My opinion on the FUTA 1st class graduate fraud story.

FUTA 1st class graduate arrested for FRAUD. You must have seen this headline. I have too, and I took peculiar interest in the story. There were about 5 of them who implemented the whole grift. 3 out them used to sit in the same lecture hall alongside their other levelmates which includes me. Lekan is brilliant. Mehn! The guy sabi. I had always imagined him working with the oil and gas big players. Of course he graduated, with a 1st class. The rest of us always did with whatever result we could accumulate. A couple of years on, this incredible brain is on the verge of rotting into oblivion. This is not what he bargained for. No job, no source of livelihood. He has to survive. What choice do you leave him? I am not in any way subordinating his misdeeds. But I never knew our nation could go this bad and wrong. One of the best graduating student in my faculty has no job, scholarship or social support. I can only imagine what is happening to majority of my other colleagues. He is guilty of fraud. But we owe him an apology. We told him to go to school and succeed. He did that exceptionally well. Now the part of the agreement that is ours to fulfil. We failed him.... not only him, but also the world. Imagine the genius he would have become in a more sane society. Now we lost him... same way we lost Shekau- the best project management and logistics brain this nation has ever produced. (try abducting one person successfully for 100days to see what I am saying). We should be grateful he did not establish his own franchise of terrorist clan. A nation that is not willing to invest in Education and create the best environment for maximum talent retention and reward for excellence should prepare to build prisons. This is Nigeria. This is what we have become! I rest my case. Dimeji Mudele

Before You Cast Out Demons

Before you start casting out DEMONS, please take NOTE: Demons don't make choices, people do! People make choices, good or bad. Whichever way, it is still their choice. The choices people make go ahead to make them and create their future. We just should learn to stop blaming demons for the results of our own wrong choices. RESPONSIBILITY is a critical variable in growth. We must know this: WHEREVER we are NOW, we made an appointment with life via a string of choices to arrive JUST here. And hey! HERE we are! Dimeji Mudele @cutemude

A NEW you in a NEW world

The good old days. All it took my father to get a job with a multinational was for him to get a 1st DEGREE in a higher institution of learning. How good would it be if we still live in that world? A world where a 1st class degree certificate would shoot you straight off the bottom. It took only being GOOD at what you do to stand you out in the workplace environment and MARKET place. What a WORLD!
I am afraid that world has DISAPPEARED. You woke this morning to a new world entirely. A world where even the BEST won't stand out. It takes being able to explore the spaces that exist beyond the LIMITS of the BEST to strike the right notes and impressions. It takes being flexible enough to understand trends and adapt to changing times to achieve any level of success these days. This is 2013 and not 1960! The VIRTUAL is now more powerful than the REAL.

The standards have been raised without your endorsement. What it means to WIN has been redefined by Men and Time. You now have to upgrade your execution, or face the certainty of disappearing with the old world.
The odds are well against you. Your time starts NOW! Go! Beat the odds!
Good morning

(C) 'Dimeji Mudele (CuteMude)
BB: 27AE5829
@cutemude

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Dare to be DIFFERENT

Watch out for the movement of the crowd, and tilt away from it. The natural tendency for the average man is to seek security and move with the crowd. There is a general believe that it’s the safest place to be. At least, if you will die, you won’t die alone. Even if you die alone, there will be people around to bury you. That’s the ejaculation of the majority. 

Well, I beg to differ. I any case, my mentor Les Brown would say: “There is no safe position in life”. Afterall, you can’t get out of life alive. He who moves with the crowd is not safer than the one who moves against it. Life comprises no safe position. The bold is just as unsafe as the coward, the king just as unsafe as the slave and the rich just as unsafe as the poor.

Why then are we finding it difficult to dare to be different? The insecurities are always going to be there anyways. Can we for once stop being so cowardly? The world does not need another coward. It is already riddled with so much of them. The universe in times as this is in need of those who can take the bull by the horn not minding the insecurities that exist.

