Good afternoon dear Team.

First of all thanks to Gabriel for this opportunity.
I am here to talk about Develop as a fundamental Heineken Leadership Expectation.
I hope you enjoy the ride.

What I will be sharing are not prescriptions, but prisms which you can explore.

There is a relationship between our development and the achievements business objectives.
Our job as individuals is to develop ourselves through the work that we do, to deliver results that bring value to ourselves.

There is a self-fulfilling interaction between Results and Relationships.
In a virtuous cycle, Good results build good relationships. Good relationships foster good results.
Those that deliver good results are more likely to keep delivering good results, because of the good relationships that those results have built.
Good relationships create an enabling environment for development.

In a vicious cycle, the opposite holds true.

These cycles are not absolute and can be broken.
It is important to keep results and relationships in view, as you learn, grow and prune.

Now let us explore commitment, which I also characterize as being invested.
Our investment in ourselves and those around us needs to be conscious and owned.
Anywhere we consciously commit resources – whether it is time, money or attention, we grow.

Start with what is in front of you
Your current job, your current colleagues, available resources, books and even visitors.
Within “what is in front of you” is the seed that will bear the fruits to satisfy your other desires.
Too many times we are distracted by the next job, the missed opportunity, what is being said in closed rooms and other things that are largely outside our control, when all we need for our development is already in front of us.
No matter how high the building, the step in front of you, takes you closer to the top.
Go deep in your current job.
Your current job is an anchor that will help you continue to stand whether your career goes up or sideways.

Master the art of asking
In TPM we are taught to ask “5 Whys” in order to get to the root cause. It works when properly applied.
I have learnt that questions that start with “What” are also very useful, because it moves the people from being defensive to being open.
“Why” questions ultimately always lead to humans as the problem.
“What” questions lead to the process or system as the problem.
People are more open with “what” than with “why” questions.
However, like I said, no prescriptions, you will get better at asking questions by asking questions.
There should be no answer that cannot be questioned. Such answers are not true.
Ask. We miss out on a lot because we do not consciously improve our asking skills.

If it is important, write it down
Every recorded history holds deep meaning only because someone decided to record it.
The custodians of records are powerful, and that is why they say the most powerful individual in the room is the one taking minutes. A lot of what happened in a meeting will be forgotten with time, but the minutes stand true.

How do you make this work for you?

Chronicle your journey.
If you do not like keeping a journal because it does not work for you, take pictures. If you do not like taking pictures, because you are not photogenic, record your voice. If you do not like your voice, update your status on a platform that helps you keep records.

Most times we do not understand the patterns in our lives and only see scattered dots, because we do not have our story well documented.
Everyone on this live call has a beautiful story, no matter what you currently complain about, it is just not obvious because it is not well documented.

Hide only what you want to be found
It is also called the Streisand Effect.
The greatest limitation you can encounter is when the truth is against you, because you are needlessly covering up something that you will be shocked is not unique to you.
When people find out a vulnerability, you lose credibility.

Vulnerabilities can only be made into strengths when you own and share them with those you trust.

A lot of people have created an environment of distrust around them that has limited their development, because what they tried to hide was ultimately revealed.

So we have covered commitment.

Let us walk into Care, which I also characterize as being interested.
I think too many people are trying to be interesting, and too few are trying to be interested.

Take a second look
For everything we care about, we take a second look.
Whether it is our partner, a car we like, or our children, if we truly care, we always give it a second look.
There is something called the Blue car syndrome.
When you decide that you want to buy a Honda Accord, you begin to see more Honda Accords on the road. It is not really because there are more Honda Accords on the road, you are just giving each one a second look, and your brain is accentuating your perception of them.

You can use this in your favor.

The number of training programs, seminars, workshops, mentoring, and coaching exercises you have had, is enough to give you an edge.
The difference between individuals is what happens after the learning exercise – Who takes a second look at what has been learnt and who doesn’t?
This is strongly associated with a concept called the forgetting curve.
Some people attend a training, return to their jobs and keep all training files in their bragging drawer. They forget 90% of what they learnt in a maximum of 30 days.
To retain that knowledge, we must go back to what we learnt and give it a second look.
It is in that second look that you actually learn.
If you give it a second look, you will most likely come back for a third look.

You have seen your favorite movie more than once, you have listened to your favorite song more than once, you have read your favorite book more than once, but most people go through their favorite training once, and they assume it is enough. It is not.

Remember “The Peter Principle”
As Dr. Laurence says, “The cream rises until it sours.”

It is a principle named after the sociologist – Dr. Laurence J. Peter.
A deep understanding of this principle will help you stay grounded as you climb the career ladder.

When you realize that every new job you undertake, horizontal or vertical, is proportional to your increased incompetence, you will embrace humility. By humility I mean a deep understanding that there is more to learn than you know.

This is why those that are better connected to their 360 degree relationships will accelerate the closure of their competency gap.

