THE CAPTAIN OF A SINKING SHIP

By Dode Sescri

WORDS TO ELATE

Twelfth Agenda

Copyright © 2022 DODE®

No part of this book should be redistributed without prior permission from the author, both in print, portable digital format and online.

Disclaimer

All readers are welcome to challenge the contents of this book, and should process them with their uttermost intellectual capabilities before they can assess them for reference purposes because they are largely a work of the author’s own Personal Opinions.

Some stories given as examples in this book do not represent Factual or historical events but have been used fictitiously to bring out the literal aspects of discussions and also demonstrate the author’s intended thoughts and ideas exemplarily. Do not take them too seriously.

This book is stacked up with numerous mini chapters the author refers to as guidance. Each Guidance stands for each idea or topic of discussion.

You will also find some non-English words, the author has used them only for the sake of enhancing description. They are not a result of typo.

Table of Contents

Guidance-1-Team spirit.

Guidance-2-Stubborn juniors.

Guidance-3-junior critics.

Guidance-4-The mediator.

Guidance-5-Treasure Grounds.

Guidance-6-Perfectionists and the live wires. (Game plan)

Guidance-7-basic strategy.

Guidance-8-bad potatoes.

Guidance-9-lethal leak.

Guidance-10-Poems of Captain Job Seals.

Guidance-11-A game of generals

Guidance-12-the coach.

Guidance-13-Undisputed captain.

Guidance-14-the instructor.

Guidance-15-Super Inspiring World Leaders

Final Clause

Footnotes.

Guidance-1-Team spirit.

No organisation can run properly without the presence of a head, I remember there is a time we were heading for a friendly match in the neighbouring town, along the way we realised that our captain was not with us in the bus, one of us asked, "where is the captain?" we looked around, he was nowhere to be seen, then all of a sudden everyone starts to panic. It wasn’t that he was the best player among us, there were many of us in the team who were better players than he was, it's just that his presence there gave the team morale though he was less skilled player, now we are headed for the long-awaited game like a headless chicken, weakened and discouraged.

We gained our morale back later on when we stumbled upon him at the stadium, he was delayed by a relative who was leaving some house keys with lots of instructions so this led him to miss the bus, so he had to take a fast car, faster than our bus to the reach the town ahead of us, he was there waiting before we could perform our team spirit shows before beginning the game.

Psyche and team spirit is everything, if they lose morale, they lose everything, it’s psyche which determines how much effort are they willing to put in to win the price, how much longer will they continue to hold on, how much pain and suffering can they take in without quitting, how far will they go, how brave and determined they are, …. Etc.?

Psyche is everything, if its lost, then everything else vaporises like mist will all the hopes and dreams of the match are lost with it.

No matter how strong and intimidating the opponent may appear to be, they have got to believe that they are the ones who are going to be victors and not losers, their potential is all in the mind, belief is everything, the opponents with their fans will try as much as possible to discourage them, to frighten & shame them into quitting for them to get the upper hand, it’s the captain’s duty to ensure the teams morale remains at its peaks.

When the captain is away, the players are in trouble, everyone is discouraged and when he finally arrives even the weakest play as if they have been struck by an electric shock. He does not really play or take part in the game itself, but the feeling that his presence sends across is electrifying. He does not come to solve a problem on his own but to encourage the team to fight harder, yes harder, then much harder. The captain must never show signs of fear even in times of dire need, for fear from the top quickly spreads down the players and cripples the entire team.

When Arthurs is asked by the king how they have become brilliant and excelled in nearly everything they do, they gave back a very simple answer. "How did you become so mighty, so famous and so loved by the people more than my best palace guards?" the king asked them, and the knights reply, "We are many but we work as one," answered Arthurs knights, "his victory is our victory, his success is our success his glory becomes our glory. Cheers to the captain."

Booming Voice.

I happened to meet the popular local radio presenter Harry Frome, when I met him face to face, it was a mixed feeling of shock and amusement, I wanted to burst out laughing, but I managed to control myself, leaned forward, stretched out my lengthy hands and said this to him. "Hello Mr Frome," "fine thank you, how about you?" he replied back, Mr Frome is only about three-four feet tall and had a baby face with a goatee beard hanging from his chin.