There was a man in the BIBLE called Zaccheus. The reason we can make reference to him today is simply because he climbed a TREE. Not just because he climbed a tree, but because he did it while others were walking on the ground. He understood that the only place that is crowded in life is the bottom. He didn’t want to be there. He needed to raise his pedestal to create some difference in himself. He understood that no man has ever been celebrated based on his similarities with anyone. The world celebrates DIFFERENCES. You just have to be different if posterity will hold on to our greatness long enough. You have to climb a TREE.

What trees exist in your industry, workplace or school? A tree can be a shade, an obstruction  or a platform to leverage. Leverage on the heights that exist around you. They are Trees and are meant to announce you to the world. A tree is that different technique or person you need to connect with.

If there are no ‘trees’ around you, plant them. Trees don’t drop from heaven, they are planted. Plant and grow your tree. You can only grow to the height of the trees that exist around you. Find the right tree and leverage it. Find the right DIFFERENCE and be it.

When others are walking, CLIMB. When others are climbing, FLY. When others are flying, just do MORE. In everything you do, go the extra mile and do differently. Leverage a TREE and grow with it into the skies.

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 'Dimeji Mudele

(c) July 2013

The changing questions of life

Just when you think you have gotten life figured out, it moves itself again to new positions still to be figured out. The night comes and then a new day dawns. Two choices you can make at this point: (1)  Operate in a new day with yesterday's knowledge. Or (2) Move to update yourself with what is required to get results TODAY.

The QUESTIONS of life have been the same for ages. They will remain the same for even longer. But the answers to these questions CHANGE everyday. Africans should take note.

"Life will ask you the same question everyday, month or year, but it won't expect the same ANSWER from you". The marking scheme of life  constantly revises itself to fit the bill of time and trend. The reason we find it difficult in Africa to be RELEVANT in times like this is down to the fact that out answers are either non-existent or outdated; we have the answers for yesterday, but not TODAY. The fact remains that TODAY is the BRIDGE to the FUTURE. The FUTURE fast evades the man who lacks the answers for TODAY.

 Africa should stop being a dumping ground for solutions that have served their time. We need the answers for TODAY, and we need them TODAY.

(C) 'Dimeji Mudele

@cutemude

The NEXT level of YOU

I have to be frank with you, the GREATNESS we deserve takes more than we are currently GIVING. It takes a LOT of PLANNING; strategic ones. It takes a lot of Goal setting; SMART ones. It takes a LOT of Initiatives; Calculated Ones.
As we begin the 2nd half of the year, We can't afford to repeat our 1st half failings. Back to the dressing room we should go. Time to roll up our sleeves, set GOALS and get going at achieving them.
I see people PRAY in such ways as: "Lord, move me to the 'next level' in this 2nd half of the YEAR". It's good to pray for a movement to the next level, but we have to define what the next level means to us. The next level to some people could mean "5 more girlfriends","2 international trips" or "Publishing a new book". 

Stop praying to God for just any next level. Define what the next level means to YOU and how much contribution it makes to the BIG picture.
The bible says: "Commit your plans unto the LORD, and HE will establish your thoughts".
You see that? Stop crying to God to ESTABLISH your thoughts when you have committed no plans to him. God works with what you COMMIT to him.
Give God something to work with.

(C) 'Dimeji Mudele
@cutemude

The GOLDEN RULE

"The BIG secret of LIFE is that there is no BIG secret" - Abiola Champ Salami
I have seen people get behind the lectern to teach funny topics. They complicate things that should be as simple as boiling an egg. You see them teach "100 principles of Influence", "750 tools of GREATNESS" and the likes. Life is not that complicated my brother. If there are indeed 1000 rules of success, then we will all die failures. Who amongst us can boast of such discipline to even obey the 10 commandments? Haba! Not to now talk of the uncountable rules some people postulate and try to impose on us.
There is just one RULE which is that there are no RULES.

