as the year I finished school was a
• 33:12
  year qualified as a chartered accountant, which is fine and I
• 33:17
  think everywhere I go to with my CV at the time I was looking for
• 33:21
  a job so I was already a qualified accountant.
• 33:24
  Whatever I was in the banking exam.
• 33:25
  I'm doing all of that. Wherever it is I go to with my
• 33:29
  CV, people will give me a moment to hear me out.
• 33:35
  I got interview opportunities a lot because of the quality of
• 33:39
  the city that I had, right, So I did not.
• 33:44
  I was not really perturbed about getting opportunities.
• 33:48
  However, there was something that I noticed when I finished
• 33:51
  school. I could not pass the normal GRE
• 33:55
  GMAT assessment. I am very bad with maths.
• 33:58
  People say how are you bad with maths and you are an accountant
• 34:03
  or you are an audit. We said we said something, we
• 34:07
  said something in common. We share something in common.
• 34:09
  I was like, really, really terrible at mathematics, right?
• 34:12
  And then I tell people, never underestimate the power of the.
• 34:15
  Mind right? I feel mathematics at all level.
• 34:18
  Twice before I could finally pass it, and we want to pass it
• 34:22
  was the C6. But then I'll study the
• 34:24
  economics right? And then they said I have to
• 34:28
  like you mathematics course. I told myself I don't want to
• 34:30
  spend an extra. I finished with a two one, yeah,
• 34:34
  but with a strong two one. Then later became a chartered
• 34:36
  accountant. But then I discovered that there
• 34:38
  is a method to the madness, right?
• 34:40
  If you understand. The principles of this
• 34:42
  mathematical statistical courses right, You will get it for me.
• 34:47
  That was what happened. I played myself and later I
• 34:50
  started teaching you know, students and I can ACA and allow
• 34:55
  my students winners so for. Me like it was feeling.
• 34:58
  That you know, you can come back from failure, and even in I can,
• 35:02
  I can. I never really failed until the
• 35:04
  final level. And then he humbled.
• 35:05
  Me. And when I go back.
• 35:08
  When I go back, you know the least score I think it was when
• 35:12
  the final example like 5 papers and only two.
• 35:16
  And I feel. Three.
• 35:17
  It's like my life. Australia is part of life.
• 35:23
  All the ophelias, right? I wanna go back.
• 35:25
  I think I scored 8870 something, so I think at least scores like
• 35:29
  71 or something. Right.
• 35:31
  So the best revenge of failure is, you know, is big success.
• 35:37
  So for me really I don't associate with failure.
• 35:40
  So interesting like how how do you, how were you able to come
• 35:43
  that around for yourself? Yeah, so I I noticed that I
• 35:46
  could not pass GRE GMAT, so I did.
• 35:49
  I think I did KPMG assessments. I didn't pass.
• 35:53
  I didn't ask you why didn't pass.
• 35:54
  And then I got opportunity to write PwC assessment.
• 35:57
  I'm like, we die here. So I went back.
• 36:00
  Push yourself. They read like I had a proper
• 36:06
  account exam, like I I went to, but I remember that my dad was
• 36:10
  my dad that went to buy the Gmaps book from me, from
• 36:13
  Moonshine or somewhere like that.
• 36:14
  He had to travel because we did in the outskirts.
• 36:18
  So you have to go and buy those throughout the night.
• 36:22
  Practise, practise, practise, practise, practise.
• 36:25
  So by the time it was time for me to write the PwC test, I've
• 36:29
  voted good enough past and then when I got to the personality I
• 36:34
  remember then then you have to do a personality test.
• 36:36
  So I think it was scheduled for like a week away or something
• 36:39
  like that. The whole of that week was like
• 36:41
  I was writing, I was like an exam.
• 36:43
  I would do a lot of personality tests online because of the
• 36:46
  provisions. So do all of that I passed and
• 36:49
  then go to the interview stage. I I exhausted everything I could
• 36:54
  on the outer prep for interviews and all of that, telling your
• 36:56
  story and all of that. So it was, it was, it was not my
• 37:01
  certifications that got me into the Big four.
• 37:05
  It was obviously probably at some point they would have
• 37:08
  considered, they would have said, OK, let's choose between,
• 37:10
  I don't know, but I think that it was all of the hard work
• 37:15
  other than my certifications I had to put in that qualified him
• 37:18
  to get him because obviously there are people who study
• 37:20
  towards some languages in school that got in as my set.
• 37:25
  It should be for me, right? So it was not my qualification.
• 37:29
  Interrupt to you. So sorry, sorry.
• 37:31
  Sorry to interrupt you, Right. So Speaking of PwC, right.
• 37:34
  I myself as well worked with PwC in Nigeria, but I wasn't in the
• 37:38
  same office with you. I was in Abuja office, right.
• 37:41
  Yeah. But one thing I appreciate about
• 37:44
  PW C, you know, you were talking about the personality test,
• 37:48
  right? I appreciate something about
• 37:50
  that firm, like in the fact that they wanted to have authentic
• 37:55
  people, right. So that personality test was a
• 37:59
  way of, you know, reading people with the high technical
• 38:04
  competence but did not have the appropriate personality.
• 38:09
  Because you want people who are real.
• 38:11
  You want people who have ethics, like, you know, hard work, you
• 38:16
  know integrity, determination as well, and you know teamwork, you
• 38:22
  know values, not necessarily you knowing, right.
• 38:26
  They wanted to see that you had the capability to learn and to
• 38:31
  work with teams, to collaborate. And that's something I
• 38:34
  appreciated a lot about the film.
• 38:36
  And I'd also like gave me the opportunity to, you know, work
• 38:41
  with the peak for and, you know, project myself to the world,
• 38:45
  give me a platform to to be able to do like greater things in
• 38:49
  life. So a lot of people.
• 38:51
  Do not have that opportunity to do like great stuff in life,
• 38:54
  even though they have great personalities.
• 38:56
  But because they don't have the they are lacking in terms of you
• 39:01
  know certain like technical competence because like talent
• 39:04
  is green off. But then you're astute is what
• 39:07
  like you really like takes you far right.
• 39:10
  So your attitude they say determines your altitude.
• 39:13
  So for me, I I love the fact that they were able to create a
• 39:17
  programme that had a balance of weight a persons, you know,
• 39:21
  technical capability and of course their attitude, right and
• 39:24
  you know, bring them and you know, train them as well to like
• 39:28
  to great, great, great, great. Stuff and life.
• 39:30
  So I'm sorry about that interruption.
• 39:33
  That that. I really appreciate.
• 39:34
  It and it's good to call out because at the end of the day
• 39:37
  when you get into the firm you you would have to work with
• 39:39
  people and I need to be your authentic self for you to be
• 39:42
  able to thrive because it's a very dynamic workplace, right.
• 39:46
  So yeah that that that's really a good point.
• 39:49
  So I guess all of that prep to get into the film.
• 39:53
  So when I got into the film it was not easy I I I've not really
• 39:58
  sort of kept that to myself and somehow I posted on LinkedIn
• 40:00
  I've said it that I struggled as a first year associates and and
• 40:04
  that's because I did not understand.
• 40:07
  Look, if you notice everything I've said, it has been about
• 40:09
  hard work, being resolute and all of that.
• 40:12
  But BIG4? Kind of.
• 40:16
  They said there's a different style to the whole thing, like
• 40:20
  when you get there then you know that there's work here like.
• 40:25
  Quality and high level of expectations.
• 40:29
  Sure. Version of big time was.
• 40:33
  Every, every friend that I've joined like I've I've, I've,
• 40:36
  I've worked in the Nigerian film and the UK firm.
• 40:39
  I've worked in highly pressured and business unit, so when I was
• 40:44
  in Nigeria, I worked in the financial services unit has dark
• 40:48
  clouds for being the most pressured unit in the family,
• 40:50
  there's no doubt about that. Then when I came here, I'm
• 40:53
  currently working in the insurance business unit, highly
• 40:56
  technical, the pressure is there, right?