All my precious years of growing up listening to his presentations, Mr Frome had such a deep firm voice that would roar like a bear through the speaker, I used to think someday the speakers would burst open, it made me believe Mr Frome was some kind of a huge muscular athlete the size of a mighty wrestler because the way his deep voice rumbles would be like a giant athlete, who's just completed a bullet dash, when he's quickly surrounded by the media personnel in a filming frenzy and he is gasping for air as he tries to speak/ make comments through the microphone at the same time, so here he is, Mr Frome standing right beside me several decades later, I never thought he was a dw***. It's nice to meet you Mr Frome.” I shook his hand gently.

I once saw a sport captain was very good at encouraging his team mates, he was of a relatively very small man compared to the others who were much bigger than him in size, I really looked down upon him when I first saw him till I got to hear him shout commands to his teammates, this guy was I would say small as a squirrel but could roar loud as a bear, his unending shouts and songs of greatness gave his team mates the morale to fight harder till when they were able to beat an opposing team which looked more experienced and much stronger than them, his mere voice gave them the ultimate victory,

Even the smallest of runners can become the best of commandos.

As the head you must acknowledge everyone's work, even those that contributed the least effort must be appreciated in order to sustain their morale.

People love to be appreciated for whatever little contribution they have made, if they feel neglected without a sense of appreciation, they would rather leave and go somewhere else where they feel at home.

Guidance-2-Stubborn juniors.

A good horse seldom needs a spur. If they have really made up their minds not to do work, no amount of push, encouragement or motivation will inspire them to continue work.

As a director you’d often face these three types of employees...

The refugees

Are always on the move, whenever an assignment is about to be handed out, they flee as soon as they get to hear about it, then pretend to be very busy, they grab hold of anything they see close by and pretend to be working on it. They fear responsibility so much and avoid it like a plague, these are individuals of the lowest ranks in workers' unions. They flee when nobody is chasing them, then go and hide in the factory hay, when they are sure that all the day's work is over, then they join others, on their way home in the evening

The doubting thomases.

These fellows readily accept assignments but as soon as they get the first obstacle, they begin to question the possibility of finishing through, they have full skills ability to finish the tasks, only their minds tell them otherwise, when you give them an assignment then circumstances change along the way contrary to what was planned, they then find it nearly impossible to adjust.

These are the people that frequently quarrel the managers and directors believing it is their faults unaware of how their thinking is responsible for their incompetence.

Yes men and yes women.

These are the best of all employees; they undertake their duties with such speed an enthusiasm that makes work a breeze. They take orders without question, unless there is something they didn't get clearly, when they object a project, they present their case in a gentle professional tone. These are people can feel very comfortable being around, and have a privilege to know some of the company’s sensitive pieces of information

Guidance-3-junior critics.

To the Point.

Where I work the boss loves one of the employees called Johnny so much, every time it's about Johnny Johnny and more Johnny, we feel bad sometimes when he keeps mentioning Johnny too much, why does he love Johnny too much, he has been the apple of the old man's heart.

Johnny does whatever the boss asks him to, no matter how unpleasant it is so he is reliable unlike us, when our boss suggests a new idea for expansion of the business, we accept open heartedly but keep asking questions about the dangers of doing that, "what if we ran out of capital or don’t get customers or even business becoming too big and too tedious to run, these are actual facts which really determine the success of a business and therefore needs to be examined critically, but since the boss wants to move further and create other services our questions end up blocking his great idea from being implemented, so when he has a new Idea, to make sure it is put into practice, he keeps me and others out of it and puts Johnny in charge because he knows things will get done well under him, personally I have never thought of being the boss myself but be the favourite worker to the boss, which I have never achieved for you to be in a good relationship with the boss you have to comply with his needs and assignments he gives you because that is the purpose of keeping you at the workplace, Johnny stays next to his office where the business decisions are made, when my fellow workers I and have been set in an office far away from the central unit so that we do not get into his path.

