Tips from Steve Wozniak at the MTN Leadership Seminar

I first heard about the event on radio while driving and I said to myself this is a must-attend event. So my plan was to visit MTN’s website and register once I got to my destination. Fortunately, I totally forgot and days, possibly weeks went by and when I finally checked the website it was too late. Would you like to know how I remembered eventually? :) Well, Fayo Williams of Awesomebiztips.com asked if I had an extra ticket, that was when I finally remembered that I had not registered. Procrastination is bad as simple as ABC!

Since I was out of luck (so it seemed), I silently wished all those who got an invite a most productive event and so I decided to focus on other pressing tasks but as God will have it I somehow got an invite on the eve of the event, so I cleared up my calendar just to be there.

The Apple Men

When you hear Apple Inc. who do you think of first certainly not Steve Wozniak but guess what? He was the brain behind the engineering aspects of the company in its formative stage. The late Steve Jobs is the one everyone kind of knows, and that could be attributed to his personality, charisma and eloquence, which all contributed to making Apple the biggest company in the world today with a following that is cult like. Men, I clearly remember how sad I was when the news of his death was announced and I remember publishing a number of posts in his honour – great guy he was! Both Steves were a perfect combination; complementing each other along the way – this is one underlying factor for their success.

Use Technology Wisely

I am one of those who would invest in a gadget and suck the life out of it before letting it go. Sometime, last year I invested in the  fairly priced Techno Phantom smart phone and this gadget always comes in handy for me. In this case, I used it to record almost everything Steve Wozniak said at the event and immediately after the event I listened to it all the way home.

Research has proven that the average human especially in our highly distracting world of today forgets about 80% of what he or she learns if notes weren’t taken.

Now you see why I chose to record what the guy had to share because I knew it would be a remarkable story and indeed it was.

Some Take Home for Me

So let me share with you some of the points amongst many:

• Decide early in life what you want to do with your life. Steve decided he want to be an engineer and he stuck to his dream – he did not try to be the other Steve at any point. Are living your dream or living some elses dream?

•  He also had a secret passion for teaching and when he left Apple, he went to teach high school kids of 8 years without making noise about. Are you giving back to your community in someway?

• Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs did not have a dime they where both broke but had a vision they could believe in. Is lack of money stopping you from achieving your dreams?

• Steve W. had a knack for solving problems even though he could not face the world the way his partner Steve Jobs could, he had this unending quest to want to solve problems internally. How often to you reach out to draw inner strengths?

• When he came up with the Apple 1 prototype and approached HP, a company that he worked for turned his idea down 6 times. Can you imagine that? Let me ask you, what would be your reaction if someone who respects you kicks out your idea? The point is that it is your responsibility to prove that your idea is worth its salt and so don’t waste time when people can’t see what you can see, just say next and move one. Steve said that he was so thankful that HP rejected the idea, the world is better for it today. Can you see everything happens for a purpose?

Final Thoughts

MTN deserves a big pat on the back for this laudable initiative that they have brought to Nigeria year after year. As far as am concerned, this is much better than Access Bank paying Mariah Carey, Two hundred million Naira to come ‘entertain’ them. We need more initiatives like this that will help build and strengthen the minds of the people instead reality shows and parties alone. If you do not get anything from this, just remember that Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs founded able when they were both BROKE! Kudos MTN!!!