• 40:59
  So when I got into FSI in Nigeria, I did not expect the
• 41:07
  work. I did not.
• 41:07
  I did not understand why someone would want me to work late into
• 41:12
  the night and also expect me to work on weekends.
• 41:15
  I I I don't like. I I like to work on my own
• 41:18
  terms. I would do what I need to do.
• 41:22
  I'm sorry. Maybe there's something you may
• 41:24
  have noticed. I'm a person of my own.
• 41:26
  I am a person of my own. So I've got this.
• 41:29
  I don't want to call it ego, but I've got this.
• 41:32
  I've got it right. So when you are do this to Oh my
• 41:37
  God, he had to like. It's annoying.
• 41:40
  Felt like there was a lot of demand on my time or my person.
• 41:44
  I felt sick. Now, look, it's not the Fed,
• 41:47
  it's me. I was not prepared for what's to
• 41:50
  come now. I then began myself to begin to
• 41:57
  say, OK, this is where I am now. I can't resign.
• 42:00
  I can't. What do I need to start doing
• 42:02
  now to put me in a situation where I'm able to cope?
• 42:09
  So the good thing is everything aligned.
• 42:11
  I finished my first busy season. I had a fantastic career coach
• 42:15
  and I was very lucky to have a career coach.
• 42:17
  His name is Abyad Wackiness. He's a partner I now I had.
• 42:20
  He gave me all the support in this life that I needed to
• 42:24
  thrive after my first year. That was it.
• 42:27
  I I I loved it. I had the best opportunities.
• 42:33
  I was able to lead my own small job as a second year associate.
• 42:37
  So I said enjoying audit after that.
• 42:40
  So I have people who supported me, people I could go to to
• 42:42
  help. I have very nice friends who
• 42:45
  were technically good who I could say, oh, do you know this,
• 42:47
  I've seen this before, you know that.
• 42:48
  So I grew to start enjoying it. And I think being observant,
• 42:55
  knowing that I could be supported, knowing that people
• 42:57
  could actually support me helped me.
• 42:59
  But when I also joined the UK then.
• 43:03
  So obviously there was another dynamic to it.
• 43:06
  A lot to unpack, a lot to learn and all of that.
• 43:09
  But I think knowing that preparation, you prepare every
• 43:14
  day for the next level of success you want.
• 43:17
  So for instance, I want to have a chat to my boss.
• 43:21
  I don't just walk into, no matter what his boss is, whether
• 43:24
  it's a step higher than me, or two steps or three steps, or
• 43:27
  whatever. I don't walk into a meeting with
• 43:30
  my boss unprepared, no matter who you are.
• 43:32
  I don't even walk into meetings with my associates unprepared,
• 43:36
  and I mean it in the literal sense.
• 43:38
  If I think these are the things I want them to put on their
• 43:41
  plate, I would think I had and prep ahead so that when I'm
• 43:44
  there, I'm making good use of their time to set the tone and
• 43:48
  direction for them. Same for my peers.
• 43:51
  I prepare for. It sounds insane, but I prepare
• 43:55
  for every single meeting. I prepare for every meeting
• 43:57
  with. Sometimes the meeting is just 30
• 43:59
  minutes. I'm preparing all day for it
• 44:01
  before. The values of the firm, right,
• 44:05
  You know, they appraise your certain values, like the whole
• 44:09
  leadership, right? So the whole leadership, your
• 44:13
  global acumen, your technical competence, your beauty
• 44:16
  relationships, right. Those things have to be on
• 44:19
  point. And then you always need to like
• 44:20
  for me, like I started evaluating my own self on a
• 44:23
  personal basis based on. That that particular those
• 44:28
  criteria actually. And of course, I saw that it has
• 44:31
  this way of pushing you to, like become a better person as as you
• 44:35
  know. But for you, like, how would you
• 44:37
  say, like these, you know, things have actually shaped your
• 44:40
  life as a person, right? Like the lessons you've learned
• 44:43
  from you know the Big Four, right?
• 44:47
  I. Think.
• 44:48
  I think the big Four for me is everything for me in terms of
• 44:52
  how my life has turned out. I've learned so much.
• 44:54
  Let me tell you one of the beautiful things of the people
• 44:57
  you are exposed to. Extraordinary people, brilliant
• 45:03
  people. You are exposed to processes and
• 45:06
  systems that are, except you don't want to learn, right?
• 45:11
  You are just in the centre of a lot of things.
• 45:14
  Like it's so much, it's so overwhelming.
• 45:16
  The training, the people giving you guidance and the fact that
• 45:21
  it is someone's task to make sure that you get good coaching
• 45:25
  and guidance and training and the fact that a lot is demanded
• 45:29
  of you. So your value, like now I know
• 45:31
  that I know my value. You don't.
• 45:33
  Just don't come and call me and take my time away for nothing
• 45:36
  like because I know. My time is.
• 45:39
  I'm I'm being serious right now. Let.
• 45:41
  Me tell you for instance you know you know you're you're
• 45:44
  charge out rate is is high what charge good am I good to am I
• 45:50
  good to assign that to you. Look, when I became a manager,
• 45:55
  right, I said do it. In fact, before he was coming
• 45:57
  manager. Now one of these reforms will
• 46:01
  help you do is if you say you want to become a manager.
• 46:03
  So we assure us that you can be a manager, right?
• 46:05
  It's one of the things you have to start demonstrating at your
• 46:08
  level and slightly at the next level you want to get into,
• 46:11
  right? So one of the things I have to
• 46:12
  do is how to manage my project and how to manage the financial
• 46:17
  aspects of my project. I can't make any loss and I'm
• 46:20
  doing a project, right? So one of the things I saw there
• 46:24
  was my time is very valuable. I know what my Power Hour is.
• 46:29
  So let me tell you what I did. I also applied it outside of
• 46:33
  Freedom WC in my own personal life every time.
• 46:37
  If do I need to go to this shop to do this grocery shopping or
• 46:40
  can I just order online? We will this hour that it will
• 46:43
  take me to go and do this grocery shopping is it?
• 46:46
  What's this so much pound? Honestly, if it's not worth it,
• 46:50
  I'm just going to do online shopping 15 minutes, I'm done.
• 46:53
  Come and deliver it to my house instead and I'll probably pay
• 46:55
  well. 5 lbs delivery fee. That's fine rather than so.
• 46:58
  So it gave me this essence of my time is valuable and that's why
• 47:03
  up to now. Look, I'm not saying I don't
• 47:05
  watch Netflix or binge watch or whatever, but look, for me to
• 47:09
  sit down, watch, it has to be that someone has said already
• 47:12
  you have to watch this thing. It's God bless you, God bless
• 47:16
  you with me and people people people, people keep attacking me
• 47:21
  like ohh, you don't like watching movies.
• 47:23
  You don't like like see you don't get it like kind of very
• 47:25
  valuable. I only want the cream that I
• 47:27
  keep the cream of the crop right.
• 47:29
  He has to form a highly recommended if people highly
• 47:32
  recommended. I can't watch this clip, so
• 47:34
  somebody put me onto a movie and then I watched it for just 10
• 47:38
  minutes and. I just went out like no, no, I.
• 47:40
  Can't do this. I went to sleep and.
• 47:41
  The person was asking like. Why did you do that?
• 47:43
  I'm like, see the first step in this told me that this is going
• 47:45
  to waste my life. You know, because the use of
• 47:50
  measurement of life is time and you're wasting my time, you
• 47:52
  wasting my life. So I'd rather sleep and be
• 47:56
  healthy than watch a movie that's, you know, it's just too
• 48:00
  much. I'm not learning anything.
• 48:01
  I've not been entertained as well.
• 48:04
  Say that I don't watch movies or anything.
• 48:07
  I would like to know they would honestly sometimes as I'm doing
• 48:11
  something that is really very monotonous, whatever it can be
• 48:14
  playing in the background. I just want something to play in
• 48:16
  the background or something like that.
