What I learned about Obscurity

It's great to be back after a much-needed pause. Retreats (in my case, a part-retreat) are essential and definitely not a luxury for leaders. It's like going under so you can build up for a forceful upthrust. Boom! LOL. This last sentence brought a a really good image to mind. I've been working on plans for the next 18 months for Good Tenants .

Anyway, I wanted to share a something I learned with you that you can relate to, particularly if you are frequently setting goals or even more specifically, innovating and bring ideas to life. I just didn't have a term for it until now. It's called "Seed dormancy". Apparently, there is a term for everything!

I took this straight off Wikipedia:

"An important function of seed dormancy is delayed germination, which allows dispersal and prevents simultaneous germination of all seeds. The staggering of germination safeguards some seeds and seedlings from suffering damage or death from short periods of bad weather or from transient herbivores; it also allows some seeds to germinate when competition from other plants for light and water might be less intense."

If you've built anything, there's sometimes the internal debate on what to let out and at what time to let it out of the bag. This is of course not referring to the fear of going all out to the market. This is more about understanding and dealing with timing

So, a few thoughts on innovating in obscurity

1. There's a time to build depth - study, research, talk to a few potential users, build value, etc.
2. Some ideas require longer obscurity or dormancy. If you're solving for cancer (or less "glamourous" disease), you can't have the same sprouting date as the person setting up a retail store. It takes 10x longer to have the first Tesla than to launch an ecommerce start-up.
3. The problem with this time is the pressure to explain to people around you that you're not wasting your time.
4. As long as that pressure doesn't lead you to prematurely open up the soil so they can see that your seed is going through the process required, you're fine. You have nothing to prove to anyone and honestly, very few people really care.
5. Train yourself to accept, but not rely on external validation. That requires knowing who you are and also constantly reviewing your progress and being honest about your journey.
6. Jesus did 30 years of training, then 3 years of execution.
7. The best friendships, relationships and work partnerships are formed here. If you can, try to keep them post-germination. This article is partly inspired by Tunde Onakoya of Chess in Slums Africa Africa (from Ikorodu to the Guinness book of World records) and it's fitting that his recent post on Instagram points to remembering where you're coming from as your fame grows.
8. If you successfully navigate this journey, you owe the universe the task of mentoring others through it.

I'd truly love to hear your thoughts in the comments. If you're building in silence, keep grinding!

What I am up to

1. Reading - The book of Daniel. I've recently taken a deep interest in immigrants especially as we are all essentially immigrants and in some cases, ambassadors (IYKYK).
2. Writing - If you're in real estate, I'm now writing a weekly newsletter (with guest appearances) every Tuesday focused on content at the intersection of technology & property management. You'd love to subscribe here - https://www.dhirubhai.net/newsletters/dear-re-leader-7205990150122778626/
3. Speaking - The good guys at Ventures Africa have invited me to join their next LinkedIn Live titled "What is the future of Real Estate in Africa?" I'll share a link on my next post.