THE LEADER (8): Leading in an Era of Mental Giants

By Matthew Ujah-Peter

From the time men began to learn to keep records through the use of wet clay when symbols where used to represent information on wet clay in about 1,900 BC ancient Mesopotamia to about 1,200 BC ancient Egypt, when images were carved or drawn on walls and on papyrus for the purpose of record keeping, to this modern time, mind boggling details of inventions, discoveries and inspirations are already well captured in books and other modern systems. And today, we live in a world where information and knowledge rule all aspects of life. To be a voice in any terrain in life, one must have expertise. As a wise man once put it, ‘’it takes your head to be ahead.’’ A leader therefore, is the man who searches for information and knowledge as one who searches for precious merchandise.

It's  a fact that individuals and  nations that have the most information and knowledge in this world and who further take the pain to have them recorded had always dominated and ruled the ones with less information and knowledge, hence the saying, ‘’information is the commodity of kings’’. Again, it's said that ‘’ ...people perish due to lack of knowledge’’. In our present world academic knowledge alone, as important as it is, is no longer enough. This is evidenced by school drop-outs that had gone ahead to become giants in their chosen fields. Continuous self- development through incessant reading holds a major key in helping to challenge and agitate the human minds to develop and rise beyond its status quo.

We are living in the information age and the volume of information coming at us on a minute- by-minute bases is enormous. The Internet, the print media and other electronic media attest to the fact that it is indeed the days of increased knowledge. Information is flying at such high speeds as if the world is in a hurry to get somewhere, and indeed it is. These information ranges from scientific to spiritual; political to financial and from entertainment to business. Everyone can and should benefit from these torrents of information flow. They are flowing past and around us constantly and will only settle in minds that are prepared for them, even as many of them are captured in books.

It's not very surprising then that the most powerful people in our world today are ‘’book people’’ – they’. Not only are they ardent book readers, they also write books and set up platforms to encourage reading. Dr.Myles Munroe of blessed memory once said that books are people and not just papers. ''When you rob minds with great books you're robbing minds with great people", he said.

To think qualitatively you need good sources of thought stimulants. Books are good thought stimulants. The most brilliant men in history and in our days are men of great thoughts. A man's contribution to life is a sum total of his knowledge and thoughts. A marriage between deep good thought and good information will always give birth to quality ideas and innovations. What are the things that provoke your thoughts? Just as it is said in the good book, ''...iron sharpeneth iron''. When you gain access into great minds you will get seeds planted into your own thoughts through their writings. This is the secret that makes great minds. Isaac Newton once said that to see further he needed to stand on the shoulders of giants. Standing on the shoulders of giants translates to rubbing minds with them, and the best avenue for that is reading their books, especially if one has no privilege of learning under them live.

In the Scriptures we are told that ’’in the last days (i.e., our days) knowledge shall be increased...'' and this is evidenced by the obvious increased amount of information that is available to us today through the media and the internet. More books are being written in our days than in any other times in history. More discoveries are being made in our days than any other times in history. Inventions are easier today than ever before due to records of previous discoveries. Innovations are daily being made as more products are being improved upon.

We are living in the days of mental giants and how fortunate we are. This to me is the best time to live in the history of man. We are indeed fortunate to see and experience the things our world has to offer today. Minds are catching life changing and history making ideas more than ever before. What was only accessible to the privileged few in time past is now open to one and all. The secrets that used to be thought in special schools in ancient times are now in our days published in books and life is more than ever before an open school. Are you prepared to learn? If you are, then the teacher is nearby.

Life is an open book. But just because the book is open doesn’t mean that everyone will read it. It takes a hunger for knowledge to read. If that hunger is not stronger than other priorities in one's life, there’ll be excuses not to read. There's a place at the top for everyone but if it’s easy to get to the top I guess everyone will be there. It indeed takes discipline to read for personal growth as a leader in this present time of distractions from entertainment and other voices calling for one’s attention. Entertainments, in many cases, are the products of those who had taken the time and the pain to develop themselves. But if you are hungry enough for knowledge - hungry enough to climb on the shoulder of giants, the top is yours.

MAXIMUM RESPECT!