Understanding this principle will also help you to be kinder to your Line Managers.
A lot of the time, Line Managers do not ask questions they already know the answers to.
They are actually asking questions because they want to close a competency gap.
When you bring problems to your Line Manager, they need you as much as you need them, to solve the problem.
Too many people stop their development when they think they have a superstar boss.

Too many people are also blindsided about their new incompetence when they are promoted. They assume that they only got the new role because they have proven they can do it. It is a deeply flawed assumption.

Promptness is a sign of respect and competence
By promptness I do not mean shoddy and early. I mean thorough and time-bound.

One of the ways to track development is the promptness in your execution.

It is a sign to who is requesting something from you, that you prioritize them. It also helps to show that you have built competence in that area of engagement.
I have found quite a few people with the same competency level ultimately separated by their degree of promptness.

Make return trips
Depending on the state of the road, let us say a trip from Lagos to Benin takes 3 hours. On your first trip from Lagos to Benin, that 3 hours will feel like 5 hours. But on your return trip from Benin to Lagos, even though it still takes 3 hours, it will feel like 2 hours.

The first trip always feels longer and draining, the return trip feels shorter and more pleasurable.

In our careers, we are all on our first trip.
Mentors have the luxury of taking a return trip.

In our first trip, things take longer to happen than we think they should, a return trip helps us see that they actually happen faster than we thought they could.

Mentoring is an opportunity for the mentor to go back on his journey and share the important markers that would have made a difference in the first trip.
It also offers the mentee an opportunity to enjoy the journey, because journeys are always better when you have companionship, especially when the companion has been on that journey before.

Mentoring has to be based on what is in front of you. It needs to be based on what you are showing interest in.
I think it is a misnomer when I see mentees seeking mentors that are interesting, and not mentors that are interested in the things in front of them.
For a mentor to be interested, they need to see that you are already working on something they are interested in.
For a mentee to get all the benefits of a mentoring process, he or she needs to show that they are interested in the feedback they get – This usually involves the mentee applying what is agreed and coming back to show their work.

On to the final C which is courage. I also know courage as the strength of character to be different.

Clutter reduction rules
Antoine de Saint-Exupery once said “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
To grow properly, we need space. Decluttering helps us to create needed space for growth. It involves a lot of pruning – reducing what no longer serves us.
Decluttering will mean different things to different people.
It might be turning off notifications, unsubscribing from an email broadcast or paid subscription, leaving a Whatsapp group you never read their updates, but feel too caged to ever leave, or a meeting you are invited to, only because your presence increases the number of people that attend.

Whatever takes your time, money or attention and yet does not help you grow, sooner or later, needs to go.

We are only as great as our alternatives
This applies in a lot of spheres in life, but I will like to direct our attention here to our peers and those that can do our jobs.
I think it is limiting when we try to put down our peers as a way of furthering our ends.
It serves us better when the quality of those around us is improving at such a pace that it challenges us to stretch.
A lot of individuals stop growing when they surround themselves with mediocrity.
It is also important to actively drive candor in our teams, so that people are comfortable to have uncomfortable conversations. The discomfort that comes from such an atmosphere triggers growth.
We stop growing when all conversations we have are the conversations we want to have. We need alternative conversations.

There is a thin line between swelling and growth.
There is a thin line because in both cases, it looks like you are increasing.
Swelling is characterized by being inaccessible and unapproachable, and growth is characterized by accessibility and approachability.
Swelling requires a lot of preservatives, so a characteristic of one that is dying is their default to self-preservation.
Those that are swelling will be buried.
To keep growing it is important to remain grounded and connected to our customers, as they are the ultimate reason for our being.
By customers, I mean everyone that takes the output of our processes.
A pitfall to always avoid is to feel we have developed beyond a need to respectfully engage our customers.
To guard against it, we need to continually ask for feedback, not in the general sense, but in specific terms. For example, “What exactly do I need to reduce friction?”
Drive 1-on-1s actively with your customers and track progress.

Start Now
The best time to start and own your development is now.
Whatever opportunities, alternatives or possibilities you see, it is best to start now.
Compounding favors only those that start now. Time can only improve what has been started.
The shelf I am offering will remain pointless if you do not fill it with present action.

Now let us flip the top 5 regrets.

The most abused luxury is time and the most common regret is procrastination.

Bronnie Ware was a palliative caregiver and she shared the top 5 regrets she heard from the deathbed of her patients in her book – The top 5 regrets of the dying.

We can take active steps to flip it.

Instead of wishing, we can choose to –
1. Embrace possibilities.
2. Create time to recreate or have fun.
3. Speak our truth.
4. Cultivate meaningful relationships.
5. And give ourselves an O for continually working on being our best selves.

In summary, I have shared the 3 Cs – Commitment, Care and Courage.

In the end, all I have shared is based on what I have noticed from my experiences.
What you will notice from your journey might be different. But notice it.

I have learnt a lot from this opportunity to share.

Godspeed on your journey.

– Osasu Oviawe