Throw away your certificate!

THROW
AWAY YOUR
CERTIFICATE!
DEJI
McWORD
Certificates are only ‘advance receipts’
issued to show that you made a
school richer. If after 4yrs on a campus,
you cannot apply the knowledge
of physics to solve problems for
humanity and make our world a
better place; you are likely to end
up as a burden on humanity.
From the best-selling Author of ‘How Jesus
Became The World’s Best Selling Brand’

DISCLAIMER
he dominant tone in this book is rather
radical and stand the risk of being wrongly
interpreted. Let me start by saying that I am one
of the biggest fans of education and schooling.
In my own estimation; you have done absolutely
no wrongbychoosing togo toschool.
What I don't buy is doing it like a religion laced
with futility. I only have an issue with it when it
fails to make you a better person that can impact
humanity.
For everyone who seem to have been lashed in
thispublication-itisnothing personal.Wejust
T s

need to point out our faults to each other so we
could mind them and work towards getting
better. Nothing would change for this nation
until we can boast of graduates who can truly
give invention, innovation and products with
comparativeadvantagetoNigeria.
What we have been churning out are largely
'parasites' with no symbiotic ability, who parade
nothing but a weightless, colorless and mere
'advancereceipt'calledcertificates.
Now that I have set the agenda for this
discourse, we must keep addressing it until our
systemattaina bettershape and stateof being.

Published & Printed by
McWord & Leaguers Publics
International Standard Book Number:
Copyright 2012 Deji Ajomale Luther
McWord
This book is recognized and protected by the
international standard book number and law
through the department of bibliography of the
National Library and the Intellectual Property
Protection Law of the Federal Republic of
Nigeria and that makes it a punishable offence
to use it for any illegal/unsolicited commercial
purpose without prior consent of the publisher
ortheauthor
978-978-903-3

“Education is what
happens as a result
of the deliberate and
systematic attempt
to get the human
mind to be in the
know of certain
ways through which
solutions can be
brought to our
problem-ridden
world.”
-DejiMcWord

CHAPTER 1
WHAT
EDUCATION
IS NOT
ducation is NOT a ritual that every
human must supposedly perform in a life time.
In fact, before I go on, I'd like to distinguish
between being educated and going to school:
there is no such guarantee that you would get
educated just by attending a conventional
school like university, polytechnic or college of
education.
This is because no one can hand education to
you like a N1000 note- it is rather thrown into
the air for anyone to catch. So, if you are not
positionedfromyourinside,youwouldonly
E

spend or squander 1460days (or more) of your
life within the four walls of a school with only a
mere and weightless document called
certificatestoshowforit.
Education is NOT the same as schooling
because a school is only the most popular and
conventional place where you MIGHT get
education; there are other ways and places
where you can get educated. People like Les
Brown, Deji McWord and Brian Tracy have
beenable toprovethat.
Education is NOT certificate. Certificates are
only 'advance receipts' you get from a school to
show that you made the institution richer by
patronizing it, participated in the activities of
going to class to sit under the tutelage of a
lecturer and wrote tests and exams 'successfully'
(only you can tell how you did it- maybe you
paid your way with cash, your body or you
applied the 'copy and paste formula'). My dear,
successisnot successif itcan'treproduceitself.
Certificates are all-time formalities and a
shadow of the real thing. Shadows are mere and
faceless escorts that are not privileged to always
be around while the 'real thing' is visible
everywhere.
Throw Away Your Certificate! 2

During the day without sun or when there is
light in the right proportion, shadows go into
extinction like a dodo. On the scale of hundred;
there is only about 10% tendency that you can
identifya personbyhisorhershadow.
This perfectly
illustrates what
certificates are.
They are not the
real thing and that's
why they can be
forged. Wrap your
brain round this
and continually be
in bed with it; no one would pay you for
parading a couple of documents called
certificates/good GPA. That's one of the chief
reasons why some of your elder bros and sis are
stillunemployed.
Employers only ask for it as a proof that you
Indeed attended a school and took an academic
course. This is why interviews are staged- to
verify if you have taken in what you were taught
and, as a result, truly have what it takes to
contribute your own part to the realization of
the corporate goal. That document and some
stunts might get you in there; only education
wouldkeep youthere.
Certificates are all-time
f o r m a l i t i e s a n d
'advance receipts' you
get from a school to
show that you made
the institution richer
bypatronizing it.
Deji McWord 3

