ON GIVING: THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL

ACCEPTANCE SPEECH BY SAMUEL T. OLA AKANDE P.HD. ON THE OCCASION OF HIS BEING AWARDED THE DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD BY WAYLAND BAPTIST UNIVERSITY, PLAINVIEW, TEXAS, U.S.A., ON NOVEMBER 18, 1995.

I CAME TO THE THEN WAYLAND BAPTIST COLLEGE (NOW WAYLAND BAPTIST UNIVERSITY) AS A STUDENT IN AUGUST 1959. I WAS 33 YEARS OLD WHEN I CAME. COINCIDENTALLY, OUR SON, BEN AKANDE, A WAYLAND GRADUATE, RETURNED TO WAYLAND AT THE AGE OF 33 YEARS AS ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION AND CHAIRMAN OF THE DIVISION OF BUSINESS AT THE UNIVERSITY. OUR OLDEST DAUGHTER, NIKE, ALSO STUDIED HERE. MY WIFE, COMFORT, STUDIED HERE BRIEFLY IN 1961, AND MY COUSIN, DAVID AKANDE ALSO GRADUATED FROM WAYLAND. I AM VERY HAPPY INDEED TO BE HERE TO ACCEPT THE 1995 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI AWARD FROM WAYLAND, THIRTY FOUR YEARS AFTER RECEIVING MY BACHELORS DEGREE IN ENGLISH HERE.

WAYLAND WAS ONE OF THE TWO UNIVERSITIES IN TEXAS IN THE 1950’S THAT WOULD ACCEPT BLACK MEN AND WOMEN AS THEIR STUDENTS. I RECALL WITH GRATITUDE THE HELPFUL ROLE PLAYED BY DR. HOPE A. OWEN, THE PRESIDENT THEN, AND DR. ROY C MCCLUNG, THEN PASTOR OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH PLAINVIEW. THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, PLAINVIEW ACCEPTED ME AS A MEMBER. I CAME TO WAYLAND AS A PIONEER, TO OPEN THE DOOR. BUT WAYLAND WAS ALSO A PIONEER BECAUSE OF THE COURAGE TO GO AGAINST THE NORM, TO DO WHAT WAS RIGHT. THE 1950’S AND EARLY 1960’S WAS THE ERA OF SITTING AT THE BACK OF THE BUS BETWEEN PLAINVIEW AND AMARILLO AND BETWEEN PLAINVIEW AND LUBBOCK. THOSE WERE THE DAYS WHEN AT THE BUS TERMINAL, THERE WERE DIFFERENT SEATS SET ASIDE FOR BLACKS AND DIFFERENT ONES FOR EVERYONE ELSE. THOSE WERE TIMES WHEN WE WENT ON EXCURSIONS AS STUDENTS OF THE COLLEGE, AND STOPPED TO EAT BREAKFAST, BLACK STUDENTS WERE ASKED TO EAT THEIR BREAKFAST IN THE KITCHEN, NOT IN THE OPEN HALL. THAT WAS A TIME WHEN AS A MEMBER OF THE ALPHA CHI, I WAS DENIED THE PRIVILEGE TO TRAVEL TO NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA TO PRESENT A PAPER AT ANOTHER UNIVERSITY JUST BECAUSE I WAS BLACK. ALL THAT IS HISTORY, BUT WE THANK GOD FOR THE EXPERIENCES.

IN THE MIDST OF THESE EXPERIENCES, HOWEVER, THERE WERE THREE FAMILIES WHO EXTENDED THEIR LOVE AND NON-DISCRIMINATORY ATTITUDE TO ME. THEY ARE LOUIS AND NORMAN WRIGHT OF PLAINVIEW WHO ARE IN THIS AUDIENCE, RUBY AND CLEO VAUGHAN OF AMARILLO, TEXAS, AND REV. AND MRS. L. B. GEORGE, AFRICAN AMERICANS ALSO OF AMARILLO, TEXAS.

MY YEARS AT WAYLAND GAVE ME A VERY STRONG FOUNDATION ON WHICH I BUILT MY ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS OF LATER YEARS. I AM PROUD TO SAY THAT WAYLAND ALSO PREPARED ME ADEQUATELY FOR THE DENOMINATIONAL LEADERSHIP POSITIONS THAT I LATER HELD IN THE NIGERIAN BAPTIST CONVENTION, IN THE ALL AFRICA BAPTIST FELLOWSHIP, IN THE BAPTIST WORLD ALLIANCE, AND IN THE WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES. THE EDUCATION FOUNDATION I RECEIVED AT WAYLAND PROVIDED ME WITH THE DEEP SENSE OF URGENCY AND A COMPELLING URGE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE. I BELIEVE IT PLAYED SOME ROLE IN MY DECISION TO RUN FOR THE PRESIDENCY OF NIGERIA.

THE RACIAL EXPERIENCES THAT I HAD IN THE LATE 50’S AND EARLY 60’S TAUGHT ME A GREAT LESSON IN TOLERANCE AND THE NEED TO LEARN TO FORGIVE AND NEVER TO RETALIATE, EVEN WHEN PEOPLE HURT YOU. BUT BECAUSE WAYLAND SHOWED LOVE IN THE MIDST OF HATE, I TOO LEFT WITH NOTHING BUT LOVE IN MY HEART. I LEFT WAYLAND, A BETTER PERSON, A STRONGER MAN. THE RIGORS OF STUDIES AND HIGH ACADEMIC DEMANDS HERE AT WAYLAND COMPELLED ME TO APPLY MYSELF SERIOUSLY TO MY STUDIES, KNOWING THAT THERE IS NO EASY WAY TO SUCCESS. THE CHAPEL WORSHIP SERVICES ENHANCED MY COMMUNION WITH GOD IN THE NAME OF JESUS.