Having Subordinates who contribute very little to the projects yet regularly criticise every single decision you make is like wearing shoes that pinch.

They are a wet blanket, a more of a liability.

Criticism can be the sharpest verbal weapon that slices apart relationships, have you ever (once) decided to do something but chose to keep it secret from some people until it is finished because you knew they would comment negatively about it and I turn discouraging you, maybe put you to a stop, I guess you avoided them as much as possible before your project is complete. After you were free to let them know because the job was already done, there's not a way they can interfere with it anymore, now that it's done already, all its waiting for is launch.

There is nothing discomforting like someone next to you who keeps mentioning what you do wrong, the mistakes you make and constantly reminds you of your weaknesses.

Guidance-4-The mediator.

Caught in the net.

Two opposite teams have just been involved in a bitter argument. A fierce disagreement has just risen. You find yourself to be a leader of one side you are responsible for restoring peace and understanding between the two organizations, the other one you don’t own, is alleged of holding back what rightfully belongs to your organization by your team. With that in mind they expect you to forcefully fight for it. Go to the institution.

Juniors always do the opposite of what they are told to, they will continue to do damage till when they get to see the full results of their actions.

Boy Scout.

I was walking back home one afternoon when I came across two boys who were fighting one another, as a scout, I knew deeply it was my duty to keep the camp peaceful so I tried to separate them but they went on with their wrangles, since they were older, bigger and stronger than I was, it was clear there was no way I could use force to separate them, an interesting idea quickly came into mind, I dug my hands deep into my pouch and removed the first aid kit I was carrying that evening and said this to them, "fight on boys, here I have the methylated spirit to pour into your wounds and bandage t tie your broken bones" I said this as I showed the items to them, I moved to the side of the road and began to cheer them, "let the strongest bull get the least bruises" I shout at them as I clapped.

When they noticed that I had given up trying to separate them and now cheering them instead, they all of a sudden stopped and each of them went their own way.

When someone is doing something crazy and potentially dangerous and you try to stop them, they continue to go deeper into their mess, so the best way to make them stop is to encourage them to do it till when they shall realise what they are doing for themselves.

Guidance-5-Treasure Grounds.

A contractor accidentally unearthed an artefact when he was digging foundations for a building in the outskirts of Cairo. He jumped out of his bulldozer picked up the priceless treasure and begun to wipe mud off it, he felt it shine before his eyes, "Wow! This must belong to one of the great pharaohs," he quickly wrapped it up in handkerchiefs before hiding it safely away at the safe of his backhoe. A month later he was at this renowned world museum trying to make a bet, he found himself being questioned rigorously about how he found the mysterious object instead of quoting a quick price for him, he thought he'd make a quick sale, pocket away hundreds of thousands, he had lots of debts to pay off anyway. He had no option but to leave the parameters of the offices, that afternoon a middle-aged man met him at the steps of the museum, he was asking for directions, to a nearby gallery, he said was working on a new Museum, he was looking for fresh artefacts to put on display on its first opening day. Slowly their conversation began to divert from instructions giving to Exhibition and display, the contractor told him about his experience early this morning, how unfortunate he was at one of the world's best museums. "I guess I was not so lucky today, they won't buy my stuff, so I told them if they won't buy my artefacts, I shall have to open my own museum from which I shall put it on display, lots of people will come to look at it, because there's no other that looks like it, I shall also make more coins from it, you know, if you don’t take it at my small price on offer then I shall have to keep it."

What is this object you are talking about sire? Can I have a look at it? The contractor then turned his eyes left and right as if was about to cross a road, he dug his right hand into his backpack, a brought out what looked like a brown cocoon, he then carefully unwrapped the pieces of clothing as he handed it over to the stranger who could not believe his eyes at what he was seeing, "Oh!" he exclaimed." I have been searching for this object all over the world, only to find it in the hands of a nobody right at my doorstep" "what is it? “Asked the contractor, he first read the inscriptions on it and translated them, can you read hieroglyphs? Enquired the contractor? The stranger now with his eyes glued to the surface of the object, did not respond immediately, when he was done, he raised his head one more time "Do you know that you are holding the rook and tail of Ramses the great? It’s the only one in the world, yet you’ve found it,"

‘’Yeah! I knew there was none other like it,’’ replied the contractor, "Are you sure you are the one who found this, you did not purchase it from some art shop, please show me where you picked it from."