• 48:17
  But for me to just all I'm doing is lying down or sitting and all
• 48:22
  I'm doing is, well, I would be, hey, what can I I can be writing
• 48:25
  this. I like in my head spinning like
• 48:28
  I should. I'm not just gonna shut it out.
• 48:30
  So I don't really sort of do that.
• 48:32
  So I think that because as you help me learn that my time is
• 48:35
  valuable and I need to be channelling it the right way,
• 48:38
  including meetings. Sometimes I get to like or
• 48:41
  before the meeting. Like, do we absolutely need this
• 48:45
  meeting, this meeting? Should it not be 15 minutes?
• 48:48
  Why is it 30 minutes? Do we need an hour?
• 48:51
  Really? You know.
• 48:53
  Time back. That was very, very.
• 48:57
  Buttoned. Yeah.
• 48:58
  So don't, don't, those are just one of the obviously I'm all of
• 49:01
  this stuff I'm doing on LinkedIn as well because it takes a lot
• 49:04
  of time to sort of pull all of that together.
• 49:06
  I think they're resilient that have learned having to go
• 49:08
  through multiple businesses just basically says I can't do
• 49:12
  anything. If I can go through that, I can
• 49:14
  go through anything. Consistency.
• 49:17
  And then I see, I see the time management in the way your your
• 49:20
  your posts are scheduled. You know, I see that you
• 49:23
  scheduled ahead of that, like, Ohh, yeah, yeah, I see you.
• 49:28
  You use it. You're using those those skills
• 49:31
  that we learn. So you know the big for the BIG4
• 49:33
  effects. I know.
• 49:35
  So what I do with all my who's got a 5:15 AM every day.
• 49:43
  So it's a it depends. So is it out?
• 49:46
  Right. Sometimes I write it the day
• 49:48
  before, sometimes I write over the weekend.
• 49:50
  Sometimes I write this show at any point in time and I just
• 49:53
  developed and what wouldn't know.
• 49:54
  I know that it may be the case, especially because I don't
• 49:57
  really get to sleep on time these days.
• 49:59
  It may be the case that I'm not up at that time.
• 50:02
  And most, the most people, the the vast majority of people that
• 50:07
  consume my contents are Nigerians.
• 50:08
  We are one of our one hour ahead of Nigerians of Nigeria right
• 50:12
  now, so it means that people are preparing for what or down their
• 50:16
  right to work. They can easily see what I have
• 50:19
  to tell them in the morning before they even resume work.
• 50:21
  So it means that I have to find a time for my post to a way for
• 50:26
  my post to reach them in the morning.
• 50:27
  I don't expect people to be all over social media during work
• 50:30
  hours, so I will not be scheduling my post for 10:00 AM
• 50:33
  or 11:00. It doesn't mean that I can't do
• 50:36
  it if I feel like I can schedule a post for that time.
• 50:39
  But I feel like that when people see that post first in the
• 50:41
  morning before they resume work, it sets the tone for what they
• 50:44
  get to do that day and how that sort of helps them achieve what
• 50:47
  they need to achieve that. Interesting.
• 50:50
  The big, the big four effects. You know me, I think, yeah.
• 50:54
  Yesterday we were discussing, you know, about outsourcing.
• 50:58
  You know, when I told you about like eating assistance, I was
• 51:00
  like, OK, like, yeah, that is the thing, you know, we learn,
• 51:07
  we learn segregation of GT, we learn delegation of tasks,
• 51:11
  right? And of course in the big four
• 51:12
  actually utilised, you know. Yeah.
• 51:16
  Obviously, Ohh, yeah, offshore resources, right.
• 51:18
  And then applied it in my own startup and then you're like,
• 51:21
  ohh, we we'll we'll we'll learn that you know.
• 51:24
  You know, you know what? You said Ohh.
• 51:27
  My executive assistant would send it to you.
• 51:28
  I'm like, Ohh start on this street.
• 51:32
  Yeah, that is that is the thing you know the the the big four
• 51:38
  effect just you know. You.
• 51:40
  Structure, yeah. Even in your like personal
• 51:43
  endeavours. And it's it's actually a part,
• 51:46
  basically. And apparently by by, by
• 51:50
  executive assistant is watching this like she knows she has let
• 51:53
  a lot from me. As a person, yeah, I left the
• 51:55
  Big Four as an assistant manager, right?
• 51:57
  But then like you can't be in the big. 4/4 for a couple.
• 52:00
  Of years, right? And not become, not not pick up.
• 52:04
  Like certain skills that would help you impact other people,
• 52:08
  not just yourself, right? And you know.
• 52:11
  We we we're grateful. We're grateful to the Big Four.
• 52:14
  It's it's it's a really, really great training ground.
• 52:17
  But then what? What?
• 52:18
  What? What?
• 52:19
  Achievement stick out for you? What achievements for you would
• 52:23
  you say you're most proud of as a person, both career and, you
• 52:27
  know, personal life? So I would say from a personal
• 52:34
  life perspective, I would say it's the mentoring thing that
• 52:36
  I'm doing right now on LinkedIn. I I think how it makes me feel,
• 52:45
  if I can describe it, is every win is my win, right?
• 52:51
  You know when sorry reaches out to me it means which is ohh,
• 52:55
  I'm. I'm so I'm so confused.
• 52:58
  I don't know what to do. I don't enjoy the work I'm doing
• 53:01
  blah blah blah and then I'm chatting to them.
• 53:03
  We are on we are proud probably chatting every week for the next
• 53:08
  3-4 months and I'm encouraging and showing them things they
• 53:14
  need to think about and they're and I'm like how many jobs did
• 53:18
  you apply for this week? How did this turn out?
• 53:20
  Have you got Covax or whatever? How are you doing?
• 53:24
  Do you want to consider when you go for your next interview and
• 53:27
  this and that and that and that and that?
• 53:28
  And then there is that investment of time an effort.
• 53:32
  Sometimes I even go to do a bit of research.
• 53:35
  Sometimes I say take this away, grand research and come and tell
• 53:37
  me, you know, So there is that. So seeing all of those things
• 53:43
  come back with, I got the job just yesterday.
• 53:47
  I got 2 messages in less than an hour saying ohh, I got the job
• 53:53
  and these are not jobs. Let me tell you about just
• 53:55
  getting the job. These are not just random jobs.
• 53:59
  These are BIG4 jobs. These are jobs that.
• 54:02
  We have. In the UK here, no, no, honestly
• 54:08
  these are not just jobs of like these are proper.
• 54:12
  So for you before I mean before I started mentoring what used to
• 54:18
  be it is when I sign, when you know I go from businesses and we
• 54:21
  sign those accounts, I feel this book at me.
• 54:23
  I feel this, yes, you know say that accounts are good, you know
• 54:27
  go for drinks, you know that that that that that was it and
• 54:31
  that was the sort of the only thing.
• 54:33
  I obviously enjoy working with my team and all of that, but on
• 54:37
  top of that are having all of these people coming back to say,
• 54:40
  and let me tell you, it's not just about the jobs, it's also
• 54:42
  about ohh, I've lost hope already.
• 54:44
  Like I've given up already. But that post and then they will
• 54:47
  send me that post in my DM to see you see these posts that you
• 54:50
  made are changed everything for me, you know, those sort of
• 54:54
  things. Seeing those messages just
• 54:56
  lights me up and let me tell you something, it has brought me to
• 55:02
  become. It has made me to become a
• 55:03
  better person even at work because every day I resume at
• 55:06
  work I'm happy. I'm cheering because I've just
• 55:09
  received a message in my DM saying alright I got this job or
• 55:13
  this is what is happening with me.
• 55:15
  Ohh even up to negotiation of salary like you told me to go
• 55:19
  and ask for, I did and this is it.
• 55:20
  I've gotten a 50% increase. I've gotten a 30% increase.
• 55:24
  I'm like, wow, is this even happening?
