Leverage Your Platform.

Bob Collymore passed on about two weeks ago. Kenyans (and non-Kenyans too) are still mourning him. I have just finished reading the special pull out in the Business Daily published on July 2^nd and I found myself highlighting things Bob said or others said of him.

I was not fortunate enough to meet Bob in person. My interaction with him was similar to that of 31.8 million Safaricom customers. The only chance I had to meet him in person was while setting up tents for his wedding at his Kitusuru home three years ago. That was swiftly thwarted by security that denied us the use of our phones and cameras to take selfies just in case he came to check on the setup.

Having said that, Bob’s death has touched me in a way I never thought possible. We all agree he was a sharp looking brother and had swag in how he did life. From his dressing to his talking and how he interacted with people.  I noted that whenever I saw him in the media. His passing on has revealed that he was even sharper and had more swag on the inside. Clearly his outward appearance was just a reflection of his inner man.

The thoughts that came to mind when I learnt of his death was this man lived for sixty-one years but has left an impact that will last six hundred and ten years. He led from a point of abundance, not scarcity. It’s clearly not how long we live but how much we do with the length of our lives.

He was comfortable enough in his own skin to admit that he knows three Kenyans who can do his job better than him. At the same time acknowledging that he had done a decent job as CEO of Safaricom. The most powerful lesson for me is Bob focused more on improving the lives of the millions of Kenyans who interacted with Safaricom. He sought to meet their deepest needs as much as his job could allow him. As a result, money poured in. Lots of it. I’m convinced this is the single most reason his death has affected us this much. He used his position to touch people’s lives. Now that is the kind of leader I want to be.

Bob took his job and turned it into an NGO of sorts to help mankind on one hand and an entertainment gig on the other helping develop creatives and sports in the country. And somewhere in between those two make money for the company. I wonder if he would have got the job if his employer knew that that was his game plan.

That said, a question that lingers in my mind is, “Would he have had that much of an impact without the platform that he had, CEO of the most profitable company in East Africa?” Probably not. Bob admitted during an interview with Biko that sitting at the head of the table of a big corporate has helped him tackle the bigger issues like climate change, corruption and human rights.

I pray and hope that those in our midst standing on such huge platforms will use them to impact many lives positively and resist the self-rewarding greed that has crippled our Nation. I also hope that those of us desiring to stand on such platforms will learn from Kihara’s (as Jeff Koinange referred to him) tenure how to use those positions to do good that will outlive us ten times over.

Folks maybe it’s also good to find out what platforms we are standing on right now. We all have a measure of influence where life has placed us and the only difference could be the size of the platform we currently occupy. Let us seek to maximize on the good we can do where we are now and maybe that is what will open the way to a larger platform. We do this by seeking small victories on a daily basis whether the attention is on us or not. Gordon B. Hinckley puts it well when he says, ‘’ It is not so much the major events as the small day to day decisions that map the course of our living’’.

The passing on of Bob has encouraged me to continue seeking a life of service to humanity as that’s the only meaningful reason for being alive. I do not see the second half of my life being spent doing anything else because if our absence does not make a difference then our presence was not necessary. That’s one of my favorite quotes.

But just like Bob let us remember to have fun along the way otherwise we become dull in our work. Having fun as we seek the platforms that we desire may be the catalyst to get us there. In my recently ended role heading Kenya Golf Union, I chose to have fun and I think that has minimized whatever hang-ups I may have feared that come with leaving office. In a funny kind of way enjoying the moments and being present reminded me constantly that this position is but for a time. That in turn made me work on maximizing my term and towards the end I was looking forward to leaving. Just like Bob, I think I did a decent job hapo.

If we fail to live and maximize our platforms, then all we shall be left with is regret. Bob told us in his interview that the only other filthier word than cancer is regret. And like cancer, regrets have a way of eating us from the inside. I don’t think we need to emphasize that point further. It’s been put quite strongly.

Folks my prayer for all of us today is that we shall make it our mission to perform fully on every platform we step on and that when it’s time to move onto the next one we shall be ready and alive. I believe we can. Twaweza.