WHEN THE AXE IS SHARPENED....THE MAGIC HAPPENS!

"If the axe is dull, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but wisdom brings success." (ECCLESIASTES 10:10)

Abraham Lincoln once shared a narrative about two woodcutters competing on who could cut down more trees in a day. On the deal day, the first man started out furiously and was hacking away the trees without taking any breaks. The second man however, axed few trees for a while, then take time out to sharpen his axe, and refresh himself for the next phase.

It was recorded that all through the day, the first woodcutter would not stop whereas the second man will observe his task and make plans to hone his skill. Interestingly enough, at the end of the day, the second woodcutter had achieved twice as much, and was half as tired as the first woodcutter. The second woodcutter had a goal with clarity and preparation long before setting out on the field.

Evidently the first man exerted more effort and appeared busier, but achieved far less, because after a while, he was merely hacking away with a blunt tool (axe). His eyes were set on the crown and not on the royalty processes that leads to the throne. He was overly focused on the end with no due consideration to the means to the end. He obviously had no winning strategy for the contest.

Obviously the first woodcutter misplaced his priorities, was not able to clarify his goal, and was faced with the consequences of hacking away at missed opportunities. The second woodcutter however, had innovatively planned the route of his enterprise journey by asking relevant questions, making connections, connecting the dots, mapping out routes, developing exit strategies, and establishing his enterprise orientation by learning to regularly taking a moment to pause and sharpen his axe.

The second woodcutter knows that succeeding in his enterprise journey is not a function of being fast and furious but on having the right strategy in place, and following through with passion and resilience. The second woodcutter is said to exhibit a leadership quality of “authority-of-positioning” for being well-positioned as a servant leader who knows the value of preparation and planning for effective execution. In fact, while the first woodcutter was busy applying strength and grinding himself down to boredom, the second woodcutter was busy applying wisdom and gaining strength.

The above narrative reminds me of the concept of Mechanical Advantage (MA) in Simple Machines as we were taught in elementary Physics. However, in this context, I will refer to it as Wisdom Advantage. In the Load to Effort ratio in Mechanical Advantage, the real advantage is experienced only when the ratio of load to effort is greater than 1 (i.e. when L / E >1). This implies using a lesser amount of effort to overcome an imposed but heavier load. The greater the ratio, the greater the Mechanical Advantage. Even in an ideal situation where the amount of the effort applied breaks-even with the load (i.e. when the ratio Load / Effort equals 1), efficiency increases with reducing effort for the same load.

In the context of “Wisdom Advantage” and as related to the above narrative, the real advantage is found in “sharpening the axe” (Ecclesiastes 10:10). As narrated above, whenever the second woodcutter takes a moment to pause and sharpen the axe, he also gets refreshed, hone his skills, and regain more strength. He eventually expend lesser effort while achieving greater results as evident in the number of trees he was able to cut down during the contest. In essence, the second woodcutter applied incremental, evolutionary and boosted efforts that adds up to generate the quantum magnitude of revolutionary output/results that was able to challenge the marketplace and disrupt the norm. The second woodcutter approached the task with a well thought-out plan in mind. He was smartly applying little and consistent efforts in a systematic, methodical, and structured manner, and as such, he was able to reap a systemic and wholesome outcome/result that speaks for itself.

In one of my previous write-ups, I pointed out how leadership (for so long) has been misunderstood as a “position-of-authority” when in actual fact it should be about “authority-of-positioning.” I also reiterated the fact that, with the mentality of the “position-of-authority”, leadership is often seen as a command process that offers directives and enforces compliance. However, in the “authority-of-positioning” perspective, leadership is seen as an interactive process that offers influence and ensures commitments. 

In today’s corporate and public governance structure, we also need transformational change leaders with similar wisdom like that of the second woodcutter to use the combination of evolutionary (incremental), stepwise, systematic, creative, innovative, and value-driven efforts, to achieve revolutionary (quantum), systemic, disruptive, unprecedented, and transformational changes that are sustainable in teams, groups, organizations, communities, associations, etc.

To achieve this goal, we need transformational change leaders with the right mentality of servant leadership that can only be found in leaders with “authority-of-positioning” mindset. Transformational change leaders are visionary leaders, capable of initiating a reset process that can help restore sanity, teamwork, collaboration, confidence, and excellence in an organization through creative disruption, innovation, and change. They are not necessarily doing great things, but they have mastered the art of doing small things greatly!

Without effective transformational change leadership, organizational processes can never produce coherent results. In effect, all the input resources, processes, and output will always be at variance with each other, leading to chaos and cyclic/repeated failures with consequent loss of scarce resources and unproductive manhours.

Because no one pays for effort (i.e. the value-adding processes and challenges of a value offering), but people only pay for results (i.e. the real, tangible or intangible values that are relatable and objective), it therefore implies that chaos and repeated failures in leadership can only be patronized by complacency and sycophancy. This is evident in many praise singers, die-hard followers, and blind supporters, who are deeply lost in self-seeking gains and servile flattery of their obviously failing semi-gods and goddesses with the position-of-authority mindsets.

Today, most leadership candidates across most public and private sectors only aspire to be in the result, but not in the process(es); they want the end without the means; they want the structural edifice without the strong foundation; they want the refined gold without walking through the fire of refinement; they want winning the election without manifesto nor campaign. Most leadership candidates today have been misled by the corrupt and gullible political leaders, godfathers, businessmen, and elites with no tangible investments anywhere else other than in their dirty games of politics, and the underlying juicy political appointments and gains through which they arrogate the people's commonwealth unto themselves.

It has been said that, “Process without results is worthless. Results without process are unsustainable.” To achieve sustainable results across all spheres of our national development, and to truly re-position our dear country as the largest economy and a giant of Africa, we must take moments to reflect on what we have been doing, and review the results we have been having. This is similar to checking and aligning the power shaft that connects our input resources and intellectual efforts (our prime-movers) with our various organizational challenges, culture, and values systems (load), in order to transmit the Wisdom Advantage across all tiers of governance.

To cure all our political, civic, social, governmental, and industrial insanities and cyclic failures, transformational change leadership remains the best panacea. Using systematic efforts and tactics, to attain systemic and strategic results, requires the Wisdom Advantage that is only resident with leaders with “Authority-of-Positioning” mindset - the servant leaders.

 “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different result” - Albert Einstein

 Ayodeji Onabanjo