CHAPTER 2
WHAT
EDUCATION
IS
have spent the last numbers of
paragraphs in telling you what education is
not-itistimetotellyouwhatITtrulyIS.
Education is what happens as a result of the
deliberate and systematic attempt to get the
human mind to be in the know of certain ways
through which solutions can be brought to
ourproblem-riddenworld.
In other words; it is purposed for active
application of knowledge which has a deep
rootinsideof you and culminatesin solving
I

problems for humanity. That, my friend, is the
original purpose of education. Anything that
falls short of this is mere activity and ritual. If
there is any problem-ridden world that I know
of,itistheone welivein.
A problem is not necessarily negative- it
simply means anything that needs to be put in
place or displaced to make the human living
better.
Go back to the history of how those who
propounded the theories that integrated to
make the course you are studying did it; you
would find out that chief among their
intentions was to solve a problem. Every sane
course that a university, polytechnic or college
of education offers is directly related to human
lifeand living.Takea look:
FOOD
There is agricultural science, biology and
chemistry in what we eat and how they were
come about. There is physics and chemistry in
theprocessof theirpreparation.
CLOTHING
There is biology, chemistry and physics in the
making and sewingof thefabricswewear.

SHELTER
Physics and mathematics guild architectural
design,planning and building.
AUTOMOBILES
The cars we
d r i v e a r e
purely the end
product of
putting the
knowledge of
physics and
mathematics
to use. There
is chemistry
in the refining
of the fuel
thatweusein drivingthem.
Psychology is for the human mental health and
functionality.
Sociology is about how we behave and relate to
ourenvironmentand otherhumans.
Political science deals with how human beings
govern themselves.
Economicsteachesushowtocreateand
The next time a lecturer
comes into the class to tell
you that X x Y equals 1, ask
him how the interplay of
the two affects human life
and living, and how you
can apply its knowledge to
make our world a better
place.
Deji McWord 6

managewealthasindividualsand a nation.
Linguistics is the study of human languages.
Language is largely about how human beings
communicateamong theirkinds.
I can go on and on telling you how the courses
that students study affect humanity. If you are
on a campus for four years or more, and you
can't apply these to making the human living
better, you are likely to end up as a burden on
humanity. You are either an asset or a liability-
no grey area here. Such are those who lament
thatthereareno jobs.
The next time a lecturer comes into the class to
tell you that X x Y equals 1, ask him how the
interplay of the two affects human life and
living, and how you can apply its knowledge to
makeourworlda betterplace.
If he tells you what a verb is, ask him: “how does
the part of speech affects human
communication”. It is time to stop being the kid
on the stoop and set yourself on the track of
being listed among men and women who would
live and leave a mark for the world to remember
that they were once here. That, you can’t achieve
withoutdeeplyrootedknowledge.

Education teaches you how to solve problems
but it does not mandate that you must be
employed by someone before you can be a
solution. What matters is that you can make
something happen for good. If no one would
employ you or you believe that you would do
better running things on your own, go ahead-
employ yourself. It is only a matter of time, hard
and strategicwork,youwouldemployothers.
Education is liberation. It is civilization. It is
lighttothehuman mind.
Education is knowledge and knowledge is only
relevant when applied. This is why education
wouldneverbethesameasschooling.
It is a dynamic lifetime venture. It doesn’t end
after your four years in a university or after
Masters Degree/PH.D. As long as the earth
keeps rotating; there will always be changes in
nature, climate, human taste, need, preference,
culture and mode of operations. All these need
to be studied, probed and solutions proffered,
in adaptation tochange-pertime.
Therefore, if your own education stops after
school; you would sentence yourself to the jail
of mundanity and irrelevance in ten years from
now.
Deji McWord 8

Education is like the salvation of a man’s soul-
no one can force it on you. Your parents or
guardian can encourage or compel you to go for
it, an idolized human figure may even inspire
you, but it isn’t enough- being educated in the
true sense of it like I have been talking about
only works with personal resolution, deliberate
effort,driveand commitment.