• 55:27
  Like so that that that brightens my day every day And just some
• 55:32
  people saying, oh, well, I'm just so proud of the work you're
• 55:34
  doing. You know So having all of that
• 55:36
  that is just say they know but like I've mentioned have been
• 55:41
  mentoring for the past year or so or less that they've not
• 55:47
  still gotten are we out? What is the good, the bad and
• 55:51
  the ugly, But then the good keeps pushing you.
• 55:54
  Yes. And I and I'm I'm still sort of
• 55:57
  tried to hold on to them and say so don't don't worry don't worry
• 56:00
  we'll do this we'll do it will happen.
• 56:02
  It will happen right. I I mean especially and it's
• 56:05
  hard like having mentees who sort of maybe degrades the
• 56:08
  finish from schools not so great and then the jobs are not coming
• 56:12
  through and you know he's he can be slightly messy right And then
• 56:16
  you're holding and then one day something will just happen and
• 56:19
  then it would be it worked but then there are still on that you
• 56:23
  know it's still just generally had and all that So yeah so
• 56:26
  those those are the from a personal perspective that's what
• 56:29
  I'm most proud of from a work perspective I think my promotion
• 56:33
  should becoming a manager was it was hard for me.
• 56:38
  For me as a person, I needed to grow into it and I needed to be
• 56:44
  solid, such that by the time I become a manager, I am
• 56:49
  delivering on all fronts. And so it required me to be a
• 56:55
  version of myself. I did not think that I could
• 56:58
  become such that by the time I get that position or I get into
• 57:02
  that leadership position, I would be OK and I would be able
• 57:07
  to see that. So you'd be quite new to come
• 57:10
  out of my shell. It required me to read and this
• 57:15
  is really technical stuff. Read It required me that every
• 57:19
  meeting I attend, when they say something I don't know about, I
• 57:23
  will be courageous enough to go to my boss and say what does
• 57:26
  this mean. It required me to take on
• 57:30
  opportunities that looked messy, complex, whatever.
• 57:34
  But they were carrier and answering because that was what
• 57:37
  the stakeholders were interested in.
• 57:39
  So I I require me to ask for those sort of opportunities.
• 57:42
  So me before, although I'm very outspoken, but when it came to
• 57:47
  the job I would cower in. I would not be courageous enough
• 57:49
  to ask for the things I wanted. It required me to say no, and it
• 57:54
  doesn't matter who you are and just say no, I can't do it.
• 57:57
  So all of that new versions of myself needed to be unlocked for
• 58:01
  me to get into that position and that happened for me.
• 58:04
  So that is up to now. Obviously by the time I keep
• 58:08
  moving up in the ranks, they'll they'll be newer versions of
• 58:11
  success, I believe. So yeah.
• 58:15
  So, So at what point did you, did you think that you accepted
• 58:21
  yourself as a human being? You know, like at at some point
• 58:25
  we really don't know how much we can achieve once we push
• 58:28
  ourselves, right? You spoke about at the time you
• 58:32
  become a manager like there was like some level, a new level
• 58:36
  unlocked like like like a game, right.
• 58:38
  And I can speak to that as well. You know, being, you know, a
• 58:42
  professional and you know, like following a similar path, we as
• 58:45
  yourself right there, like certain engagements.
• 58:48
  That when you pull through. It gives you like a new level of
• 58:51
  self belief that OK, I can't. Could I could achieve?
• 58:55
  This but then I thought, I think at some level in your life right
• 59:00
  there's usually probably like a season but as an auditor like
• 59:04
  when you actually skill true setting tough challenges or
• 59:08
  certain challenging period like he just gives you that air of
• 59:12
  self belief that there is nothing I.
• 59:15
  Cannot skill, there's nothing I got us go through, but at what
• 59:21
  point did that realisation come for you?
• 59:23
  I think it came through for me as an assistant manager or say
• 59:29
  to where I was One of my senior managers who I worked with
• 59:35
  previously on another joke, just tapped me on the back and say,
• 59:38
  see there is this new job that is coming up.
• 59:41
  I think you'll be very good fit for it.
• 59:43
  You will have this visibility with the partner and all of
• 59:47
  that. Do you, do you, do you think you
• 59:49
  may want it? And I think the only reason why
• 59:51
  it was happening on the back is because I was delivering value
• 59:54
  or I delivered value on the job we did together before.
• 59:57
  In my mind I'm like OK now, that's fine now I did not
• 1:00:00
  understand. The impact.
• 1:00:03
  So I had another job I was doing, which was my main job,
• 1:00:06
  plus this new one that you wanted me to do.
• 1:00:09
  So, so I'm like, OK, so by the time I started, that's where you
• 1:00:14
  know where you're bad. People say I hate Bemidji.
• 1:00:16
  I knew that the world is made. It's too weird.
• 1:00:22
  So it was really tough and to be honest, it got to a point where
• 1:00:28
  I almost gave up for the first time I said no, I'm just going
• 1:00:31
  to go back and see. And honestly that time I was
• 1:00:34
  vying to become a manager. So I saw it as a good
• 1:00:37
  opportunity to say, ohh, if I can do this too and I can do it,
• 1:00:40
  well, why not? It's just it's just like a free
• 1:00:42
  easy card, like she can do whatever.
• 1:00:46
  So I've almost wanted to give up.
• 1:00:48
  So I remember that day I went for a walk a long that work took
• 1:00:53
  me almost two hours, it very long walk and I was thinking
• 1:00:56
  about everything. And I said to myself, if you
• 1:01:00
  drop one of these and say you can't do it, then how do you
• 1:01:03
  then say that you are going to be agile enough to take on a
• 1:01:07
  managerial position, right. Go and see what you can do, See
• 1:01:11
  how you can delegate more, see how you can eliminate some
• 1:01:14
  things, see the people that can help you, you know ask for help
• 1:01:17
  if you need it, you know ask for flexibility, you know.
• 1:01:20
  So I started thinking about it, A lot of options that are coming
• 1:01:23
  through to me. So I say, look, I'm going to do
• 1:01:25
  it, but I'm going to have conversations with the people
• 1:01:27
  involved. So you just set the expectations
• 1:01:29
  and all of that. And then I did it was that, but
• 1:01:33
  I did it and it was beyond reasonable doubt that no, if you
• 1:01:39
  could do this, you can't do it, right.
• 1:01:41
  So for me personally, I saw that I can do much more that I think
• 1:01:47
  because let me tell you another thing and this person out to me
• 1:01:50
  just because another auditor me watch this recording and say
• 1:01:54
  what's she on about. This is my personal opinion held
• 1:01:59
  strongly. It is the fact that as an
• 1:02:02
  auditor over the years I keep telling myself I don't have
• 1:02:05
  time, I don't have time. Ohh my work is so busy.
• 1:02:08
  Ohh I'm so busy. Ohh I don't have and it's a
• 1:02:11
  factor. We don't have time.
• 1:02:12
  There's a lot to get done. But what I've found out is if
• 1:02:17
  you are keen about your most valuable tasks per day, you will
• 1:02:23
  be able to make enough room for those valuable tasks, including
• 1:02:27
  in your personal life. So.
• 1:02:29
  But what we do is we make everything urgent.
• 1:02:31
  We make everything important. We want to do everything now,
• 1:02:34
  Everything now, now now now Give me now, give me now, give me
• 1:02:36
  now. In fact, if I'm working with you
• 1:02:38
  and I see that you have that tendency of telling me
• 1:02:40
  everything is urgent and important, I'm going to be
• 1:02:42
  challenging you more often than not.
• 1:02:44
  Say ohh, we need to do this now. I mean we need to do this and
• 1:02:48
  I'm like are you services or just the way I say, I don't
• 1:02:51
  believe these things I'm going to, I don't believe you.
• 1:02:56
  Sorry, I I want you to erupt. You right, hold.
