Ambode: A dialogue with future

 

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”- John Quincy Adams

Although, they are thousands of kilometres apart and their paths may never have crossed, there is a parallel in the life story of President Barack Obama and that of Akinwunmi Ambode, the All Progressives Con­gress (APC) gubernatorial candi­date in Lagos State. Both Obama and Ambode offer useful lessons in leadership and service. But to buttress this submission, let’s do a quick recap of their stories.
Barack Obama, the American president is the most potent political brand in the world today. Sired by Barack Hussein Obama, an economist from Kenya and a white woman, Ann Dunham from Kansas, US on August 4,1961, Obama had a troubled childhood. He was still very young when his parent’s marriage was shortlived. The duo went their separate ways.
But despite his troubled childhood, Obama remained focused on his dreams, goals and aspirations. He earned a degree in Political Science from Columbia Uni­versity in New York. After graduating in 1983, Obama had stint with a number of New York Non- Governmental Organ­isations where he was acclaimed for his visionary leadership qualities.
Ever in search of knowledge, Obama soon returned to the ivory tower. In 1988, he enrolled as a law student at Harvard University. As a student, Obama was the Editor and President of The Harvard Law Review. This was a record as Obama was the first black person to be so appointed to the post. By this time, the political side of Obama as a future player in the leader­ship turf in America was already coming to the fore. He was brilliant, intelligent and charismatic.
As an attestation to his leadership qualities, Obama began his professional career rendering services to the wretched of the earth, the poor and the under­privileged. For taken this step, the late famous American poet and playwright, Maya Angelou who worked with the late Martin Luther King (jnr.) in those heady days of rights activism in the US gave this testimonial on Obama. Her words: “Í see parallels in lots of things. I think now of Rev King’s dream and the Kennedy’s dream. Malcolm X dream… I see parallels all over the world. I think of Gandhi and Mandela. I do think he (Obama) could be a great man like those other men. I do indeed. If l could say there’s an American mantra, it’s three simple words: Yes l can. Imagine this: Senator Obama went to Harvard and could have got any job, anywhere for $100,000 a year; instead he went back to Chicago to try to help people in the poorest areas.”
Just like Obama, Ambode’s life and career offers useful lessons in leadership and service. Besides, both of them are graduates of Ivy leagues universities in the US, which means that they are bril­liant and intelligent. Intelligence and bril­liance are both attributes of leadership. Like Obama, Ambode showed leadership traits early in life. He graduated from the University of Lagos at the age of 21 and became a Permanent Secretary in Lagos State at the age of 37. Ambode also spent over a decade of his career in the public service relating with the poor at various Local Council Areas in Lagos. At differ­ent times, Ambode was treasurer, auditor and accountant in most of these council areas. His experiences with the people in these rural areas came handy when he emerged on the political arena.
However, before further dissecting the leadership attributes that set Ambode apart from the competition in the race to the Round House, it is also apposite to peep into his biography. Born on June 14, 1963 in Epe, Lagos to a teacher, Festus Akinwale Ambode (late), Ambode stud­ied Accounting at the University of La­gos, graduating at the age of 21 in 1984. He completed his mandatory National Youth Service Corps year serving with the Central Bank of Nigeria, Sokoto, So­koto State. After his NYSC year, Ambode commenced his career at the Lagos State Waste Disposal Board (now LAWMA) as Accountant Grade II. He enrolled for Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) exams and at the same time was awarded a Federal Govern­ment Scholarship to pursue a Masters Degree in Accounting at the University of Lagos. By the time he was 24, Ambode had qualified as a Chartered Accountant and had completed his Masters Degree programme in Accounting, specializing in Financial Management.
His career was fast-tracked and in 1988, Akinwunmi Ambode was appointed the Assistant Treasurer, Badagry Lo­cal Government. He criss-crossed many Local Government Councils in differ­ent roles in a 10-year period and got a first-hand experience of the direct impact of governance on the citizenry. In 1998, Ambode was awarded the US Fulbright Scholarship for the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship program, in Boston Univer­sity, Massachusetts, USA. His Fellow­ship Year was spent studying Public Leadership with emphasis on Finance and Accounting. During this programme Ambode had professional internships at The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, the Cabinet Office of Administration and Finance (Governor’s Office), City of Boston Treasury Office as well as with the World Bank and IMF.
On his return from the programme, Ambode became acting Auditor-General for Local Government. This position was confirmed by the State House of Assem­bly in 2001. In January 2005, Ambode was redeployed to mainstream public service as the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance. By February 2006, Ambode was given the added responsibil­ity of accountant general for Lagos State. Under his watch, the State Treasury Of­fice (STO) revolutionized the way Lagos State finances were raised, budgeted, managed and planned. In his six years as the Lagos State accountant general, the state’s financial performance improved visibly with the budget performing at a remarkable average of 85% annually. Af­ter 27 years in the civil service, Ambode voluntarily retired in August 2012. He founded Brandsmiths Consulting Limited to provide Public Finance and Manage­ment Consulting services to government at all levels.
From his career trajectory, it is patently clear that Ambode is an ardent student of Positioning as enunciated by Al Ries and Jack Trout in the seminal work of the same title. Right from the outset, Ambode has strategically positioned himself by building a career in the civil service. His 27 years in the civil service was spent building his personal brand by garner­ing political experience and network that have now become useful to him in the governorship race. As a political savvy leader, Ambode while unveiling his cam­paign leveraged on all the positives at­tributes of a brand. As a brand, Ambode’s offerings are a bouquet of promises. Promises hinged on hope. Hope of a bet­ter tomorrow, hope of a greater society. As a brand Ambode taps into the emotion of the electorate. As a brand, Ambode has credibility. As a brand, Ambode has charm. As a brand, Ambode fulfils the expectation of his prospects. And as a brand builder, Ambode adopted all the tools in the marketing mix to position and reinforce his brand on the political turf.
Beyond this however, as a leading po­litical brand, Ambode in the current race to the Lagos governorship seat has ful­filled all righteousness in personal brand­ing as stipulated by the personal branding and self improvement guru, Tom Peters. In the words of Tom Peters, “Brand You, routinely ask the question: Who am I? Or what do I want to be? Brand You pursues the mastery of something. Brand You does work that matters 100 per cent of the time. Brand You does work worth paying for. Brand You focuses insanely on the project. Brand You pays close attention to personal packaging. Brand You grooves on selling and has a compelling sales proposition. Brand You networks like crazy. Brand You develops and then zeal­ously guards a reputation for trustworthi­ness and integrity. Brand You takes every opportunity to learn something new!” Brand Ambode does all these and more.