The contractor took him to where he had the artefact undug, "at long last, said the contractor, it's better for someone to appreciate your work even if he pays you nothing in return that people blindly reject your well hearted offer."

Guidance-6-Perfectionists and the live wires. (Game plan)

The live wires go out in the fields to get work done, whereas the perfectionists sit behind to make plans. Jason made me believe there is some logic behind every player who does brilliantly in the fields, they do that without thinking. At times you should act before thinking, do something quick, and then wonder about it later after the game, what is it that I have done, man was that really me making those brilliant shots?

There are careers that are physically demanding such as sports and athletics of which no much thinking is needed, in fact too much thinking in the game could be more of a hindrance than a gateway, let the muscles think and act on their own. When athletes are asked what is in their minds when they do such brilliant moves, they can't answer, "I just felt that something urgent needed to be done, and I did it, I am sorry to tell you that I don’t know what to say about this, it's just that there's nothing there to explain, you just go out there and get things done.”

The live wires go out there to get things done while the coaches remain behind to do the planning's, heavy thinking. This probably why many of them appear dissatisfied and disappointed in the playing field, they are always deeply absorbed in their experimentations, minimum points needed etc.

Guidance-7-basic strategy.

At one point in life, people will face situations when they are demanded to demonstrate excellent leadership skills, whether one is young or old, or from whatever place they come from.

Somehow somewhere circumstances will arise that will demand them to lead the way. This happens to everyone everywhere, and when you are not prepared, let not the weather catch you by surprise.

Leadership is in many places and in many mores things we do, it doesn't mean running large co-operations, or some famous international Organizations. Even in the smallest social units such as families there is Leadership quality traits needed.

The Great Leader

There are leaders in different fields, be it in politics, business, sports, a leader always remains a leader

Your attention, guidance is highly demanded in times of need, your followers will be more willing to take your instructions at such a time they'll do everything you say, everyone wants to take part by doing at least something, only waiting for orders clearly co-operative.

Your team’s closest advisors, pick understanding juniors and keep them closest to you, critics do nothing other than ruining your good plans, close associates (advisors need to have freedom to express their views, whenever a problem arises, but should not try to manipulate you.)

Such manipulative companions are better kept far off in times of need. On top of making a contribution, they should also respect your final decisions.

Sometimes subjects put you to pressure simply not because they want their ideas or opinions implemented but rather to see you feel the same way they do, they want assurance that you fully understand their fears, doubts, impatience and just about to make action. Even if they see no work taking place at the moment, they openly display that you are on their side, they stop nagging and pushing you around.

Even all the books about leadership can never give enough picture of how it's like to be a leader, so we believe in landing on the job, let your experience teach everyone. None can ever fully prepare you for what you are going to experience in the fields

There are two difficult things to rule, thyself and thy people, thyself is harder, sticking to your plans holding on to your words, keeping schedule are among the hardest things to do.

As we are all aware of, people pay more attention to what you are doing than what they hear you say, if your actions are satisfactory, then they pay more attention to your words,

There are basically two types of leaders, the warrior captain and the diplomat, the warrior captain achieves the success and protection of those under their command through outward aggression, direct attacks, doing things that may cripple or demobilise a threatening team, firm or organisation, the diplomat on the other hand prefers peaceful measures to his campaigns, they'd rather try to achieve their organisational goals without disturbing the outward peace of others/competitors around them, warrior captains focus on what they want from others, what they'd like them to do, diplomat captains focus more on what others want from them, the warrior captains are called aggressive opportunists who will stop at nothing till they get what they want, while the diplomats are called weak links who can easily be taken advantage of by their juniors and easily overcome by the opponent’s pressure.

Guidance-8-bad potatoes.