CHAPTER 3
THE
CIRCLE OF
ABSURDITY
(The Nigerian Case)
y one and a half years on a campus
made me see some of the madness that
characterizesoursystem,overhere.
It is pathetic that we run a government that is so
large and increases current expenditure by the
day, while areas that directly affect human lives
likehealthand educationarelessprioritized.
I do not have anything against anyone but the
lashes must go round to everyone who played a
partin gettingustothissorrystate.
M

LECTURERS
In the bid to survive and make ends meet,
teachers and lecturers have misplaced their
priorities and forsaken their purpose of
educating the human mind. Many of them
come to classes only once or twice in a while- to
rush within a hour a topic that should take
weekstoteach.
They do this not necessarily because they have
stepped up their game by sending tutorials to
students via email or some technology, but
because they want to subtly force students to
buy their textbooks which are sometimes
inadequate.
There are students who have the cognitive
ability to look at X x Y and tell what the answer
is. There are many more others who need to be
taught why X had to be multiplied by Y, at the
first place, before you can go ahead and tell
them what the outcome would be when you
multiplythem.
Classifying the latter with the former based on
the assumption that everyone can study and
understand on his own is not good enough. The
only reason why that student pays a school fee is
to obtain the right to be taught by someone who
isbelievedtobea masteratthatsubject.
Deji McWord 11

If all he comes to school to do is to buy
textbooks and read what he never understood
with the supposed expectation of someone that
he should be able to figure it out it all by himself,
with little or no tutorial from the lecturer; he
could have as well bought even foreign
textbooks, sat at home and studied on his own
withouthavingtopayany school fee.
There are dimensions to this; even the
supposedly brilliant ones can only tell what the
outcome of multiplying X by Y is. Many can't
tell how the interplay of X and Y affect
humanityand ourworld.
What refining does to gold is what exploration
does to knowledge or information. Whatever a
student is taught; allow him 'scatter' it, see for
himself- what and what integrates to make it,
discover new angles that are yet to be
considered, find out new and possible
applications- finally- let him tell you what he
thinks and believes (from understanding and
reasoning) it to be. That's how to make the next
lecturer that would rightly teach the minds of
thenextgenerations.
Don't kill the expressive being inside of
studentsbyrestrictingthemtotellingyou,in

Continuous assessment tests and exams, only
what you told them during your lecture or via
your textbooks/handout. There is one or all of
these four issues involved when a lecturer
insists that students must give only the
definitionhegavethem:
1. Hedoesn'tknowwhatheteaches,too well.
2. He doesn't like to be challenged so that
hecouldbepropelledtoimprove.
3. He has a shallow understanding of the
subject and doesn't want to be exposed
by any student who dares to be
different.
4. He is also a product of the 'copy and
paste'cultureand system.
Lecturers/teachers, don't allow someone's
darkness to influence your light. Wake up to
your ultimate calling of educating the human
mind. Textbooks and handouts are products of
youringenuityand youdeservetoprofitfromit.
However, you need to stop prioritizing the sales
of your textbooks over your purpose of
molding lives. The best you can probably do
with proceed from such is to build a bungalow
and buy a car- maybe more. Some years after
now,theywouldhavedepreciatedin value.
Deji McWord 13

This is nothing compared to the prestige of
being the economics lecturer who taught Oba
Otudeko, Tayo Aderinokun, Mike Adenuga,
Aliko Dangote and Femi Otedola (assuming
theyattendedthesameschool).
The billionaires might just be reminiscing at the
club house after playing 18 holes at Elizade's
golf course in Ilara Mokin and remember how
you never missed a single class and took the pain
to explain comparative advantage or the laws of
demand & supply (with some sense of humor)
till they understood it. One of them might just
suggest that they give back to one of the men
who molded them. If each gives you a check of
N20m- that's N100m in total- could you have
made that from your textbooks and all your
years in service- plus the fact that you could
have churned them out without any significant
thingtorememberyoufor?
THE SCHOOL
AUTHORITY/GOVERNMENT
Schools, like our political offices, are now being
seen as an avenue to line up pockets. Many vice
chancellors, provosts and rectors prioritize the
income over the real thing. They keep admitting
students without improving the capacity of
facilities.

