Innovate or Die...How I Turned My Greatest Weakness into a Superpower"

She said to me, "I can't!!! I’m not an innovation genius like you, now."

I laughed. If only she knew the road I travelled to get here.

?Let me take you back…

Growing up, I often joked that my sister had hoarded all the creativity and innovative juice of the family. She is the artist, the visionary, the "ideas person," while I was convinced, I had zero creativity and innovative streak to my name.

As I joined the corporate world—first in consulting and later in financial services—buzzwords like innovation and strategy haunted me everywhere. The more I heard them, the more #ImposterSyndrome crept in.

I am not innovative, I am not creative, I am not strategic, you people should leave me alone!!!

In search of refuge, I moved to the aviation industry, where strict regulations left little room for the "innovation" word to haunt me.

After three years , MTN Nigeria came knocking and wow, who wouldn’t want to work for the best telecoms company in Africa.

Started work January 4th 2010, and on my first day of resumption, I was dragged to a management meeting, the Divisional Executive declared: “This year, we must Innovate or Die.”

Here we go again, Who did I offend?

After 3.5 years, I got an offer to lead HR division at a group of companies with focus on the Oil and Gas Industry (Heavily regulated industry…so, no? Innovate or Die mantra… so I thought).

On day one, I asked the Group Chairman, “Beyond delivering on the HR Agenda, What would success in my role look like from your perspective?”

His answer?

“I want you to lead innovation at every level, Group, Company, Department, Employee; transforming our organization into a hub of innovation.”

Okay, my village people have finally caught up with me [ for non-Africans, this means ,my ?nemesis] .

No where to hide. Dear Innovation, the battle line is drawn on my career. It’s either I win, or you win.

That’s when my journey in innovation began.

Three years later, I was promoted to Head the Strategy and Corporate services Division of the group, a role I lead for another 4 years.

Today, innovation feels like my second nature. In fact, I’ve gone from being afraid of the word to being one of the most innovative people I know. Ask anyone who’s worked with me—they’ll confirm it.

Why am I sharing this?

Just last month, I completed grading assignments for students in the Cambridge Judge University of Cambridge Innovation and Intrapreneurship program. As the Subject Matter Expert and Program Leader, I mentor and guide C-suite leaders from global companies on the ideation, testing, management and reintegration of innovation ventures in their organisations. Reflecting on my role, I’m reminded of how far I’ve come—from running from innovation to leading Strategy and innovation at a multimillion-dollar turnover group to now leading innovation at a global scale.

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So how did I get here?

1. Seek Knowledge I enrolled in a training program focused on innovation. Learning the frameworks and strategies demystified the concept and gave me practical tools to apply.
2. Execute Daily I set a daily challenge for myself: do one innovative thing each day. Whether it was revamping a process or brainstorming new ideas, I stayed consistent. I even keep a running “business ideas dump” that I share with entrepreneurs I coach.
3. Networking and Mentoring I surrounded myself with people I considered innovative. Their perspectives and the mental models they applied to decision making transformed how I approached challenges and served as a catalyst for my growth.
4. Continuous Learning I read voraciously. I believe there’s a direct correlation between expanding your knowledge and growing your innovation quotient.
5. Reverse Mentoring: This is for the baby boomers and Generation X's, embrace tech and look for SMART Gen Z’s, Gen Alpha’s and any other upcoming generation in your corner… You see we live in a digital era, and those “children” are smarter in many ways and they can upgrade our Pentium 1 operating system way of thinking to the MacOS Sequoia operating system way of thinking.

?What’s the version of you that you need to step into to achieve your purpose? No matter how far off it feels, you can get there. All it takes is the first step.

Start today.

Cheers to your Success

p.s. you can also join the fearless movement.... my new expression to help you become the best version of yourself. https://fearlessmovement.ju.mp/

#SKPStories #FearlessMovement #InnovateOrDie

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