• 1:02:58
  I like I want you see something that probably corroborates me
• 1:03:03
  what you are saying. So as an auditor myself, right,
• 1:03:07
  I noticed something I think at the point when I became an
• 1:03:10
  assistant manager, I noticed that the same thing you said,
• 1:03:13
  right. And I noticed that as auditors
• 1:03:16
  we tend to place a lot of premium on technical competence,
• 1:03:19
  right on quality, right. However, we in all of us don't
• 1:03:27
  place a lot of premium on high level on elite level project
• 1:03:32
  management. Yes.
• 1:03:35
  Yes, and that tends to like make engagements to crumble.
• 1:03:40
  But then if you're elite level, even if even if you're average
• 1:03:44
  in terms of technical competence, but then your elite
• 1:03:46
  level in terms of your project management skills, you discover
• 1:03:50
  that your jobs will be on time and with the required quality.
• 1:03:57
  Sometimes people are doing the work they should not be doing
• 1:04:00
  and that's why they're like I'm busy.
• 1:04:01
  I'm not, I don't have time, I don't What are you doing is the
• 1:04:05
  question if someone else can be taught to do this thing thing
• 1:04:08
  you're doing. Maybe someone can be taught for
• 1:04:10
  15 minutes cause for 1530 minutes and you can end it up
• 1:04:13
  for them to go and do it for two days.
• 1:04:15
  That is saving you 2 full days for you to do other meaningful
• 1:04:18
  tasks. So what are you doing?
• 1:04:21
  And then I like the fact that you talked about project
• 1:04:23
  management because project management, project management
• 1:04:25
  starts months before you even get into your business season or
• 1:04:29
  been through more detail. It's just months before you when
• 1:04:31
  you start thinking about pulling together your budgets where the
• 1:04:34
  people you need and at what level do you need these people,
• 1:04:37
  what is their level of technical competence and what would they
• 1:04:40
  be required to do? And then I see people being
• 1:04:42
  stuck up on OHH because you are a sort of senior for instance,
• 1:04:46
  then you have to do this sort of task.
• 1:04:48
  So if you are an associate, for instance, you have to do this
• 1:04:52
  sort of task. I don't operate that way.
• 1:04:54
  I operate based on the strength of my team, so I could have an
• 1:05:00
  associate this technically fantastic.
• 1:05:03
  They just know how to piece things together, right?
• 1:05:06
  And I could have a senior who is from project management sense,
• 1:05:09
  they're fantastic. So I I I work on that.
• 1:05:12
  I focus. I feel that I mean project
• 1:05:15
  manager, that's their strength and push all of that to them.
• 1:05:18
  It doesn't mean they don't get to do technical stuff, they
• 1:05:20
  still do, but more on what they fancy and what they enjoy.
• 1:05:25
  So that gives that gives enough room within the team for
• 1:05:29
  capacity for people to do more interesting stuff.
• 1:05:32
  Do means they enjoy and then everybody becomes happy and all
• 1:05:35
  of that and you as a manager or an assistant manager or whatever
• 1:05:39
  we'll have time to do things that I mean things that are
• 1:05:43
  meaningful for you. I'm not saying there are no
• 1:05:45
  times when obviously everybody's needs down into the work our
• 1:05:48
  personal life is hoping there and all of that.
• 1:05:51
  But yeah, so yeah, yeah, I sort of agree with you on that point.
• 1:05:55
  So yeah, I guess. But wow.
• 1:05:58
  Interested. So, And Speaking of your career.
• 1:06:01
  Mentorship platform Like what are the long term goals for the
• 1:06:05
  platform right? And like what are the basic
• 1:06:08
  rules or principles you share to carrier status?
• 1:06:12
  And so if you ask me now that in my head I kind of know where
• 1:06:18
  this is going, I just got one vision, making sure people have
• 1:06:22
  the right access to the right information they need to propel
• 1:06:26
  them to success in their careers, Right.
• 1:06:28
  As long as you're connected with me, you're probably going to
• 1:06:31
  hear one thing or the other from me that is going to help you
• 1:06:34
  sort of be properly positioned, go for opportunities, feel, feel
• 1:06:38
  encouraged and all of that. OK, How then do I do that?
• 1:06:42
  I can't attend to everybody one-on-one.
• 1:06:44
  It's just so much a lot of people have got.
• 1:06:47
  So we created this space where we have people and then we do
• 1:06:54
  virtual events because it has to be group mentoring, right, so
• 1:06:57
  that we can share. Then I bring people to them from
• 1:07:01
  all of us. I bring people to them to sort
• 1:07:03
  of teach them, talk to them about some key topics.
• 1:07:05
  And usually what determines the topic we sort of walk through in
• 1:07:09
  a virtual event is based on what people keep coming back to talk
• 1:07:13
  about. Like say I I can't just monster
• 1:07:16
  confidence to copy meetings. Ohh I feel stressed that work or
• 1:07:21
  I've not seen the good growth opportunities that I need.
• 1:07:24
  You know, my well-being is being impacted.
• 1:07:26
  I can't seem to have work life balance and all of that.
• 1:07:29
  And then I bring people from all over the place, talks to them
• 1:07:31
  and you know, just basically giving people access to the
• 1:07:35
  information that they need. What I personally found out
• 1:07:39
  before I started and it's just basically me playing to what I
• 1:07:45
  would have wanted to have. When I was a career starter,
• 1:07:48
  nobody prepared me for what I what I went through.
• 1:07:52
  Some people would go through the same thing I went through and
• 1:07:55
  they fell out. Some people just resigned and
• 1:07:57
  they went and that was it. In fact, I had two people who
• 1:08:00
  reached out, two people during the course of my career who I
• 1:08:03
  spoke to, one of which said to me I wish I never resigned.
• 1:08:07
  It doesn't resigned as a first year associated with people.
• 1:08:10
  I personally, one of my biggest regret is that I resigned due to
• 1:08:13
  the pressure, right? So having if that person had the
• 1:08:16
  right mentorship or someone having two job opportunities and
• 1:08:20
  maybe a bank gave them an opportunity to be a marketer and
• 1:08:25
  maybe a a big forgive them opportunity to come on board as
• 1:08:29
  an auditor consultant or whatever.
• 1:08:31
  And because the bank was paying them more they went for the
• 1:08:34
  bank, they said I'm going for audit.
• 1:08:35
  You know that kind of deal. There are people that I don't
• 1:08:39
  know depending on what you want for yourself.
• 1:08:40
  But clearly someone tell me I that's my biggest regret because
• 1:08:45
  if they are going into a big 45 years even if they're moving
• 1:08:48
  into industry I'm going to industry has been a senior
• 1:08:51
  finance something or a senior whatever.
• 1:08:53
  So they they they will be steps ahead rather than being in the
• 1:08:55
  industry from ground up and in 10 years they're not still
• 1:08:58
  hitting the mark. So the whole idea is, as long as
• 1:09:02
  people have access to me, I am. And the way I run the mentoring
• 1:09:06
  show is I don't tell you what to do.
• 1:09:08
  I don't tell you what to do. I ask you questions that give
• 1:09:14
  you the answers. So you within you the answer is
• 1:09:18
  within you is my ultimate believer, which I would strongly
• 1:09:21
  like. When someone comes to me and say
• 1:09:22
  I have to job options, which one should I choose?
• 1:09:25
  I'm not gonna. I'm not in your life.
• 1:09:27
  I don't know your circumstances. I don't know what you're able to
• 1:09:29
  do. I can't even rank your technical
• 1:09:31
  competence. So I don't even know.
• 1:09:32
  I don't even know the work culture of the place.
• 1:09:34
  You're asking me to judge for you.
• 1:09:36
  I can't judge, but I will give you a couple of questions.
• 1:09:38
  I would say go and think about these questions.
• 1:09:40
  Tell me the answer. The framework.
• 1:09:43
  That's it. Come back with the answers.
• 1:09:45
  You already know the answer. There was a time I sent someone
• 1:09:48
  like five, just five questions and the person was like, don't
• 1:09:51
  worry, I already know what to go.