In your position as a captain, you have got to figure out the bad potatoes from fresh ones and get to keep them in separate sacks. There are juniors who are always dissatisfied with the results that come, which later grows into resentment, anger and eventually hatred towards the captain. With their beliefs they go forth and spread the spirit of rebellion among all workers, to make it look like everyone else is tired of your mistreatment when its only them who don’t want to see you around, if the captain for all the time has loved his crew dearly and has done everything in his capacity to guard and sustain his crew during the voyage, then there is no need for them to throw their long best serving captain into the sea. That would be an act of treachery. You will just see it in their actions, the bad potatoes are always restless. Full of rage and bitterness, they are never satisfied of anything. Always eager to hurt someone. So clever they are in deceiving others, they are confident enough to pick up torches and come down to burn the hacienda.

If you act too swiftly and bring them to punishment, they might succeed in turning the crowd against you, you could just be doing what they had wanted you to do that will change the crew perceptions, that you are indeed a rogue captain.

“The ship's captain sat back and waited, down deep in the cabin below he rested, and then he heard some noise coming from the top, since he never cared, he simply dozed off. By the time he wakes up it was late in the afternoon, there was still some noise coming from the top, now cooled down a little bit. He goes to check what the hullabaloo was about. He finds one crew member being pinned down by four others onto a wooden pole. "Where have you been captain?" asked his first mate, "this flea almost sunk our ship while you were asleep, he cut the main sails into two and led them drift away with the ocean waves claiming that we were not fast enough. So we had him pinned down till you arrive, if we had left him loose he could have done something worse, maybe create an explosion that would tear through the ship's hull. What do we do with him now?" they asked, the captain then had been tied up in strong ropes and be taken down to the belly of the ship where he shall receive an interrogation later on. He watched carefully into the crew’s eyes and saw that they were satisfied with his judgement, before he spoke.

"I knew this little guy was trouble before we set off our journey, it's just that I couldn't prove it, I wanted to ask him to stay behind while we sail but other crew members thought it was a lame & unfair judgement and therefore protested that I should bring him along, now you have all seen what he's done and no one will stop me from bringing judgement upon him. I waited till he created enough havoc for you to dispose him off to me."

Guidance-9-lethal leak.

An employee once uncovered some secrets of how they produced the best quality cosmetics at a relatively cheap price how their company profited greatly from this scheme, used less than a half of the aloe Vera oil required, and most of the other ingredients weren't really herbal but chemicals prepared in the lab.

One afternoon the owner was bragging about his newly gained market share to one of the senior managers, the manager then went on and told one of her employees, she accepted to explain everything to her on the condition that she keeps it all secret, that same evening the favourite employee went home and said to her mother that she has a very interesting secret from her workplace, she told her everything after making her swear that she will keep it all secret.

Two weeks later her mother visited her sister up the country, she told her the secret from her daughter’s workplace, she too promised to keep it secret. Her aunt was speaking one afternoon to her friends about the mysterious happenings at her niece' factory, his husband happened to be one of the owners of a similar competing firms, he paid keen attention to every narrative the ladies were making to him and recorded them on a notebook. Now he has got a chance to crush a firm which had stolen his market share, he didn’t hesitate to do so, he quickly left his house and went to the chief detective's office asking for a full investigation.

Guidance-10-Poems of Captain Job Seals.

Here are the poems of captain Job Seals, the one who sailed mighty ships across treacherous seas and anchored them safely on violent shores, to all the sailors of the southern coasts, he says…

I am Captain Job son of Henry Seals,

I have crossed many oceans and visited many nations that border the seas.

There are many acclaimed captains, many of which are false only a few are true.

Here are the qualities of a good captain.

A true captain goes down with his ship. A false captain abandons his ship while his crew and passengers are still on board. When false captain sees signs of powerful storms approaching, he is the first to jump into a life boat and row away to safety.

A true captain always prepares for the worst, a false captain assumes everything will be okay all the time.

A true captain never asks his juniors to do things he cannot achieve himself; he always takes the lead, a false captain sits behind a desk and demands his crew to do everything else for him.