In my one and a half years on a campus, I saw a
student slump during a lecture, because the
ventilation wasn't enough in a class of about
500 students. Some sat on each other's laps,
others stood and hanged on the window to
receivelectures.
Some schools libraries and laboratories are
th
almost like 18 century forsaken museum.
There are vital apparatus needed for scientific
experimentation and research that are not
available in many schools laboratories. Modern
self-help books are wanting in libraries.
Computer students may not be able to access
the computer labs more than twice in a
semester. Same goes for broadcast students
who only access the studio once or twice a
semester. It is probably not well equipped. No
internettoruneffective e-library.
State governments politick with state schools.
They find a way to put their allies in the position
of vice chancellors et al without bothering if
they are fit for the job or not. They increase
school fees at will, with close to no
commensurate project to justify the hike. They
under-pay the teaching staffs especially- causing
them to err from their purpose in the bid to earn
a betterliving.
Deji McWord 15

We can do far better. Let’s build our colleges of
education & technology, vocation schools and
give them some inspiring carriage so that the
handymen of tomorrow who should attend a
college of technology today won’t be insisting
on attending a university that’s meant for others
forging a different path- simply because they
dreadbeinglookeddownupon tomorrow.
This would go a long way in helping us create
much more jobs and restore the middle class
who area vitalpartof any developedeconomy.
POVERTY
There is too much cares and concerns for the
young minds of our students. A large chunk of
parents live below poverty line. Some of them
can hardly provide half of what their children
needin school.
This causes them to hustle in order to provide
for themselves what their parents cannot. They
even do some illicit when the legit isn't available.
I remember a BBM friend telling me how she
had to sleep with six guys at a time because she
needed some cash to run some schooling
expenses.
Youwouldbeshockedtoknowthatsomeof

them provide for their families. There is
nothing wrong in a student doing something on
a campus to earn some income but not the one
thataffectshisstudies.
Gone are the sweet good days when all you need
to take to school are your spirit, soul, body and
the resolution to make something worthwhile
out of your life- everything was provided in
good proportion bythegovernment.
That was when we last produced the largest
number of true scholars- not the wishy-washy
we churn out now. The governments of
nations who make education free for their
citizens up to the level of the first degree are not
dumb neither is it that they don't know how to
cut cost or make money hugely from school
fees like our own here. They only want to
encourage everyone to get education and they
have also discovered that the less your concern
as a student, the better you are likely to do at
takingin whatyouarebeingtaught.
Here, lecturers compel them to buy
textbooks/handouts at all cost or risk the loss
of some good mark that can improve GPA.
Normally, the one that doesn't have should
borrowfromtheone who has and read,
Deji McWord 17

but since he knows that the receipt which is the
evidence that he bought his own copy would be
his continuous assessments mark earner, he
hustlestobuyit.
M a n y o f t h e s t u d e n t s b u y t h e
textbooks/handouts religiously. They either
don't read it at all or just copy some stuffs to
pastein examsand tests.
There is the fear of been unnecessarily
victimized by lecturers. As a lady, if a lecturer
asks you out and you don't give in to his desires
or find a way round it, you are joking with 'carry-
over'. As a guy, if you go out with a gal that Mr.
lecturer is interested in; you are likely to
graduatetwo yearsafteryourmates.
Many of them are only trying to put up; they are
not in the best of shape psychologically. What
meaningfulstudiescan such have?
INADEQUATE
ORIENTATION/MOTIVATION
The song sung to the hearing of almost every
young Nigerian by parents, elderly ones, peers
and teachers/lecturers is that he should work or
study hard so as to have good grades cum
certificates.Good gradeswouldneverqualify