• 1:09:52
  For example, I don't, I don't have the answer.
• 1:09:55
  I'll just say, I'll just right. I'll just say these are the
• 1:09:58
  questions we go go figure and then they will come back and say
• 1:10:01
  here and basically what to do. Interested.
• 1:10:05
  So like, how's the journey been for you so far?
• 1:10:07
  And, you know, how do you balance being a corporate
• 1:10:09
  professional mother, a career coach, Work.
• 1:10:14
  Life balance. Like how how, how do you cook?
• 1:10:17
  You have so many hearts that you wear.
• 1:10:20
  There is no there is no work life balance.
• 1:10:21
  I don't believe in it personally.
• 1:10:23
  Ohh. I'm on this chart by the time I
• 1:10:28
  left you this morning. By the time I left room, this
• 1:10:31
  one, my son was crying. He didn't want me to leave, but
• 1:10:33
  I needed to leave so I can do this podcast, right?
• 1:10:37
  So that wow, you're you're inspiring.
• 1:10:41
  You're inspiring the next generation watching this.
• 1:10:45
  Say very big thank you to our Apple caller because she had to
• 1:10:49
  get comfortable being uncomfortable in order to do
• 1:10:53
  this for you. So please take this very
• 1:10:55
  seriously and take the Nuggets very seriously.
• 1:11:00
  You know, and and it's not, he's very clean indeed.
• 1:11:04
  So yeah, that's fine. So he didn't want me to leave
• 1:11:06
  him. She was crying and so but I and
• 1:11:10
  I is every time I step out of the house on the weekends to do
• 1:11:14
  after this podcast I've got another call that I need to jump
• 1:11:18
  onto sort of that I'm being hosted on.
• 1:11:21
  So for me to be able to, I can't do that in in the house because
• 1:11:25
  not going to allow me because it's 3 year old just it's just
• 1:11:29
  going to be all over me. So that's one of the so it's
• 1:11:33
  hard. So it's really hard.
• 1:11:37
  And when I got and I need to remain my authentic self at work
• 1:11:42
  and I need to deliver value. And for me to be my best self at
• 1:11:45
  work, I need to work hard. It means I need to invest the
• 1:11:49
  hours for me to also impact the lives of people out there and to
• 1:11:55
  gain trust. I need to work hard, so I
• 1:11:59
  maximise the hours that I have. Obviously that impacts me in
• 1:12:05
  terms of I don't then have enough time to do a lot of
• 1:12:09
  personal things that I would. I wouldn't say personalities.
• 1:12:13
  Maybe I phoned things at this point, but it's a stage, It's a
• 1:12:17
  stage, It's a stage. I feel like it's an investment
• 1:12:23
  of time for me to build the brand that I'm building right
• 1:12:26
  now. So it's just an investment of
• 1:12:27
  time. It's time is going to come.
• 1:12:30
  So I know a lot of people say well 4 hour work week.
• 1:12:35
  Ohh you what? I don't.
• 1:12:37
  That's fine for me now. It's not for our it, my, my day,
• 1:12:42
  my day is running up 14 hour work days.
• 1:12:46
  And it's not just work it's also the mentoring thing and all of
• 1:12:49
  that and so is there is no balance for me personally right
• 1:12:54
  now and. You're investing dollars.
• 1:12:57
  I'm investing it and it's the first time I'm really finding
• 1:13:00
  purpose in my life. So I feel like course is the
• 1:13:05
  first time. I feel like I'm I I found it.
• 1:13:08
  I'm going to invest and it's not everybody's blessed enough to
• 1:13:13
  find something they enjoy, like I do enjoy this, so it's a
• 1:13:16
  blessing. I'm not complaining and it's
• 1:13:19
  fine. So and there are also times when
• 1:13:22
  it's just like tomorrow. I don't.
• 1:13:23
  I don't have anything scheduled tomorrow, so it's just me in my
• 1:13:28
  home with my kids, the whole of tomorrow basically going to piss
• 1:13:32
  ourselves off with a lot of yelling standards.
• 1:13:36
  That was going to be all of that.
• 1:13:38
  It's fine. It's kind of family time, but on
• 1:13:43
  days when I need to get off and sort of go to stuff, I'm going
• 1:13:46
  to do it. Same with my professional life.
• 1:13:49
  This is my business season right now.
• 1:13:53
  Joining the busy season is what is a lot of work and probably
• 1:13:58
  less family time. It's fine because after the busy
• 1:14:01
  season, I'm still gonna get upwards of nine months when I
• 1:14:06
  will have normal life, work life, and I will have normal
• 1:14:09
  family time and whatever else I need to do.
• 1:14:12
  So in the first three months, I'm not going to whine and
• 1:14:14
  complain. This is a job that people are
• 1:14:18
  in, My DM basically crying to me to say I just want to get
• 1:14:23
  through the door and that's the job I have.
• 1:14:26
  So I'm not going to say ohh my family.
• 1:14:31
  Yes, my family is important, but this is the time for us.
• 1:14:35
  This is the most important time at work and I'm very, very
• 1:14:39
  blessed to also have a very supportive partner who says no,
• 1:14:43
  just go, like today is with the kids.
• 1:14:45
  I'm here, it's fine, that's fine.
• 1:14:47
  I'll just go so having that support and obviously I have to
• 1:14:50
  travel for work as well, multiple days a week during the
• 1:14:54
  busy time and it's fine. So there is no.
• 1:14:58
  So that's why I don't believe really like Ohh, there has to be
• 1:15:01
  proper fitted balance. There's no balance.
• 1:15:03
  The time is also going to come when work may take it.
• 1:15:07
  So for instance, during the course of the year, there was a
• 1:15:09
  time when I was struggling with my childcare responsibilities.
• 1:15:12
  My son school just shut down and I needed to find another school
• 1:15:15
  for my son. And that wasn't coming through
• 1:15:17
  because I needed a special kind of school for my son.
• 1:15:21
  I was. I had to take good time off
• 1:15:24
  work. And it was.
• 1:15:25
  I had a deadline coming up. But my people I work with, I
• 1:15:28
  know, Alright, go, go. Shut yourself up out.
• 1:15:30
  And I was with my family the full time and and I I needed
• 1:15:35
  flexibility for the whole almost the whole of Q4.
• 1:15:38
  I was not I didn't have to travel as much and you know I I
• 1:15:43
  there were meetings I missed because I had to do school runs
• 1:15:47
  and where I'm coming from. So sometimes what we take a hit
• 1:15:51
  sometimes finally we take a hit. But I don't personally believe
• 1:15:54
  is the balance. But then that is still, that is
• 1:15:58
  still the balance anyways, yeah. OK.
• 1:16:01
  Having both, both, both ends taking, taking heats, right, but
• 1:16:05
  they're still achieving success, you know, on, on, on both ends.
• 1:16:08
  So really you are a mentor, right?
• 1:16:11
  But then who is the mentor of the mentor?
• 1:16:15
  I won't contributions that they made to your life.
• 1:16:19
  That's a big one. And this will come to you as a
• 1:16:21
  surprise that I don't have a mentor.
• 1:16:29
  That I will say ohh, you are my mentor.
• 1:16:31
  I'm going to live your life or you're going to tell me what to
• 1:16:36
  do at every face of I I don't. I don't have, I don't know,
• 1:16:41
  unfortunately. There are categories.
• 1:16:46
  You know, like you know for for for a person like me, right?
• 1:16:49
  I have like friends in different in different boxes.
• 1:16:54
  So I I have friends that, OK, when it comes to Korea, OK,
• 1:16:58
  these guys are going to people when it comes to having fun,
• 1:17:01
  these other guys that go to people.
• 1:17:04
  These guys are go to people loves you.
• 1:17:09
  Yeah, so some other thing. Right.