  Ok.. Maybe there is the GOLDEN RULE.
And what's the Golden RULE? The GOLDEN RULE states that "the man that has the GOLD makes the RULE". All still boiling down to the same thing. "There are no rules". There is no point thinking outside the BOX. The BOX in itself does not EXIST.
Think freely, Innovate , break GROUNDS.

(C) 'Dimeji Mudele
@cutemude

What and when is the FUTURE?

You should have seen this "The FUTURE awards" of a thing advert on your TV by now. If not, try watching Tinsel on Afmag world Channel 155 today. Tune-in a little ahead of schedule, like 5-10mins. Let's hope things will follow the same course this time. If not, call DSTV customer care and make your complain. Don't BUG me. Ehnn ehnnn. Kidding
A question was asked in that advert. Simple question! "What is the FUTURE?" And a 28 years old guy couldn't answer. If you ask President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, he will probably say the future is Vision 20:20:20 (we all know there is no vision).
But actually, what is the FUTURE? 

Cut the crap dude! The FUTURE is not TOMORROW. Tomorrow never comes.
The FUTURE is a POTENTIAL. It's everything that EXISTS that you are yet to be AWARE of. It's not ahead of you, it's WITHIN you. It's that RING you are yet to put on your girlfriend's finger. It's that BOOK you are yet to PUBLISH.
It may come NOW, 2015, 2020, or may never come. YOU CHOOSE! Just know this: "Your FUTURE does not have the right to catch you by surprise"

(C) 'Dimeji Mudele

Written on the 27th of July, 2013

YES! Bikes have been banned from our major roads, but you don't need a bike to follow me on twitter. Ff @cutemude for out of the world tweets.
Yes, I am a CELEB... But I will ff you back.

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Give your DREAMS a fight.

If only someone could just appear out of the BLUES and give us our dreams. I mean we could easily JUMP START our ultimate destination and boycott the whole GROWTH that we would have had to do. Can't we? I mean... Just like that.
Even if we can, I would turn down the chance to have such. I would say NO! I want to know how it feels to EARN those results and global platforms. The disappointments, start all-overs, delays, prices, people, protests, power and Experience. That's where the VALUE is.
It's actually not about what we will have or how much money we will gain access to. It is rather about WHO we will become by going through every single BUS STOP and MILESTONE that leads us to our DREAMS.

The VALUE is in the JOURNEY. We lose the journey, we lose the VALUE. So rather than cut corners, we stand and face the OBSTACLES head-on. We might WIN, we might LOSE, who cares? What we know is we will KEEP MOVING and even if we will lose our lives, we will lose it FIGHTING. Fighting for how we would rather be respected, what nation we would rather live in, what future we would rather prefer, what legacies we would rather leave for our children. We never FIGHT, we never WIN.
The day we stop FIGHTING for what we want, we start putting up with what we don't want.
We WANT it so MUCH, so we will keep FIGHTING for it.

(c) 'Dimeji Mudele

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Hello! You deserve some respect.

It has happened to you before. I mean it happens to us quite often. You meet a CELEB or BIG NAME so to say, Let's say you meet "BANKY W", next thing you lose your head. You begin to melt and you try too hard to strike an IMPRESSION; it's called "Famzing". It's ok to famz, trust me!
What you need to be aware of in instances like this is that while you definitely should RESPECT the 'BIG' guys, you also deserve some respect from YOURSELF and also from them. You are not just an OBJECT to dish out respect, you are also a SUBJECT in the RESPECT exchange process. You also deserve some respect; firstly from yourself and then from others.
You are also YOU-NIQUE and one of a KIND. A superstar and CELEB. Begin to carry yourself with such consciousness.
There is a difference between FAMZING and NETWORKING. Know this!

