Daniel Olubunmi, a Physiotherapist and Youth Leadership Model shares his views on youths, leadership and the future. Join us as we Walk The Talk with him in this Interview.
NNI: Can we meet you? (Personal, Education, Career wise and everything else you want us to know)
Guest:
I'm Daniel Olubunmi, a graduate of Physiotherapy from the College
of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. I'm the first
child of 3 children and hail from Modakeke, Ife East Area Local
Government, Osun State. I finished my both primary and secondary
education at the Royal Nursery & Primary School and Royal
Comprehensive High School, Modakeke, Osun State, respectively. I'm a
believer, a Multi-Instrumentalist, a student leader on Campus, a
Corporate Compere and a Public Speaker with major focus on Youth
inclusion in politics and leadership, Social media and Entrepreneurship.
This is what I basically do, in conquering my locality.
NNI: What defines social development and impactful leadership for you?
Guest:
Social development is basically anything that moves the society
forward, anything that contributes to the society. My definition of
impactful leadership is leadership where one makes impacts, influence
lives positively, makes disciples and have people go on to do very
amazing things.
NNI: Is leadership a mix of different skills? What exactly makes up complete leadership?
Guest:
Yes, leadership is a mix of different skills. There are a lot of skills
that come together to make a good leader, and so along the way, we just
constantly learn different things, we keep on adding different things
to it. For example, empathy, you know, being able to empathize with
people, and listen, you have to be able to learn how to listen. Leaders
listen. Another example is reading - leaders read. You have to develop
yourself. Leaders put others first. Leaders are firm, you have to learn
how to be affirmative and not mean, at the same time. Leaders are good
decision makers. So there are so many skills that come together to make a
good leader. So it's just something we keep on layering on because it's
not one thing that makes a leader, a couple of things come together to
make good leader.
NNI: It is usually said that a leader must be a follower. How realistic is this?
Guest:
When we talk about, a leader being a follower, the first thing I think
in this context is, leadership is about the "followers", about the
people that follow you. As a leader, you must make these people your
priority, you must listen to their needs. In that way, you follow them.
You must make them the centre. That way, you're following the people
that you lead. But in another context, when you talk about leaders being
followers, it also means, as a leader, you have to have someone that's
leading you as well, someone you're mentored by or someone you're
constantly learning from. That way, you're a follower. Sometimes, you
learn how to be a good leader, by learning how to follow.
NNI: How have you managed leadership and influence?
Guest:
Leadership is essentially influence, and influence is not a function of
the position you occupy, but a function of the leadership and sound
counsel you proffer. Leadership is who you are before what you do.
So
leadership is really the ability to influence other people. In this
sense, it is to influence other people to do positive things. The most
important part of leadership is influence, because if you're not
influencing anybody, nobody is going to follow you. If you do not
influence anybody, you're not making any impact. These two, cannot be
separated.
NNI: By global trends, there
is a call for youths to take leadership. How best can a youth position
himself to be worthy of leadership?
Guest: A young
person can position himself to be a leader by deciding to be a valuable
person. The first thing is working on yourself. The first step is YOU. I
work on myself, I want to be a "young leader" and position myself as a
person of value, so I'm giving value to people in my community. It's
just as if I'm giving value to the people that are on my WhatsApp
contact list. So basically, developing yourself, and in too little ways
that you can contribute. People think leadership is always about being
in the front, maybe leadership is as simple as, Ohhh, some people are
having a conference, and I want to volunteer to be an Usher, that is
leadership. That is positioning yourself in the community to be worthy
of leadership.
NNI: What is the measure of good leadership? Do you think social impact can be measured?
Guest:
It can be measured. There are some things you can't exactly measure,
but impact will always be seen, like that's the thing, impact will
always show, it'll be obvious. You can't have impacts, and it's
invisible. So the metric for measuring it may differ, but impact is a
measurable stuff, it's something you can see, something tangible. Not
like, ohh this is the road I built, sometimes, it is the influence in
people lives.
NNI: What is your view on Global Youth Development and growth? Do you think we are making progress?
Guest:
Yes, we're making a lot of progress on Global youth development and
growth. A lot of young people are becoming more aware, and I think
awareness is the first step, and that is growth, especially in Nigeria,
across Africa and across the world. So I think that's good, even out of
the progress, young people are speaking out, young people are taking
actions, young people are leading.
NNI:
From your recent social media activities, it shows how well you have
fused your personal brand into your love for promising leadership. How
did you achieve this?
Guest: Well, there's a
need to educate the people coming behind us, it's key. A lot of young
people wants to be a leader, but they don't know how to achieve this,
they basically don't know where to start from, and some are afraid of
the unknown, while others are over-ambitious. So I've been able to
gather enough contents on student leadership from my experiences as a
student leader, and also pointers from friends in their different
fields, tailoring it to meet the needs and curiosities of the younger
ones. This is why I have embarked on a campaign for sustainable
leadership via my social media platforms, to educate this current
generation, and make Nigeria a better place to live.
NNI: What is your advice to fellow young individuals?
Guest:
To fellow young individuals, leadership is a process, one step at a
time, you have all the time to develop yourself and add value to
yourself, this way, you'll stay relevant. Most importantly, build your
character and strive to have a strong conviction. Money, position or
office could influence and establish relationships, but it's not enough
to sustain it. Only a ripe character can.
Ask for help,
if there need be, and extend help to the next person, with whatever you
have in your capacity, volunteer for an event, meet new people and make
friends, it'll help build a network of people, of like minds, around
you. Finally, be deliberate, be conscious and be intentional about
leadership.
NNI: What should we expect from you in the near future? Any intentions to go into full time politics? Any big plans?
Guest: Full-time politics? (Laughs) I cannot categorically say yet. This
is just the starting point. Definitely, there are plans, but then, man
plans, God decides! The difference will tell in matter of few years to
come. Basically, the major goal is to be fruitful and multiply, into
building the Nigeria of our dreams, and subsequently, making impacts
throughout the Continent of Africa.
Thank you very much for your time sir.