• 1:17:12
  They're like go to people. For for like different things
• 1:17:15
  maybe. You so yeah so in my So what I
• 1:17:22
  do is in my career. The good thing is I work with PW
• 1:17:26
  CW, basically give you a career coach at work, someone to coach
• 1:17:31
  you to tell you what's next. I am very lucky to have a
• 1:17:35
  fantastic career coach and I don't know, I'm just very lucky.
• 1:17:39
  I just have it's fantastic career but she cheques up on me
• 1:17:44
  says alright, what's your plan for this year?
• 1:17:46
  What are you thinking about? What are you looking to have you
• 1:17:49
  thought about this one? The opportunities especially
• 1:17:51
  shares it with me, you know. So I feel personally comfortable
• 1:17:57
  to do whatever I need to do if I feel like this is my goal.
• 1:18:00
  And I also have immediate bosses that I work with that help me
• 1:18:05
  technically and help me from a leadership perspective.
• 1:18:09
  So their life is like a frame for me to watch.
• 1:18:13
  Do you see why? Really, going outside to go look
• 1:18:17
  for a mentor? It's.
• 1:18:18
  I know it's everybody that has the kind of blessings that I do
• 1:18:20
  have. So I have these people that most
• 1:18:24
  of the things I know now I I have learnt it even by observing
• 1:18:27
  them. My partner, my director, my
• 1:18:30
  senior managers, fantastic people, my career coach in the
• 1:18:34
  office. So for me, career perspective, I
• 1:18:36
  feel strongly about the support that I'm getting and I don't
• 1:18:40
  need to look out now. That does not mean that I don't.
• 1:18:43
  Like I said, I am for content. Everything I believe available
• 1:18:48
  in terms of like executive career, coaching, content and
• 1:18:51
  all of that, I'm in it. So I know where to go out.
• 1:18:54
  I know when to speak up, I know when to take opportunities I'm
• 1:18:58
  all about. Obviously that's even what I
• 1:18:59
  preach, right? So I know when to go all out for
• 1:19:01
  that. Now when it comes to motivation,
• 1:19:04
  sometimes you need that real human motivation.
• 1:19:06
  I've got some friends like that. I made a post recently about
• 1:19:09
  that. I've got a I've got a group of
• 1:19:11
  friends that they motivate me, so.
• 1:19:15
  When I. Think about them.
• 1:19:17
  Or when I reach out to them or when we chat, they just help me,
• 1:19:21
  you know, keep thinking about things.
• 1:19:23
  Even when I feel like I'm just going to move on.
• 1:19:26
  I think about them like I'm not moving on.
• 1:19:27
  I'm just going to until I get these things done, I'm going to
• 1:19:30
  get this right. So I have sort of people.
• 1:19:33
  I don't know if you've seen this, this popularity of social
• 1:19:36
  media, they say. Ajay, you didn't motivate me,
• 1:19:40
  did it? There's like people.
• 1:19:44
  There you go. There's a people.
• 1:19:45
  So my next question is actually from my executive assistant to
• 1:19:49
  Huge. Yeah.
• 1:19:50
  And then she says, which successful black women do you?
• 1:19:54
  Admire in society. I'll take all Aries as always
• 1:20:01
  been, will continue to be. Of Morgan Stanley and and and
• 1:20:08
  that's from obviously I I met with her once during the CF A
• 1:20:12
  societies and I think investment conference that held in Nigeria.
• 1:20:16
  I think 20, I think it was in 2018-2019, not really sure.
• 1:20:22
  So I met with her impression during that conference and I
• 1:20:25
  she's one person that I sort of follow our content and obviously
• 1:20:32
  I don't know if I'll be able to get wonder what we have but
• 1:20:36
  that's someone I sort of watched and look look look up to to say
• 1:20:42
  ohh especially in in the in the US has seen such a woman growth
• 1:20:48
  to that level is simply amazing and I find all I've no gets very
• 1:20:54
  very helpful but when you come back when you come back home
• 1:20:59
  people that I see at home are Ebuka Rushika.
• 1:21:02
  I listen to a lot I love how she speaks.
• 1:21:04
  I love the courage. You know, she's someone that for
• 1:21:10
  a long, long time, even before I joined PW C, that I've always
• 1:21:13
  sort of watched, watched from afar, was the Okonjo Iweala was
• 1:21:19
  way back when she was the Minister of Finance.
• 1:21:21
  Then I'm like, I can be this woman, you know, I can be this
• 1:21:25
  woman. And you know all of that.
• 1:21:28
  Most people that I look up to, I don't have access to them.
• 1:21:32
  But I every time they write something or they put something
• 1:21:36
  out, I tap into it and I just, you know, I just want to.
• 1:21:42
  I'm not following. If you notice this is that if
• 1:21:44
  I'm following the steps step by step, I just.
• 1:21:47
  Want to tell you admire them, basically.
• 1:21:49
  What they're doing right now, this is more general.
• 1:21:53
  Every black lady around me, around me, when I'm here in the
• 1:21:58
  UK or people reaching out to me or whatever, I see potential in
• 1:22:02
  them and I celebrate them. I just want to help as much as I
• 1:22:06
  can. I just want to and I also want
• 1:22:07
  to be connected. So I've got a couple of black
• 1:22:11
  ladies on LinkedIn as well that have reached out to me, that
• 1:22:14
  have reached out to have collaborated.
• 1:22:16
  They've helped me run virtual mentoring sessions and and all
• 1:22:20
  all of that and all of that. And there is the MF from KPMG
• 1:22:25
  really, really adore her. She was still in my DMS.
• 1:22:28
  They were still talking about her new goal setting ebook that
• 1:22:32
  she's just released. So you know these are, these are
• 1:22:35
  just basically people that are around me sort of giving me some
• 1:22:39
  energy. And when they come to me for
• 1:22:41
  support or any sort of things like in terms of like mentoring
• 1:22:44
  or anything or they need referral or whatever, I'm always
• 1:22:47
  there to help. So that's what it looks like for
• 1:22:50
  me from that perspective. OK.
• 1:22:52
  So there you go. That's your question answered on
• 1:22:56
  black excellence, you know? She she she's a very, very
• 1:22:59
  strong proponent, you know, part of black excellence or the black
• 1:23:03
  excellence. Movement, actually, you know, I,
• 1:23:05
  I admire that as well. You know, black excellence is
• 1:23:08
  important. You know it's important to have,
• 1:23:10
  you know, people of black heritage succeed and inspire
• 1:23:15
  people in society. And always love to see that.
• 1:23:18
  And I hope that yourself and myself as well, would inspire a
• 1:23:21
  lot of people. You know, billions and millions
• 1:23:23
  of people. In society to to to do great
• 1:23:26
  stuff. Ah OK, so we are almost, you
• 1:23:30
  know, getting to the end right of this session.
• 1:23:33
  So basically like what are your hobbies you know and personal
• 1:23:37
  interests, and also what skills and competences do you have and
• 1:23:43
  you're proud of but people do not know about?
• 1:23:46
  Um, I know how to cook very well.
• 1:23:52
  There ohh so you see another thing in common with me.
• 1:23:56
  Why? Why?
• 1:23:58
  Very. Very.
• 1:23:59
  Why? Why do we have too many things
• 1:24:02
  to cover before you're Nigeria? You love black XLS.
• 1:24:09
  You can cook me, maybe let let me like to think.
• 1:24:14
  Maybe to make me sleep well, let me like to think I can cook.
• 1:24:18
  That's fine. So as yeah, so and I do.
• 1:24:24
  It's stressful, but I do enjoy cooking for my family and let me
• 1:24:28
  just like I I could spend up towards all three hours in the
• 1:24:31
  kitchen on the weekend to prep into all of that and I have.
• 1:24:35
  You. Have you come to a party before?
• 1:24:39
  And I've cooked for a large gathering before, not like party
• 1:24:44
  party, but like maybe like this is your room sort of party kind
• 1:24:47
  of deal. Yeah, something like that.
• 1:24:49
  But like a large part in. Yeah, yeah.
• 1:24:51
  No, I've not done that before. So I think we have to.