Your JOB is to find ANSWERS

As a thinker and keen observer of the substance of LIFE. One of the things I have found myself doing of late is to question everything around me; family, government, business, money, people and events. Why is everybody looking for money? I guess someone told us as soon as we were born that life is an endless chase for more MONEY. Why must we spend we spent so MUCH to bury a man who spent so little himself when he was alive? In asking my questions from people around me, I found out they were just as confused as I am. They all did what they were doing without even knowing why.

Then I saw a need. A need for ANSWERS. People have questions written all over their faces. I found out that FULFILLMENT is life is in finding specific answers to SERVE the COURSE of HUMANITY.
A couple of year ago, people wondered why a computer has to be so big that it has a monitor, CPU, Keyboard and Mouse in different units. They wondered why they couldn't go around the streets with their computers in their Pockets. Then we had Steve Jobs. He found the ANSWER, and found GREATNESS. Whoever it is who invented Blackberry.. God bless him too.
What answers can you find to move HUMANITY to the next level of things? You owe it to LIFE to contribute to it. Do something! NOW!

(c) 'Dimeji Mudele

@cutemude
facebook.com/cutemude

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Biz lessons from Ibadan Shoprite opening (E ku Sopping ooo)

As a public analyst and social critic, I think the Ibadan Shoprite (or “sop-rice”) train is trending too much for me not to drop my opinion. I am a VOICE, and I deserve to be heard.

People be like Shoprite opens in Ibadan, 102,000 residents visited, 35,000naira sales recorded. While that is kind of poor, there are lessons to be learnt if we will pay keen attention.

I did some growing up in Ibadan so I can authoritatively claim to understand the terrain. Yes! Our people can be so crude. They are so used to their GBAGI market that shoprite looked out of place to them. There was no ‘Iya eleja’ (Local Lady fish merchant), “Iya ologi’ (Local Pap seller) and there was no store for Iya mufu to sell hot pap and Akara. For all they care, a market without all these is not worthy being called one. The Ibadan market is a peculiar one. It takes being able to mix TRENDS and TRADITION to harness such markets as Ibadan’s. Ibadan people are TRADITIONALISTs; they will do more than anything to preserve their way of doing things. We all already know by now that there is an Ibadan way of doing things, or saying things. Instead of Shoprite, the average Ibadan man will say “sop-rice”. He’s not being local, he’s sincerely just being himself.

The challenge is now up to you; other entrepreneurs who are looking to expand into Ibadan to understand that what sells in Lagos might not sell in Ibadan and understand the individuality of every market and tarrain. 102,000 people didn’t just walk into Shoprite to take a tour with their arms folded. They were actually there to buy stuffs. Maybe, I guess, they couldn’t find what they came looking for. 

Imagine Madinat (part of the crowd in the above picture) who stays in the back side of Ibadan walking into Shoprite, or sop-rice as the case may be.  She’s probably coming in to buy beans cake (Akara), Yam powder (Amala) or Ewedu (a vegetable  used to prepare an Ibadan delight). She comes in to find burgers, flakes and chips. She’s going to be like: “Ewo ree oooo, eyin eeyan egba mi” (The Ibadan way of expressing shock and surprise). The sales persons she will be dealing with will look totally different from the kind of people she had always been dealing with all her life. No tribal marks, no buba , Iro or gele. And you want her to be comfortable? Like seriously? Duh!

Now we can begin to draw our lessons.  Every terrain is different, and should be treated as such. Trend in itself cannot create the complete blend that will connect with the minds of prospective buyers. People are very emotional about their beliefs. This in itself is a lifeline that can help you connect with them on a deeper level. Striking a balance between trend and tradition create the emotional connection that your business needs.  People will quickly identify with businesses that can identify with them.

Big brands make small mistakes, but they still manage to cover up. Some of us who are coming up cannot afford to makes such mistakes as this. It is imperative that we learn little lesson like this and build on them.

(c) 'Dimeji Mudele

@cutemude

27AE5829

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