He is a household name in Nigeria and abroad. Mention motivational talk and leadership training, and the name Olufela Durotoye comes to mind. In his circles, he is simply known as Fela Durotoye or FD as his inner circle guys call him.
Successful by all standards, Fela makes the job of helping businesses to overcome adversities look like reciting the ABC. He is the Chief Executive Officer of the Gemstone Group, a leadership development institution with a distinct mandate to raise a generation of leaders.
Do you think the country is suffering from poor leadership?
Does that send any negative message to the outside world?
All across the world, Nigerians are doing great things and excelling in leadership positions. So the world cannot understand how a nation like Nigeria that is blessed with such brilliant, talented, hardworking and excellent people can have such quality of people in the positions of power. The world cannot understand why our brightest and best who have the privilege of education and exposure are not actively engaged in the service of their own people and most importantly, the world cannot understand how we have consistently filled our leadership positions with rulers.
Let me give you an example. On the 5th of May 2010, the day that former President Umaru Yar’Adua died, it coincided with when the British elections were holding and there was this contest between David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg as the leading contenders from the main political parties. I was watching Sky News and all their hosts and contributors were talking about who was going to be the next leader of Britain. All of a sudden, there was breaking news that the ‘ruler’ of Nigeria had died and that the then Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, would become the next ‘ruler’ of Nigeria.
You said something concerning that someone cannot pay so that he or she can serve you. Can you elaborate on this?
In every sphere of our society, whoever pays is given the right to be served by the one who collects the money. We see this in the market, petrol station, and mall and so on, anytime you pay, you deserve the right to be served. Only in politics do we ever hear that a politician pays you to serve you and our experience has shown, that in reality, politicians pay for us to serve them throughout the tenure of their mandate. So I want to be very clear, anyone who offers you money to vote for them is paying you to serve them and have the right to rule over you throughout their tenure in office.
As an individual, tell me what has inspired you to date?
My dream is for my generation to actualise our potential and build Nigeria into the most desirable nation to live in by December 31, 2025. The dream has inspired and influenced every decision and action since 2004 when I was a management consultant and leadership coach helping companies achieve excellent service delivery and leadership culture. I then realised that no matter how well we build our businesses, if we don’t build a successful nation, those businesses cannot survive. Therefore, in 2007, I transited from a pure management consulting firm into a social enterprise and we started to focus on solving social problems such as the deteriorating standard of our education, we embarked on social projects revive academic excellence in our schools and other educational centres where 75 volunteer teachers trained over 800 students in leadership, Mathematics, and English every day after school for free, among other things. Today, over 30,000 people are committed to infusing our core values into primary, secondary, tertiary institutions and corporate organisations.
If the nation beckons you to serve it, will you be willing?
For many years, people have asked me to lead by example in the service of our nation and my response has always been if I can encourage a critical mass of credible and competent Nigerians to offer themselves for service across various tiers of government, why not? If it will galvalise over 40 million Nigerian voters to come out and vote; if it will inspire other professionals who have brilliant ideas to come up with policy that will fix our national problems and if we find a platform with credible, transparent and honest democratic culture, where all the members of the party get to elect their preferred candidates and not just by a few power brokers, then it will be an honour to serve my nation in whatever capacity that I can beyond that which I am currently doing.
Tell us about your childhood?
I was born to the family of late Professors Layiwola and Adeline Durotoye both popularly known as Bros Toks and Sissy Addy. They were both lecturers at the University of Ibadan. I was born in the city of Ibadan in 1971 and my parents moved to Ife in 1972. Therefore, all of my childhood memories were from the University of Ife Senior Staff Quarters in Ile-Ife. I remember my father as my best friend growing up and because he never treated me like a child, I also believed that I was his best friend. One particular memory that I would never forget was my 9th birthday when my father took me to the Dodan Barracks to have breakfast with the then Head of State. So you can imagine how devastating it must have been when my father died when I was just 11 years old. But I am grateful for the grace and strength that God gave my mother and for the love and support that I received from my uncles and aunties throughout my adolescent life.
Who is your favourite author?
Next, to the Bible, my current favorite author is Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai, who has written two of the best leadership books I have ever read, My Vision (Challenges in the Race for Excellence) and Flashes of Thought. Both books give you a background story of how the Dubai transformation took place. Growing up, like most boys, I read Enid Blyton series such as the Secret Seven and the Famous Five. As I became older, my literary taste evolved into the Pacesetters series and later on to more action books from fiction authors like Ian Fleming, Sidney Sheldon, Robert Ludlum and John Grisham.
Who inspired you to be a leadership coach?
I guess my inspiration to become a leadership coach was borne out of my natural instinct and desire to help other people succeed and actualise their dreams. All my life, I have always helped others to discover their purpose, passion, vision and goals and the strategy and plan to help them accomplish their goals. So it was natural for me to become a management consultant and a leadership coach.
You have three boys. How does having no girl make you feel?
As the saying goes, ‘You can never miss what you’ve never had.’ I am really grateful for the quality of the relationship I have with my sons; Mobolurin, Demilade, and Morolaoluwa. They are my best friends and I have always believed that by the time they get married, I would have three daughters added to my family. Since my daughters-in-law will carry my name forever, all I have to do is to be patient and wait for my three daughters to arrive when my sons get married. Having waited so long, you can understand when I say I will be the best father-in-law ever. My wife feels so special being the only girl in our home. All four of us pamper her so much and give her all our love.
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