For a bad idea. However, it's been discovered
that only a few can successfully combine the
pursuit for good GPA and application know-
howof whatevercoursetheyarestudying.
They take in this wrong or better put,
inadequate motivation and it propels them to
channel their energy in chasing after a thing of
second-handvalue.Themostimportantthingis
for you to be able apply the knowledge of what
you went to study in school- to life and living.
Good grades void of this is mere text and figure
finelyarrangedon a pieceof paper.
THE CORPORATE WORLD
I cannot castigate employers for insisting that
an intending employee must have a certificate
and good grades- you own your business and
that is the standard practice. However, I am of
the belief that it would do you, your business
and our economy some great good if we start
looking beyond certificates and give
opportunities to geniuses who are in
disadvantaged positions for being unable to
attend a conventional and formal school or
graduatingwithlowerGPA.
Of course,thestandardpracticeremainsbutwe
Deji McWord 19

Can find a way round this. You can take a cue
from Barclay Bank of Nigeria in the 80s and
how it gave a young man without a university
degree a chance to prove his worth. He sat for
the examination organized by the bank,
performed well, he was given a cash reward and
an employmentasa lowlevelstaff.
From there, he worked his way up. Today, he
has built one of the largest banks that employed
overa thousand people.
Wole Soyinka is one of the few healthy faces
Nigeria has on the global scene and the first
Nobel Laureate Africa produced. He graduated
with lower grade. Today, he is so much of an
authority that words he coined have made their
wayinto theEnglish dictionary.
Gani Fawehinmi is one of the most visible
activist and Senior Advocate of Nigeria. He
graduated with a pass. If no one had given these
geniuses an opportunity to prove themselves,
they probably would have only been roaming
thestreets.
It’s not going to be easy going about this
though, we must consider it. Show me a society
thatisbenton growingand Iwouldshowyoua

Society that creates opportunities for its citizens
toexpresstheirinnermostbeingand makeup.
There are many disadvantaged geniuses walking
the streets of our cities and towns while some
empty brains play their nepotism card to clinch
chancestheycannot produceanything with.
It’s time to turn the table to suit a full-fledged
egalitarian society. If the government would
concern itself with legislating on matters of less
relevance, I believe that the corporate world can
step in and do the right thing and later compel
them to legislate in favor of cogent matterssuch
asthis.
Deji McWord 21

Chapter 4
FEAR
OF
THE
KNOWN
know your fear. I know why you can think
of nothing better than GPA/certificates. You
are afraid that no one would give you a job if
you don't graduate with first class grade and
that's why you pursue it at the expense of true
education which is the knowledge and
understandingof howa thinggetsdone.
My radical tone from the very first paragraph of
this book may have made you think that I am
against good grades and certificates. That's
absolutely untrue. However, I need you to get
thisstraightand continuallybein bed
I

with it; IF the pursuit of good GPA/certificates
would pose itself as a veil to your vision and
limit you from knowing how to apply the
knowledge of physics to solving problems for
humanity, after spending four or more years on
a c a m p u s,
drop it and go
for the real
deal. You can
s u r v i v e
without that
document but
y o u c a n ’ t
s u r v i v e
without true
e d u c a t i o n -
formal orinformal
You must understand that if you would ever be
relevant in this world, you cannot afford to
makenormal but‘crazy’and toughdecisions.
The likely similarity between the guy who can
get the job done with or without good
grades/cert and the one whose only skill lies in
parading the documents is that anyone of them
can stumbleon opportunities.
Thedifferencebetweenthemisthatthe
Make a choice today-
whether to be the guy who
parades certificates/good
GPA or the one who knows
how to make things
happen or get done well-
with or without the
'documents’
Throw Your Certificate Away! 23

