Ikanna Okim

For a month I didn’t even expect to be so dramatic, I got so many “Congratulations!”, “We are pleased to inform you that # # #” this month.

I’ll share details in the coming weeks as they unfold, and if I feel like sharing 😂.

In the midst of feeling very grateful for these wins, God dropped a song in my heart which I have attached to this post, and the key line says -

“..it is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me!”

That’s all I need; and it’s all I ever needed.

I’ve often been commended for speaking to small audiences with as much passion as one would have speaking to 10,000 people. I smile, receive the commendation and move because I know where that comes from. It’s not artificial. It stems from a deeper commitment to never be concerned about numbers; from the awareness that one is as good as a hundred; to recognize that one person is incredibly special, important and worth the investment.

I saw a post somewhere where someone said that getting 30 likes on a post, after all the stress with creating content, was discouraging. 30 people? THIRTY PEOPLE?? If 30 people gathered around you in a small room to listen to what you have to say, would that not be significant enough?

I get it. I get that numbers can be monetized and can improve your status and yada yada yada, but that right there is the problem. We undermine the impact of impacting ‘just’ 30 people. Those 30 people have networks. They have families. They speak to people. They interact with people in the market, offices, churches, mosques and cultural groups. You can potentially impact the whole world starting with 30 people.

The Christian church started with 1 God-man who had 12 disciples and guess what? At some point, we see numbers like 120, and then 3000. That is expected from a faith whose progenitor would leave the 99 to go after the 1 lost sheep. The power of deep understanding of the importance of “one”.

Where am I going with this? Just do your thing. Appreciate the opportunity to touch one life and recognise that everyone is special.

Fun fact: the numbers come when you’re not looking.

A few days ago, I read ‘s notes which said “Silence could mean you’re becoming more than words can say” and I’ve been in deep thoughts processing that line since then.

Silence is not failure. One of the things our generation (which I think is addicted to the buzz and fuzz of loud growth, obvious success and shareable wins) needs to learn is the ability to sit comfortably with silence, and to fall in love with process. You will have wins which are not cool enough to share on LinkedIn. You will have massive successes which Instagram folks may not find interesting but that would not take away the fact that they are wins.

You see, success is relative no matter the case we try to make against that theory. It is what it means to you. If there is anything to measure your success against, it is what you were and what you could have been if you gave it your all. If there’s nothing else you could have given under your circumstances, you have won.

Again, a major hack for fulfillment in life especially for ambitious people is to be able to sit in silence and actually enjoy it. This is not a “wait for my comeback” thing. It is not a ‘48 Laws of Power’ type of thing. It is the way to have the company of just silence and engage with it in peace; to be fine with celebrating the wins which make sense to only you. It means to be fine even if the silence is the end in itself and not a pathway to a comeback.

And no, this is not mediocrity. Silence has formed a major part of the stories of great people. I read biographies a lot and I would often think about what it was like for The Barack Obama to be an intern, how Prof. Osinbajo had a classroom job without the public buzz at a point in his life, how many reputable CEOs today made a big break at 40+ and how all they did before then was to build silently whilst learning to fail gracefully.

In an age of microwave successes, it is time for young people to embrace silence, to love process, to reckon that we don’t have same journeys as everyone, to be fine with having nothing “thrilling to announce”.

Silence is just as great.

From the Fjörd Balkans of Podgorica 🇲🇪

I had dinner with some of the most incredible legal professionals in the world, with whom I have shared a class on the BCL/Mjur program at the University of Oxford .

When a child says they would develop wings and fly someday, they often times do not belabour their mind with thinking about whether it is possible to defeat gravity and how much force or acceleration is needed to do so.
They are not bothered by rationalizing dreams. For them it’s really just that “Superman flies, so can I”.

I find that one of the hardest things to do as a leader is crafting a vision. Bold envisioning requires child-like audacity.
However, our sense of reality and practicality diminish our ability to dream beyond the trappings of safety. Safe-dreaming does not result in any disruptive innovations.
Bold visions are haunted by ‘real life’, past experiences and the fear of failure such that we do not let our minds dream beyond the safe zones we have created in them.

Rationalizing ideas is a prudent thing to do, but sometimes we become too rational to be the change the world needs. We cannot repeat the same process and expect a different result. Disruption is new and discomforting.

I have learnt that those who do great things are those who have not allowed themselves to be deterred by happenstances - past, present or expected in the future.

In this second half of the year, let us dare to dream beyond boundaries and craft visions never before seen.
This is the better half of the year, if we first see it as that.

For a race as flawed as the human race, I think we are too quick to plaster labels on people.

Some weeks ago, a video made the rounds on social media of a lady using the word “narcissistic” on someone who did something to her and when asked the meaning, she said she didn’t know. Yes, we have the same question in mind- “so why did you use the word?”.

Manipulator, gaslighter, pr******te, thief, evil, vicious, whatever the word used may be, we seem to forget very quickly that the race we all belong to is flawed and that people, more often than they expect, slip.

This is by no means dismissing the fact that there are indeed people befitting of these labels. The point of this is not to discourage us from calling out people for what they actually are. But our pace? We must check that. We must check labeling without hesitation, profiling without patterns, tagging without verification.

Even in the Christian faith, one of the things to acknowledge before coming into the fold is the utter helplessness of man; the proclivity to be what we never want to be. The tendency to slip and fall hard.

That, my dear friends, is what kept me up two nights ago and I am yet to even figure out why. Thought to share it here and read your thoughts too.

June ‘25.

What a time of my life!

Tomorrow, I’ll be talking to the most versatile generation on how to be confused ‘properly’.

I’ll unpack that at the program. Join me! 🙂

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On Sunday, I’ll be doing what I know to do best - igniting fire in young people and painting the big picture of excellence in their minds.

Follow updates on .od ‘s Career Tab.

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