A true captain stays out in the cold while his crew sleeps. A false captain picks the warmest of the cabins and goes to bed early.

A true captain is the first to show courage in times of trial and sails ahead of others in dangerous waves, a false captain hides behind juniors when terror strikes.

A true captain does much and says little, a false captain says everything and others do it.

True captains compete with no one else but themselves, they set up plans then police themselves to finish them, they set themselves goals then strive to do them better, much better. A false captain sees every well performing junior as a potential threat to his title.

A true captain keeps closest to him those that will not put fear and doubt into his heart., those that trust and believe in him, a false captain keeps closest to him those that are there only to entertain him, those that give him constructive criticism he keeps them far off for the fear they might steal the love of the crew from him.

Guidance-11-A game of generals

Why are the Slavs so dammed good at chess? Many of the best chess players all around the world appear to be of Slavic origin. Why do they dominate the game so much? Probably because many of them have either been generals or commanders in the field. They have experienced real combat before, so if you can't beat them in the field, how can you beat them on the chess board? As some would take a great leap to do things such as sacrificing both knights and a queen, it would give him a quick check mate. The game can be resolved as quickly as possible without incurring collateral damage. Critical thinking, making tough decisions, enduring weary long hours starring onto a board.

After playing, these are people you can't beat, I tell you, even if you play them all day and night, till the next morning, you can't beat them. How do you expect to beat a fellow that has a hands-on experience on the battlefield? With his hands charred with powder and smoke from the artillery.

Those who are eager to have a great victory must be willing to make great sacrifices also.

Guidance-12-the coach.

GREAT TEACHER

There are two categories of classes common in every school.

Class A. (Good Listeners)

Quiet and silent, no one dares speak unless spoken to. Every time you get into class there is a tense silence, they expect you to do the talking and they do the listening. Most believe interfering with a teachers/lecturer is an indiscipline case, immoral behaviour and should be punished severely. They benefit most when you have equipped yourself with lots of stories and important pieces of advice to give.

CLASS B. (Interjectors)

Most are calm and obedient to orders but amongst them consists a group of fellows to whom a lesson can never end without taking part, they question, analyse, criticise instructions and assess its importance in their current work, they never stop asking questions if not at least contribute their part of the story to the topic of discussion, they never miss what to say no matter how awkward it may seem, they ensure it gets out, they learn best when they are given a chance to express their own personal views.

This has been the old student master relationship that still exists. It says even if the student is brighter more knowledgeable and more experienced than their teacher, they must give them their due respect because for the time being, they are still students and are under their guidance, they should correct their teacher only if it is necessary and do it in a polite orderly way.

Guidance-13-Undisputed captain.

If you want to be a general…

Worry on their behalf, feel their pain and share their suffering even in the comfort of your bed in the night you cannot sleep, you hire guards to watch over them in their sleep as if they are your own children, if you want to lead in any kind of way, this you must be prepared to do them all. In fact, what they give you is just a small payback of the much you have already done for them.

Stressed Captain.

The captain carries all the responsibilities of the team upon themselves, their requirements, their fears, their weaknesses, all he carries them upon His back. A captain in charge of four teammates will have less worries compared to that who is in charge of forty.

First before going out in a game, you have to make sure that everyone has their jerseys fit and ready, all a calm, and none has any minor injuries of any sort, then in the gameplay, you motivate them, without their captains’ psyche & appeal, the team might lose motivation and their strength, so you become their strength, the games begin, and the captain once more becomes the center of attention, the Coach and fans are expecting more scores, more victories. Then you become an element of hope.

One by one you must make sure each team member’s need is taken care of, all those that were injured during the wrestle hour, you are the one who must bandage their wounds. First to highlight the bus on arrival and last to board on departure. You must put all members’ needs and interest at heart. All these you must do if you are hoping to see a successful squadron.