Problem-fixingguy can seize an opportunityfor
a long time, build his profile/cv and move on to
higher place or even pull out to start running
things on his own while the document-parading
guy stands a risk of being flushed out every now
and thenbecauseno employerisa ‘Santa Claus’.
Good credentials are prestigious and they can
give you some leverage. However, caution must
be taken in their pursuit as such quest has the
tendency to make you loose sight of the real
thing.
Many of the things that students do to secure
good GPA bring them momentary gratification
but work collateral damage on the long run. The
topic you read to cram in order to pass an
examination cant remain with you. It is not the
sameasstudyingtoknowforyourself.
If the three or four months in a semester is not
enough for your to take in every topic- study at
your own pace but do more than normal.
Scatter it, break it down, probe it, ask questions,
find answers- and ensure you are mating with
knowledge and practical know-how of its
application, in ordertogetpregnant.
When it is time for tests or exams, sit
majesticallyand
Deji McWord 24

express yourself as you answer the questions on
thetopicsyouhavebeenable todigest.
If you have some slight idea on the topics you
are yet to cover, put them down also. They
might fetch you some more marks. Let the
lecturer give you what you deserve. During the
holidays, take your time to digest the remaining
topics.
If you can digest everything within the given
time of a semester or session, it would be
fantastic and great! Go ahead- express yourself
during tests and exams and cart away the ‘A’s. If
you cant, please take to the piece of advice in
thelasttwo paragraphs.
Do you know why? It is not the food you chew
that nourishes your body, neither is it the one
that you swallow. It is the right one that makes
its way into your digestive system at the right
time, in the right proportion, under the right
condition and undergoes the required process
withoutbeentruncated.
If anything happens at the final year that
warrants you to stop schooling, you would have
been a pie full of stuff and not a doughnut
emptyin theheart.That’swhysomeof the

greatest of men that ever lived who had to drop
outof school couldstillmaketheirmarks.
Every human being has his own learning mode,
culture and pace- find yours. Listen to this; the
original purpose of tests and examinations is to
assess and confirm if you are taking in what you
arebeingtaughtornot.
The idea of scoring you is to let you and
everyone know how you are doing at catching
education so that you can take necessary step at
getting better. Some forces militate at exam
periods that could reduce your performance at
providing answers to questions and that’s why
the outcome may not be your best. You might
even do well at exams and be unable to apply the
sameknowledgeyouwrotedownasanswer.
Schools issue certificates to students after the
stipulated period of their academic programme
because they have tried them out through
examinations and continuous assessments tests,
therefore, they are made to believe that such
students have caught education. However, you
and I know that there are a number of ways
through which you can pass tests and exams-
copy ‘n’ paste (cram), pay your way with money,
ladies pay with their bodies, the giraffe method
etc.
Deji McWord 26

Another thing is, many of the lecturers are not
practitioners- apart from teaching what they
know, they don't apply it on a daily basis like the
masters of the game on the field. Knowledge
has life in it and every living thing grows. Since
they don't practice it, they are likely to find it
difficult teaching you how to apply it. That’s
why the true test of your knowledge of
whatever course you have/are studied or
studying does not lie with any lecturer or school
authority; it lies on the field where you are
required to apply it. And over here on the field,
unlike your school days when you cut corners all
through, it is an open-air affair where you have
‘it’ and get celebrated or lack it and get flushed
out.
Knowledge is not the beautiful picture of
a dog on one of the pages of a magazine you
once glanced through; knowledge is the dog in
your house that wags its tail at you, robs its fur
againstyourbody and barksatany stranger.
Knowledge has life- a body, soul, spirit,
face and a voice. It is not passive like the dog in
the picture. It is active like the dog in your house
and it finds its essence when it barks and gets
heard.
Many young people leave school with
thatbeautifulpictureof a dog thathas no.

propensityof barking,talklessof beingheard
Graduation day, for some graduants, is not a day
for celebration but a time to weep and refuse to
be comforted because they are like armies that
have just been sent to a war front without
adequate or any ammunition- or worse still,
givenammunition theydon't knowhowtouse.
Therefore, focus on taking in and
retaining what you are being taught- the
GPA/certificateissecondary.
Enjoy the ride all the way. Make your
learning some sort of fun. Never live with the
fear that someone might victimize you . Play
your part well. And live everyday has a quest to
know one more thing that can make you a
solutiontohumanity.
Have you ever taken a pause to wonder why a
Bill Gates left school when he had only a year
to go in Harvard University of all schools (na
beans?)? Here is a guy whose parents had enough
to see him through masters' degree and even
PH.D programmes in the same prestigious
institutionorany otherof itscaliber.
Mark Zuckerberg, the dude that invented
facebookwasexpelledfromHarvard,still,he