• 1:24:56
  I enjoy cooking for my family. What else?
• 1:25:00
  Ohh not. Alright, it's not interested and
• 1:25:04
  for me, I've cooked for parties before, so like.
• 1:25:07
  You know what we're like You. Know.
• 1:25:09
  People, yeah, when people enjoy your food, it just gives you
• 1:25:13
  that confidence that, yeah man, I'm good at this stage.
• 1:25:16
  Nobody can tell me anything again.
• 1:25:20
  Nobody, you know, he's very shortly just history there was.
• 1:25:23
  One time we were having this house party in Abuja and then.
• 1:25:26
  The lady that was going to cook refuge.
• 1:25:28
  Right. I think somebody offended her
• 1:25:30
  and she was like, oh, I'm not going to cook the food again,
• 1:25:33
  but. Like.
• 1:25:35
  And then people were already arriving and they said yes,
• 1:25:38
  ingredients. I put everything together,
• 1:25:41
  Billy, to low price and everybody was like, wow, this is
• 1:25:44
  really nice. I've been thinking about it.
• 1:25:46
  Out of it. I like you.
• 1:25:51
  There you go. Nice.
• 1:25:54
  It's good to see you, uncle. That's good.
• 1:25:56
  That's good. Yeah.
• 1:25:58
  So my my last question to you right is.
• 1:26:02
  What advice that is from me to you, right?
• 1:26:06
  So what advice do you have for young people in general?
• 1:26:13
  And so I would say, so I'll restrict it back to carrier and
• 1:26:20
  I would say find your source of motivation because when you are
• 1:26:28
  motivated, you're basically at a point where you feel you can
• 1:26:32
  achieve anything and you'll begin to get the answers that
• 1:26:35
  you need. What I've seen is that most
• 1:26:40
  people would say I do enjoy my work, I do enjoy my life.
• 1:26:45
  I feel in some certain way, you know, there's there's just this
• 1:26:49
  internal dialogue going on with them, telling them they're not
• 1:26:53
  good enough and all of that. But if you connect yourself to a
• 1:26:58
  steady source of motivation and you connect yourself to someone
• 1:27:03
  who holds you accountable, and you connect yourself to a steady
• 1:27:08
  stream of motivation that gets you up every single day, then
• 1:27:13
  you can achieve anything you want to achieve, right?
• 1:27:15
  So it doesn't matter where you are, It doesn't matter how bad
• 1:27:20
  is gone for you. It doesn't matter what people
• 1:27:22
  are saying currently about you. It doesn't matter if people are
• 1:27:26
  looking at it Ohh, you just started now.
• 1:27:28
  Nothing. Nothing.
• 1:27:29
  You're saying we are still going to stop or is going to end or
• 1:27:31
  whatever. Doesn't matter what people are
• 1:27:33
  saying to you or what you are even saying to yourself.
• 1:27:36
  It does not matter. What matters is find out right
• 1:27:40
  level of inspiration, that source that keeps telling you
• 1:27:44
  you are good enough you can do it you you know.
• 1:27:47
  The more you hear that the more developed in spirit you are and
• 1:27:52
  the more assured you are that whatever it is you want to do,
• 1:27:55
  you can do it right. So obviously there is a lot,
• 1:27:58
  there are lots and lots of things I can tell you, but I
• 1:28:00
  feel like if you find your steady source of motivation then
• 1:28:03
  you can do anything. Fantastic, fantastic words of
• 1:28:08
  advice from a sage like yourself.
• 1:28:11
  So at the end of the point we we have a tradition, we are in the
• 1:28:16
  previous guest drops, you know a question for the next guest and
• 1:28:19
  you know the current guest drops a question for the next one.
• 1:28:23
  So the question. To.
• 1:28:26
  You. Was dropped.
• 1:28:27
  By somebody I think you should know he is a renowned Nollywood
• 1:28:34
  actor. That is for sure.
• 1:28:35
  Ideally. Ohh yeah.
• 1:28:38
  AKA finance. But then he jumped.
• 1:28:41
  Something, something. OK, let me say interesting for
• 1:28:45
  you, he said. OK.
• 1:28:48
  This might be controversial, but let's see, let's see what you
• 1:28:50
  see. So, he says.
• 1:28:52
  What option would you be if you were forced to select between
• 1:28:56
  sleeping with another person's? Partner for. £15,000,000 or
• 1:29:02
  losing all of your assets and starting all over from the
• 1:29:06
  scratch? There, there, there's not much
• 1:29:10
  in the asset anyways, so I'll definitely.
• 1:29:16
  Ohh, I didn't say your money or your life.
• 1:29:19
  Anyways, I don't get money. I can't wait for anything in the
• 1:29:24
  world. Sorry.
• 1:29:26
  I'm sorry about that. You could, you could think you
• 1:29:31
  could, you could take it, right? OK, So what question would you
• 1:29:33
  like to leave for the next guest to answer?
• 1:29:36
  Let that work. Well, I don't know what the next
• 1:29:38
  guest is guest is, but I'll my question for them will be if the
• 1:29:42
  only person that has the answer to their problems, so to an
• 1:29:48
  issue they're going through, is a renowned enemy, known enemy,
• 1:29:54
  someone who thinks they can't amount to anything.
• 1:29:56
  That's the person that has the answer to their next level.
• 1:30:00
  Would they rather go to this person to get the answer or they
• 1:30:04
  would just move on or lock up? Ohh, that is a tough one.
• 1:30:12
  But for me, for me, I think I would not look up, for I'll
• 1:30:17
  humble myself. I.
• 1:30:25
  That's what. He's saying, that's what he's
• 1:30:26
  saying. OK, OK, I'll send.
• 1:30:29
  I'll send the response to you. You know, at this point, you
• 1:30:36
  know I need to call up my, my, my, my attitude of gratitude
• 1:30:41
  because I am very very big of gratitude.
• 1:30:43
  And for me to you it is a very very big thank you.
• 1:30:46
  I appreciate your. Time, you know, I appreciate
• 1:30:50
  your wise words. You know, words are not enough
• 1:30:54
  to express my gratitude to you. For.
• 1:30:57
  Coming on board today, so. Happy New Year to you.
• 1:31:02
  I wish you great stuff for this year and of course, God bless
• 1:31:05
  you. And you too, thank you very much
• 1:31:08
  and. Doing.
• 1:31:09
  OK, it makes a lot of sense. Ohh well.
• 1:31:13
  Well, thank you very much. OK.
• 1:31:14
  So just before you go, right, I give people the opportunity to,
• 1:31:17
  to give a shout out to anybody of their choice or any persons
• 1:31:20
  of their choice before they leave.
• 1:31:22
  So who are you going to shout out to?
• 1:31:25
  So I'm. I'm going to share, give my
• 1:31:27
  shout out to my husband. And the reason is because it's
• 1:31:34
  the most supportive person I personally know.
• 1:31:39
  And for all the good things that you're doing for me, I really
• 1:31:42
  appreciate you letting me be the woman finding my purpose and
• 1:31:45
  letting me just fly as much as I need to and just supporting me
• 1:31:49
  to say or what do you want to do this thing you're forgetting and
• 1:31:53
  do it. Make sure you do this.
• 1:31:54
  Make sure you do that. So you know, just making sure
• 1:31:57
  that sort of keep going in my career and in this mentoring
• 1:32:01
  thing I'm doing and everything else that I bring on board and
• 1:32:05
  just basically supporting me all the way.
• 1:32:07
  So thank you Boo. I love you.
• 1:32:11
  Well we go level. Ohh, I partner like that as
• 1:32:19
  well. You know let me talk for your
• 1:32:21
  blessing. Blessing.
• 1:32:23
  OK. OK.
• 1:32:24
  Thank you very much for your support for being.
• 1:32:27
  On this podcast. Do have a great day ahead.
• 1:32:30
  God bless. You thank you very much.
• 1:32:33
  All right. Bye.