People are relieved of their worries & tensions when they notice somebody responsible is in charge, like passengers in a bus, the passengers enjoy the ride more than the driver, because they have placed all their worries upon the driver, they now sit back relax, and watch things move by. The students of upper hill school were preparing to travel to distant district, when they heard their driver was absent, they were very upset, the administration had offered some funny looking junior to drive them for the first ten kilometers of their journey, were sure find him along the way, Soon before the bus was about to depart, the old man arrived, he was seen from afar, with his famous brown leather jacket, and a cowboy’s Hat, everyone was happy, was soon rushed upstairs and pressed down onto the driver’s seat. The Old man however not very social, the students loved him very much. His tortoise driving style was excellent, he made sure land forms didn't pass them too quickly so that the kids won't miss a glimpse of them.

Challenged Captain

Though being careful in your ways and careful in your attempts, there are those who think themselves better than you are, they throw up a challenge,

They gather themselves in a somewhat conventional meeting, they ask themselves, why should we follow this stranger? What if he too is blind?

They come with Hockey sticks and knock you on the knees to see if you will fall down, then watch carefully for any signs of weaknesses. They check how stable you are. A wrestle match is set up, one after another they come up to you with all their strength and try to throw you down, an excellent test for fitness, then when you have defeated all of them in a row, you earn their respect then, become more submissive to your guidance.

When you are on camping expedition then you ask one of them to go get some food, they rudely reply back, the juniors say to you, have you ever killed a hog before with a pen knife? There are dozens of wild hogs roaming outside now, they are all hungry and we have run out of ammunition, why don’t you go outside and do the job yourself? They say to your face.

Feted Captain,

“Why it that you are loved by your people so much?” the Captain is asked, “what is it that you have given them that they have turned your name into a song?”

“You have to do much, and much more,” says the Captain. “You have somehow help them out in a big problem too big to handle on their own. You have to kill a Goliath for them. It is the game fans that really feel the true victory, we just help them achieve that, we are like puppets on the playing field, like toys a child plays with.”

They think being a captain is fun, the reverse side is pain, resilience, weariness, etc. if you find yourselves cut away in a remote island and the entire team is facing severe starvation, then you might be forced to cut off one of your arms to throw at them.

Accepting the title of captain means you hold accountability for their action, anything they do whether you are watching or not, you shall be held accountable for all. They are your comrades you are in charge of them, so any mission they undertake shall be presumed that it is you that sent them.

A comrade must never, never at all costs look down upon his captain, because if he does, he is showing that they no longer regard him as their leader, and no longer has respect for him, in this case, he can be dismissed, free to join any other team around, someone else is searched quickly and put in his place, the fact that he has left means he is no longer part of them, but has become an opponent, one that that needs to be kept at bay at all costs. Remember that there can only be one master in a shaolin temple, if you would not listen to my instructions then I guess you better find another pair of students to give instructions to.

If they continue to question the integrity of your position and are planning to bring up more challenges, then let them know that there can only be one master in a shaolin temple, if anyone of them wants to be the master then they must defeat the existing one.

For the team to accept you as their leader, you have to be better than them in nearly in everything, there is no room for weakness.

Before they can accept you as their captain you have to do a lot of impossible tasks for them, unless you are going to do something new that will take away some of their burdens, they will still remain suspicious of you. They want something great, before they can accept you as their captain, you must be the best of them, on numerous occasions those that think they are much better than you at leading will put you to the test, and many times they test you just to convince themselves that you really deserved the golden hat. They test your wisdom, strength and skill, if you think of yourself as among the greatest, there are those who will try very hard to prove to others otherwise, to show to others in essence that you are not the champion you may be claiming yourself to be, that you are an inexperienced captain with tones of weaknesses. The longest trailer goes to the most experienced driver, the most difficult tasks go to the most capable.

Guidance-14-the instructor.

The first great challenge is to communicate your ideas down to the juniors till they fully comprehend your concept, the second challenge is supervising the project long enough till when everything is done according to the way you have envisioned it.

If you want to describe what it is, then state what it is not, if you want to know what is possible then imagine what is not possible, if you want to understand how things are to be properly done then express ways how they are not to be done.

If someone has to give a command to men having a drink in the bar, asking them to rise immediately and leave the counter as soon as possible. Then it must be from a soldier ranking higher than all present in the boardroom, officials respond to commands from only those ranking higher than them, otherwise you are just another noisy billy.