didn't sink because of it. Today, he has a
product and invention that more than half a
billion people have bought into and he is one of
theworld'syoungestbillionaires.
Erastus Akingbola didn't attend any
university. He sat for an examination organized
by Barclay bank here in Nigeria- in the 80s. He
did well and the bank gave him some cash
reward and an employment as a low level staff.
From there, he worked his way up to become
theCEO of one of thenewgenerationbanks.
Les Brown attended no school, yet, he made
the list of world's five best speakers in 1992. He
is an accomplished best selling author, popular
tv and radio personality. In fact, I recommend
thatyoureadhisbiography.
Brian Tracy is a product of no tertiary
institution but he has written tens of best selling
books. He is a world renowned authority on
management, leadership and success tips. He
has trained and spoken at conferences in not
less than thirty countries across the world
continents.
This is to make you see that it is not by
certificates-itisratherbybeingable tograb
Deji McWord 29

knowledge wherever you find it, explore it and
apply it in solving problems for humanity,
therebymaking ourworlda betterplace.
Do not allow the fear of being jobless cripple
and make you chase after shadows. If no one
would give you a job because you didn't go to
school or you graduated with a lower GPA-
never mind- as long as you can apply what you
havelearnt.
It only means that your journey won't be like
that of everyone else and that's why the world
wouldfind yourstorymorefascinating.
A problem would show up someday at a time
when no one else (who can solve it) but you are
available. After a persistent knocking at the
door of opportunities, they would give you a
benefit of the doubt and you would get the
chance to prove to the world that you are a
genius. From that day on, you would do but
little to get them calling on you when such
problemsneedtobesolvedagain.
Les Brown and his twin were found in an
uncompleted building in the low-income
Liberty city of Miami by a low-earner woman in
her30swho adoptedand raisedthem.

He was one of the kids with no flair for
schooling rites. He was wrongly labeled the
‘dumb twin’ by his teachers who stigmatized
and ran down his self-esteem. This coupled
with his restlessness to encounter purpose
made him take the drastic decision to stop after
high school.
While his peers were in school, he went to the
public libraries to a have a personal study time. I
was at one of his speaking engagements where
he shared the story of how he became a radio
personality.
Les told his mentor his dream of been on the
radio. His mentor asked “which of the radio
stations do you prefer to work with?” He
mentioned it and his mentor told him to go
thereand talktothedirectorof programmes.
He went there and did exactly. The DOP asked
if he had any credential. “No” he replied and
the man told him off that there was no space for
him withintheorganization.
Les went back to his mentor to tell him what the
DOP said. His mentor asked him to go back
and ask for the chance. He went back and the
man lookedhim straightin thefaceand said
Deji McWord 30

“you have been here before and I told you that
there is no place for you here- my last response
stillstands”
On the third time, the man looked at him in the
face and said ‘Les, run down now and get me a
cup of coffee”. He had been seeking
opportunities to go on air which was his original
purpose but remained an errand boy until one
night when Bobby the hip-talking Dj got drunk
and couldn’tcontinuetheshow.
Les noticed it and went to tell the DOP who
asked him to get Bobby off the seat and sit on
the Dj’s seat. He was specifically warned not to
say anything into themicrophone becauseit was
a live show. Les left the man’s office, called his
people at home to tune their radio set to the
frequency of the station and added that he was
going liveon air.
He went straight into the studio, took Bobby
off the seat and continued the show. The DOP
heard him and didn’t know what to do- whether
to chastise him for disobeying his orders or give
him a pat on the back because he was actually
wowed by the dude Les Brown and that was
how he went on to be the anchor of a morning
show.Helaterbecamean emcee,three-term

