Becoming a Tobi Amusan: Maybe Influence begins with a pose/post.
I was a leadership junkie for many years, reading everything I could find on the topic. Not because I aspire to lead others but to lead myself since I read I was a fortune 500 company to myself(Me Inc). I did not want public leadership because I know greatness is not cheap. Sometimes leaders bleed while leading, and there is no emergency room to stop for first aid or heal the work that must be done. This does not apply to all leadership, to be sure. Some leaders just want to pick their teeth after a good meal or travel to the best hospital in town.
To lead me from the sedentary lifestyle of my work, where you can sit for hours trying to make sense of a reviewer two and other nuisance and nuances of being academics, I had to find a way to move as I should. These throwback pictures are evidence of my leadership credentials of Rosemary Oyinlola Popoola.
Need I tell you that while trying to lead myself, my action influenced others. Mrs. O, my former neighbor that we moved from a previous part of campus to another, joined, another woman joined, and one of my aunties who works in a bank joined. Roughly 6-7 people went back to the gym because I did.
How did I get them to do it? Good question, with a pose and a post. I post my gym routine on my WhatsApp status, wear nice clothes, and I tried to make it fun. I suspect my idea of a pose can be extended to mean a stand, a viewpoint, a posture, or a perspective. By post, I mean I did the work and showed it. It could be that people are as inspired or influenced by your pose as your post. If pose(optics) and post(showing without doing) were not, among others, the issue I had with babalajo I may have given him a thought when he thought of running.
If you see me now and then, blame coronavirus.
Also, thanks to my sister-mum, who thinks my success will be not the only revenge on my enemies but also a good skincare routine, maintaining my fashion sense while jobless and living with her. Fundamentally, sister-mum makes the case that allowing geographies of different parts of bodies to expand with her sumptuous meals is another way to "not let them kill my vibes."
Thank you, Ayra Starr " dey no fit kill my vibes."
In my godmother, Ejalonibu's voice, Oluwaloseyi emi ko mo serami Kole baje!
As I work to become the next Tobi Amusan, support my dream now o. Don't come and shalaye a few years from now. Let us gbera so we can collect our Mulla when it is time.
Today as every other day, I salute every woman everywhere. You are a winning woman before the world recognizes it, or you break the world record. I celebrate you; please celebrate yourself!
Posted on Facebook on July 26, 2022.