THE FRIENDLY RELATIONSHIP WITH THE TEACHERS HERE AND THE NON-RACIAL ATTITUDE OF THE STUDENTS MANY OF WHOM INVITED ME TO THEIR HOME-TOWNS ON WEEKENDS, CONVINCED ME THAT WAYLAND IS INDEED A CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY. BUT I LEFT THIS UNIVERSITY WITH UNANSWERED QUESTIONS. WHAT KIND OF SPIRIT MOTIVATES PEOPLE TO GIVE LIKE WAYLAND GAVE? WHAT KIND OF SPIRIT COMPELS VIRTUAL STRANGERS TO GIVE THEIR HARD EARNED MONEY TO ENDOW PROFESSIONAL CHAIRS OR TO ERECT BUILDINGS TO SERVE THE NEED OF THE STUDENTS AND THE UNIVERSITY? THE ANSWER CAME MANY YEARS LATER. GIVING IS TRULY THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL. THANK YOU WAYLAND FOR THE PART YOU HAVE PLAYED IN MY LIFE. THANK YOU FOR THE PART YOU HAVE PLAYED IN MY FAMILY’S LIFE. THANK YOU FOR THIS AWARD. GOD BLESS WAYLAND BAPTIST UNIVERSITY AND ALL OF YOU.

 

BP, What Went Wrong?

6-August-2010Published in: CBS News Authors: Benjamin Ola. Akande and Chuck Feltz

We don't know all the details, but when we listened to Tony Hayward as he was grilled in Congress about BP's safety record, he kept saying he was changing things and that since he took over, there was a new focus on safety - more emphasis, more money spent on it, a new director of safety reporting directly to him. All great business schools teach these kinds of responses, but they are not the best in terms of human behavior-changing techniques.

We believe there were five reasons why BP failed in the Gulf of Mexico.

Tony's strategic message was diluted.

He believed safety was paramount, but that message never got to the guys operating the drill bits. Instead, they obviously thought that such things as time-to-production and costs were more important or they would have stopped drilling. Was their bonus plan in sync with the CEO's vision? Hayward's message never got conveyed in the manner it was conceived, yet he certainly felt he had covered it. It appears Hayward was not aware of where his message lost continuity.

Vendors such as Transocean were not true partners that shared the strategic vision.

Rather, it seems like they were adversaries at worst - and, at best - had goals that were poorly aligned with BP's. Did Hayward anticipate the right way to go about making certain his message addressed and was actionable for all key stakeholders? A strong message poorly executed and acted upon is of no value.

BP failed to realize that safety is a competitive advantage and not a cost.

It would seem that safety would be a keystone value or cultural attribute that, at the least, would represent a table stake, if not a direct competitive advantage. How could something so critical to the culture misfire so poorly? Did they really intentionally design their culture and plan to leverage it as an advantage?

First, safety reduces reputation risk; BP’s reputation is likely tarnished permanently with consumers, vendors and employees. Second, better safety reduces real costs in terms of property insurance, health care expense, payroll, regulatory compliance, fines and productivity. Employees who feel safe are better employees.

Obviously, the lack of safety here cost BP $20 billion and threw their years-long growth strategy out the window. BP is an entirely different company now; and worse, they are not calling their own shots.

Hayward thought safety was just about keeping people safe, but deep down, we bet he'd sacrifice a little safety or take some risk for profits. We’re not saying he would lightly see 11 people die, but if safety is viewed as an expense, then a good manager tries to artfully avoid it. If it is part and parcel of your strategic vision, you embrace it and exploit it.

Improperly valuing risk.

We've become so good as managers at mitigating risk that we have begun to put little value on it – much the same way that Wall Street misvalued risk and almost drove the world into depression. When managers are unaccustomed to seeing bad things happen often, they assume that they never will. Planes don't crash very often, but that doesn’t allow airlines to stop giving the safety speech before each flight. The odds of a car crash are small, but most of us still wear our seat belts. Technology has lulled us into a sense of false security about risk. We are so smart that our machines and our models protect us from having to worry about risk – until they fail to do so. They fail us, too, because they are designed by humans. So, you sink 10,000 wells and the worst-case scenario never happens; why should you think it might happen now? Unless your corporate culture is "better safe than sorry," you'll cut a corner if risk is deemed to be low. How many of us have driven to the store without wearing our seat belt? "It's just a few blocks," we say.

Diluting the strategic message.

No organization is more powerful than the one whose people are laser-focused on driving vision to reality. Unfortunately, leaders assume traditional communication channels are effective in disseminating this critical strategic information. However, our research has found that every organization has a "strategic dilution point" where there is degradation in the content and continuity of this message - typically three levels down from the CEO. The result? More than 80 percent of employees attempt to carry out strategy with reduced clarity and focus.

About the authors:

Benjamin Ola. Akande, Ph.D. (akandeb@webster.edu, twitter @Benjamin_Akande), Professor of Economics and Dean, George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology, Webster University, St. Louis, Mo.

Chuck Feltz (chuck@chuckfeltz.com, @ChuckFeltz) has been the CEO or president of five companies and is a founding partner of Engage Consulting Group. A 1989 graduate of Webster University, he is the co-author of the new book, Never by Chance: Aligning People and Strategy Through Intentional Leadership (Wiley and Sons, February 2010).