legislator, one of the 1992 America’s top five
best speakers, Emmy Awards recipient,
accomplished best-selling author and tv
personality. He was practically shot into
national prominence.
Let me also tell you a bit of my story. In 2005,
there was hell at home and I needed a place of
solace. My PCE had just been seized and my
SSCE wasn'tcomplete.
So, automatically, there was no hope of getting
admission that year. Still, I left Lagos for
Mapoly in Abeokuta, in the company of some
friendswho had securedadmission.
I stayed on that campus for one and a half years.
I dedicated myself to receiving lectures and
pouring myself into others. I taught my
supposed mates at tutorials, group readings and
even went to their houses to teach some of
themindividually.
The following year, I sat for PCE and GCE. Shit
happened and admission eluded me again.
When the bonafide students of that set were
about rounding up their national diploma
programme, I had to leave because I felt there
was nothing left for me to be doing on that
campus.
Deji McWord 32

Because I had no test or exam to write and was
afraid of no lecturer victimizing me for not
buying his textbooks, I was able to pursue
nothing but knowledge and its application. I
remember writing creative advert copies which
I showed to my advertising lecturer and he
commended my ingenuity. There was a
particular one I wrote for a telecom brand
which he accused me of stealing from
somewhere.
I came back to Lagos and I seem unemployable.
I was fond of going to the office of M2
magazine, the foremost publication of the
Nigerian marketing communications industry. I
wasn't a staff- I was only a young man who
made himself available for service. I helped
them typeset and ran a few other errands which
they could trust me with. After sometime, they
started trusting my competence. Whenever I
attended events, I reported for their
entertainmentpage.
Luckily, the same person who owns M2 also
owns a foremost PR agency- MarketingMix-
and the two shared a floor in a building.
Therefore, I had access to staffs from both. I
went with MM staffs to their PR activation
eventsand wasable tolearn and meetindustry

eggheads and celebrities who impacted me one
wayortheother.
In 2009, I pulled out of circulation and started
writing my first book: 'How Jesus Became
The World's Best Selling Brand'. It is now
widely acclaimed as a novel idea. It is published
by a foremost publisher in the US & UK and
made available on the world renowned online
salesplatform .
A New York Times columnist- Anand
Giridharadas- practically begged me to let him
keep the copy I showed him. The book has
flown on a private jet with a world famous
author, speaker and consultant to government
of nations. I grew up with a battered self esteem
and limited belief in myself. Publishing this
book shot up my morale nd I started writing
opinion articles for the same M2 magazine. The
first one I wrote was titled: CEO BRANDING
& PR: WHAT'S THE NEED? I also published
iton myblog.
The CEO of Ambassage Group was
rebranding his real estate company and also
needed some CEO branding. He googled for
articles on the subject matter and mine popped
uponline.
www.amazon.com
a
Deji McWord 34

He read it and was impressed. He sent me a text
to schedule a meeting with me. We met and after
thediscussion,hehiredme.
This is a well travelled and lettered executive
product of London Business School that an
SSCE holderconsultedfor.
I have trained celetoids on the 'Next Movie
Star', the reality tv show that produced the three
Nigerians that ever won 'Big Brother Africa'. I
have been to places and no one has ever had a
reasontoaskif Iam educatedornot.
Do you know why? What the world genuinely
cares about is what you can offer and not the
documentsyoutender.
The documents might get you a job but
significant contribution to the achievement of
the corporate goal is what would guarantee your
stay.
The employer watches and observes to know
who is giving and who is only taking with
nothing to give the firm. In due time, the wheat
shall be separated from the shaft and those who
have too little or nothing to offer would be
shownthedoor.

I must say, on a final note, that most of the
pieces of advice offered in this book are not for
everybody but strictly for those who would dare
tobedifferentand forgethepath lesstravelled.
If you allow any school authority, parent,
Government or lecturer to force you to join the
crowd of graduates of ineptitude that are
churned out of our schools every year- by
pursuing the shadow called certificates/good
GPA at the expense of true education which
would not only make you highly employable but
also sharpen your instincts, discretion and
initiate to the point that you can employ
yourself and others- you would have no one but
yourself to blame when you get stalked on the
ladderof greatness.
Me, I don talk my own o
Bye, Ttyl
BrB
Deji McWord 36

ISBN: 978-978-903-3
Education
Picture Credit:
Hallyphotography

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