Author: Olaojo Aiyegbayo

A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men. Proverbs 18:16

Before David became the giant killer; he was a lyre player. A lyre is a musical instrument which is closely related to a harp. David wasn’t a professional lyre player but he was very good.  I presume that it was a hobby for him because his main job was tending sheep for his father. He must have practiced playing his lyre while tending sheep during the day and also played it in the evenings as musical entertainment for family and friends. I am sure that David never really expected his lyre playing skills to be his ticket to the palace. He simply developed his skills for his own personal amusement and to entertain others.   

I got Malcolm Gladwell’s new book, David and Goliath, last week. I got the audio version narrated by Gladwell and it has been great listening to it. I would definitely recommend the book. The book is about underdogs and giants. Gladwell introduces the book by recounting the Biblical David and Goliath story. I agree with most of what Gladwell says about the event apart from one thing.

I observe worship leaders every Sunday at my local church with admiration. I am usually impressed with the way they lead both the choir and the congregation in worship before the sermon. A good worship leader has to have two things: vision and man-management skills.  Most worship leaders can’t play all the individual instruments that are played by their choir members. This is not their job. The role of the worship leader is to get the choir to work together as a team and perform to the best of their abilities which are developed through weekly rehearsals.

This is a short post is based on two inspirational quotes which I came across last week about creativity. The first one is by Austin Kleon and the second one is by Bob Dylan. Both quotes are about learning from your creative influences. I am a big fan of Austin Kleon and I consider his book, Steal like an artist, one of the best books on creativity. He advises in a recent video interview with Chase Jarvis that it is important not to steal the style of the creative people that influence you but to steal the thinking behind their style. This requires you to take apart your creative influences’ work in order to figure out what makes it resonate with you and then incorporate that same thought process in your own work. This ensures that you make the leap from being another copycat to a person who builds on the work of his creative influences and takes them further.

I presented at three academic conferences in the last two weeks. I presented the findings of a project I did which evaluated how academics use iPads for academic practices. You can visit the project site if you are interested in knowing more about this project. I have been on a mission over the last few years to become a better presenter or public speaker. Here are some things I have learnt so far.

I came across this quote a few days ago by Rutherford D. Rogers, a prominent US librarian, who said “We are drowning in information and starved for knowledge.” This quote was a response to the huge amount of books that libraries had to acquire in the 1980’s in order to stay current. I believe this quote also applies to this Internet era which we live in.

I talked about opportunities in my last post.  A lot of people never fulfil their potential because they never got the right opportunities. There is another group – those who get the right opportunities but fail to build upon them.  I recently watched a TV show called ‘Iconoclasts’ which featured Jamie Oliver, the famous British chef. He narrated how he got the opportunity that led to his emergence as a celebrity TV chef. It was not something that he planned for but it was an opportunity which he built upon.

I heard a great advice a few years ago when I worked at the University of Leicester’s BDRA unit. The unit’s long term future was dependent on securing external research funding. We had an external consultant who acted as an advisor to the team. He offered us an advice which I have treasured ever since.

I am working on a longform article based on the aftermath of the 1976 Nigerian coup led by Lt-Colonel Dimka in which the Head of State, General Murtala Muhammed was killed. I have had to read several Nigerian and International newspaper clippings and a book on Nigerian military coups for background information. There is one thing that struck me about majority of the top Nigerian military leaders in the 1960s and 70s.

One universal writing advice is to identify and develop your own writing style. Writers are encouraged to tell stories using their own styles. Your style is how you tell a story. The way you put together the words to narrate a story. We all have distinct styles. It is what differentiates one writer from another.