A few weeks back I got a request from a young man who requested to have a meeting with me. I decided to grant him audience something I usually don’t have the luxury to do because to my busy schedule.
Accepting to see this young man was a huge sacrifice to me. Well he did not disappoint me because he was prepared. How do I know? He took out time to write with his iPad as we interacted. I love the fact that this guy is in his twenties and so full of passion and energy, he reminds me of my younger days 🙂
Allow me to introduce Ezekiel Solesi, CEO of LIMBsimple, a prolific author, insightful speaker and a serial entrepreneur. I truly admire his swag and approach because it is very similar to mine, so it was no surprise after exchanging pleasantries, he went straight to tell me a bit about himself, his accomplishments so far and his mission, summarized as;
- To learn
- To leverage
- To collaborate
I was blown away with his simple and straight forward requests because others would go; I need your help to get a job, please borrow me money or how can I get a free website or how can you help me go my business online? Don’t get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with these requests but the context might make everything about them wrong.
Remember, you may never get a 2nd chance to make a 1st impression. (I added “may” because never is not an empowering word).
Since I already sacrificed my time to see him, I decided to pour out my heart into the life of this young man and make it one of the best encounters of his life. Did I achieve that? You wait and see for yourself……..
Here is one promise I usually make to myself and students, you can’t have an encounter with me and not be positively influenced. Except of course there is more to it than the eyes meet. I have lived up to this promise each time I stand before an audience at FATE Foundation or anywhere else.
My Joy…..
Ezekiel Solesi left that brief mentoring session excited and grateful. Thank God for the Internet and social media, he poured out his heart on twitter (by the way you can follow him @Ezekiel Solesi).
Here are some of Ezekiel Solesi’s tweets + lessons after the encounter:
@cfanigeria thanks a lot sir. It was one of the best 2hours of my 2012
— Ezekiel Solesi (@LIMBsimple) December 23, 2012
Partnership is king, no matter how much people say against it. @CFAgbata #MeetingCFA
— Ezekiel Solesi (@LIMBsimple) December 23, 2012
Earlier on, I wrote an interesting post about business partnerships – it is a must read!
One of the biggest challenge of today is the lack of management of technology as it regards managing our time. @CFAgbata #MeetingCFA
— Ezekiel Solesi (@LIMBsimple) December 23, 2012
I give God the glory that few days to Christmas, he gave me the privilege to sow a seed of greatness (however small) in the life of Ezekiel Solesi.
How are you spending Christmas? Are you spending it alone having all the fun or making out time also for someone in need?
I sincerely appreciate your love and support. Feel free to use the comment box. Thank you!
