Baskadia

“And God said let us make man in our own image, after our likelihood: and let them have dominion…”

PC Encanta of English Dictionary states that the word, ‘dominion’ possesses the following characteristics:

a.   Ruling control: ruling power, authority, control

b.   Sphere of Influence: Somebody’s area of influence or control

c.   Land ruled: The land governed by a ruler.

Also Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English defines dominion thus “Literarily the power or right to rule people”.

Going by the above definition, dominion is a weightless virtue that confers authority, influence and right of leadership on the bearer in his area of calling.

The Lion is ascribed the King of the jungle. His domain is the jungle and what makes him a lion has nothing to do with the fact that he lives in the jungle or that he has a tetradictile limb structure. Instead what makes the lion a great king is in the lion. It is rather innate and enshrined in his DNA from the day he was born. This leadership strength and prowess in the jungle only grows with time.

Leadership is a direct synonym of dominion and since the lion dominates the jungle, he is the known ‘leader and king of the jungle’.

According to the Book of Universal Truth, Dominion appeared first in Genesis 126b as a decision of the governing council meeting in Heaven when God the Father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit to make man in their own image after their likeness. The minutes of that meeting as contained in the book reveals that the first instruction given to man (you and I) at the governing council meeting even before man was brought into existence  in verse twenty seven is a ‘dominion mandate’. It is a call to leadership!

It is noteworthy to point out that it took God five good days to prepare a domain or territory for the great arrival of man. Everything that man needed was created within the first five days of creation. These included the fishes of the sea, the fowls of the air, the cattle, every creeping thing, the beasts and most especially the earth.

They were structured for man’s leadership and dominion over them. Some animals might be stronger, the sea might have the ability to capsize man, the earth might be too vast, yet man was given the exceptional mandate to subjugate all of them through leadership.

From day one every man created has in him inmate leadership abilities. Yes!...even you. You are born a leader but it will take the knowledge of you being a leader and the discipline of developing the leadership abilities in you to lead. Though a leader, leadership is learned.

A mandate is an authoritative order. It is an official command or instruction from a higher authority. Dominion is therefore the first command or instruction from God to man. Consequently, the purpose for the creation of man is to exercise ruling power, authority, control and leadership over his sphere of influence.

Every man created has been called to dominate in a particular sphere of influence. Every call to dominion is a call to leadership. Every call to leadership is a call to a specific purpose and assignment. Your discovery of this purpose and assignment is the genesis of the revelation of your life. Outside this purpose, life is reduced to mediocrity, and mere existence. And when your commitment to a given purpose is questionable, your continuity as a leader is faulted by God, The Authority that gave you the mandate.

LEADERSHIP: THE PERSON OR POSITION

The greatest challenge of leadership is in the notion that leadership is an exclusive preserve for the political ruling class in our various societies. As a result, many have ignored the context of leadership and have kept on waiting until they find themselves in a political, academic, organizational, civic or military position before they recognize themselves as leaders.

Permit me to break the word “Leadership” into two. The two words that make up leadership are “leader” and “Ship”. “Leader” relates to the person, while “ship” relates to the position. The ship we know is a means of transportation on water. Put together, leadership is a mechanism by which an individual transports people or followers to the state of his mind.

Through discipline and self-leadership he transports himself to his purpose first and through his purpose moves the people from their present to their future. But he must have first of all gone to that future in his mind through visioning before he will come back to the present to physically move the people to that future.

It is the person that creates the position. In the Nigerian political leadership system, the leader at the helm of affairs comes from a Geopolitical Zone. Every geopolitical zone is made up of States, every state is made up of Local Government Areas, every local government areas is made up of Communities and every community is made up of Clans and the clan is composed of families.

Most importantly every family is a community of individuals given birth to by a male and a female. In other words, to build any great nation, focus must be given to building greatness in the individuals that make up the nation. So you change yourself to change your nation. To avoid a nation, the best is to avoid the individuals that make up a family and to build a nation then special interest must be given to the character, morals and leadership development of the families that make up such a nation.

Nothing is too small to be made great and the future we all crave for is rooted in and is routed through the negligible present. As vague as it might sound, a nation is just individuals revealed in time. Time is the greatest tool for preparation. When properly utilized, time will take any person to any position at all. And the extent of preparedness in the person is manifested in the position.

He is a great leader that shows great skills and abilities in his position. Capacity, competence and character are great virtue built by commitment to purpose in time. It creates opportunities and prepares a person for his due position.

The greatest risk of leadership manifests when an individual encounters a big opportunity without adequate preparation. It creates a position before the person is built for it. And when the position comes before the person is built, the positional leader he has become will cripple and overshadow the true leader such a person is. This phenomenon is what makes for “positional figure-heads” in most organizations and political offices. It creates mediocre and rulers with no relevance and significance. May we never meet our opportunities unprepared. It is a tragedy for the person and for his people also.

In order not to deviate from our subject of discuss, “Leadership”, let us take our attention back to the individuals that make up the family system in a community. For your society, you are that individual.

Every man that is created is armed with a leadership responsibility. The degree of preparedness for leadership by any man is revealed in the quality of his/her sphere of influence. Your organization might be your family, your workplace as an employee, your kitchen, your home, your academics or your nation, etc.

Leadership focuses more on you as a person than on your sphere of influence. It is the quality of the content of your mind that makes your position. Leadership is, therefore, an innate invisible virtue with a visible manifestation. Or leadership is inward virtues of an individual with outward values expressed in his sphere of influence. A built individual when given the chance will at worst case scenario build his spheres.

At any point in time the content of any product is of a greater importance than the container. The container may attract the eyes but it is the content that keeps the product in the minds. Change is constant and no degree of change is impossible.

For any nation, the government is nothing but the sum total of the quality of the mindsets of those persons that govern such state. Everyone may not be in government but any one has a sphere of influence. You may not be in a governmental position, but you can make a position because leadership in your purpose is mandatory.

Despite the global economic status per time, you sincerely have no excuse for mediocrity. That excuse in your mind right now is the only reason you must wake up today and take your place of leadership in your purpose.

This book is written with you in mind. It is a tool with motivating stories and empowerment capsules that will make you detaste the statusquo and crave for leadership in your area calling. Young or old, it doesn’t matter your age, your life starts counting only the day your purpose is discovered.

It is a journey and I reckon that as you read on, you will encounter the guts and brevity to move from where you are to where you’re created to be.

Enjoy the ride to your destiny.