Men respond to direct orders, whereas women respond to persuasion. Men prefer plain direct language, while women would love to interpret the real meaning of words spoken. The man will obey if you give them direct orders. The woman reads clues from your own words, she focusses more on her own feelings and reasoning's. So, send direct orders to men and coded messages to the women.

Some things in leadership and life at large can only be achieved through command, I mean giving people clear direct instructions, not shouting at them haphazardly. they say, ‘’if you keep remaining soft you will end up achieving no objectives at all, people will ignore your requests to do something until they get direct instructions from you, are going to continue begging your subordinates to undertake their duties? Not unless you speak in a very authoritative yet very kind voice will they gain the confidence and assurance of you holding yourself accountable for all the work that is to be done, only then will they proceed to get the task accomplished.’’

Guidance-15-Super Inspiring World Leaders

Which World leader's story inspired you the most? For me, it’s none other than Madiba. This amazing man passed away back in 2013 almost ten years ago. But his memory continues to linger on in the minds of millions of people whose lives he had touched. This man as we all know by the Name of Madiba did something no other person in the world had ever done before, and that is to extend a warm hand to the people who insulted and tortured him for three decades. Even by non-political standards, this was cruelty on a totally different level. Yet he managed to shrug it all off and put it behind him, people thought he would leave prison with plenty of grudges and enact his vengeance on his former tormentors once he was in power, but he was actually the opposite of what everyone expected. He surprised all including his black majority population who had longed for an indigenous leader. South Africa was renamed the rainbow nation during his time, he inspired many plays, songs, books and films. This guy is a man and a half, there has never been an African leader like him before and there has never been another like him after.

To prove how different a leader he was, you just have to look at a neighboring state in southern Africa, a next-door state called Zimbabwe has a quite different story. The country's founding leader was also a freedom fighter, he suffered for his actions, he was locked up and stayed in jail for a decade as a political prisoner, which is a third of the time that Madiba served, but ten years is still a long time though, and Mugabe is not Madiba, he is a different person. He even said this in interviews when he was asked why he didn’t act more like Madiba who was a more respectable leader. ''I am not Nelson Mandela, you should remember that, '' he would always say this to journalists, whom he thought were pestering him with nasty questions. Robert Mugabe always held grievances in his heart, he lashed out at everyone he thought was out there to get him, he sadly took many grudges with him to the grave when he passed on in 2019.

May Madiba continue to linger in our hearts and minds for generations to come.

END OF GUIDANCE.

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Final Clause

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Footnotes.

My most used/favourite stylistic features

Sharp contrast

Heavy metaphor

Extravagant exaggeration.

The reference to masculine characters In the above stories is not a biased motive to discriminate against any gender, it's just for the purposes of description, the authors repeated use of words such as he/him/man/king are just for the purposes of enchanting the narrative, if you feel offended by them then feel free to replace them with whatever words you choose as you read along, these pronouns are NOT put in place to intimidate, you can also contact the author directly and specify which part should changes be made to and to what particular effect, the author respects all readers and will not misrepresent members of any class, age, status or gender. All readers are precious.

I am trying to avoid the inconvenience of having to jump from one side of the group to another as it easily puts the readers off, jumping from side to side, back and forth, here and there is really irritating, take for instance it's better to say, "the king came out of his castle, called the knights and asked him to take him out on a ride through the royal forests and left his son in charge of the castle," than to say, "the king/queen came out of his/her castle, called the knight/knightess and asked him/her to take him/her out on a ride through the royal forest and left his/her son/daughter in charge of the castle"

Textual homogeneity- some aspects of the words, phrases and stories share lots of similarities with one another, the keen reader who repeatedly crosscheck between different tittles will definitely notice this trend, if characters are portrayed in such a sluggish manner that makes the text boring to the reader, then reader please remember to inform the author as soon as possible.

Cover image: A seafaring captain of a cargo ship looks onto the horizon with the help of his binoculars, he looks eagerly for a port to dock his cargo ship that is carrying precious goods, theme by the Author