Tunde sat down in his office watching his old schoolmate George speak calmly in a television interview, answering questions and actually allowing other panellists speak. He couldn’t believe this was the same person he’d been in school with that had a reputation for knowing everything.
He had not seen George in over a decade and had no idea that George was back in the country; fortunately, the contact details of his company popped up on the screen. He quickly took a picture and saved the number on his phone, with the intention of calling him up and setting up a lunch meeting.
A week later, Tunde and George sat down together inside a cabana at Laguna beach club, sipping fresh Coconut water straight out of the coconuts and watching their children play by the beach. The meeting between two old schoolmates had expanded into a full-blown family outing. George had actually made the request to bring his family along and Tunde had readily obliged him.
They started talking about the old days and George grew very sober as he started to tell Tunde his story. “Meeeehn, I almost lost everything because of my oversabi attitude. You know how I was in school now, I believed I knew everything and that nobody could tell me anything simply because my CGPA was the best in the department and I was also a fine boy. I’m still a fine boy though but now I have sense in addition”, he said, as he roared with laughter then grew quiet again and continued.
“After graduation, I moved to Brazil where I met my wife. Looking back now, I don’t even know how she agreed to marry me. I was the starboy in my office, the brightest and the loudest, and I had no idea that anything like emotional intelligence or people management skills existed. I still thought that since I was an intellectual guru, everybody had to listen to me. It wasn’t long before the problems started. By the end of the first year, practically everyone that worked with me on my team had either resigned and gone to work elsewhere or asked to be transferred to another department.”
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“The company had not witnessed such a high staff turnover rate before and had to call in a Human Resources consultant. After interviewing all the staff that had worked with me, the consultant informed the management of my company that I was the problem but I didn’t believe it. I mean, I was the most intelligent person on that team. I insisted I was not the problem and was put on a Personal Improvement Plan and probation. But my ego didn’t allow me even follow through and I was eventually relieved of my appointment. At this time, word had gotten around the industry that I was impossible to work with so in spite of my sterling professional qualifications, nobody would hire me.”
“After six months of being without a job and running out of money in a foreign land, nobody told me to go back and quietly study the Personal Improvement Plan I had been placed on. The only person that saved me was my wife, then my girlfriend who literally fed and took care of me. It was during this time that I did a critical self-assessment and for the first time in my life, I realised what a toxic person I had been without even being aware. One of the things that stood in the HR consultant’s report was that I lacked teachability and wasn’t open to improvement. This was one of the chief reasons why I was sacked.”
“I had to unlearn that and many other toxic traits I had and shortly after that, a bigger company came for me and after putting in 10 years with them successfully I resigned and moved back home to start my own business. I had to learn humility and teachability the hard way.”
Just like George discovered through a harsh experience, the ability and willingness to learn is a skill we all need to master. When we open our minds to receiving instruction at whatever level we find ourselves, the more fulfilling life becomes.
