No one throws a stone at a barren tree

 

No matter how popular, smart, generous, charismatic, humble you may be, not everyone in your social orbit, area of residence, alma mater WhatsApp group, place of worship, will show total goodwill toward who you are, what you do and what you have. Not all people you work, play, and pray with are hundred percent collaborators. Do not cheat yourself and this should not worry you. It is natural. Even the best of the best, people who played a game, met similar encounters or even worse circumstances. This world was built by people, who attracted critics and ignored the chattering, misdemeanors. 

Jesus Christ was crucified having been betrayed by one of his students. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated by the very people he freed from colonial rule. Pope John Paul II was shot at by one of the faithful he ministered to. Hip hop music star, Eminem, was sued by his biological mother and wanted him to be thrown into jail. Former president of Democratic Republic of Congo, Mobutu Sese Seko, was killed by his loyal and longtime bodyguard. Iconic Steve Jobs was fired from the company he founded, Apple Inc, by John Scully, the person he handpicked to be Chief Executive Officer of his company. Lee Iacocca was dismissed by his board chairperson and owner, Henry Ford II, amidst spectacular performance. The list is endless. 

In 2004, Executive Development Associates conducted a survey. The results were stunning. The survey revealed that when a person moves into new employment, new school, new residential area, new place of worship or any new environment, 80% of the people welcome him, 10% are indifferent and 10% loathe him with indescribable opposition. There are always people in your space, who naturally work against and oppose you. Some will throw spanners in your work silently; others will oppose you openly. 

Everyone, irrespective of social or financial status, faces opposition. Find me someone who does not, and I will show you a flop. The degree of opposition varies from person to person and for the same person, from situation to situation. The chief factor why some people show opposition against others is fear. When you are making satisfactory progress toward your goal, some people start looking at you differently. They despise you. They loathe you. They want your achievements to be theirs or belong to their significant others or they simply do not want to see you progressing in your endeavors. They try to do whatever it takes to pull you down. The more achievements you garner, the stronger the opposition becomes. Sometimes, your opposers connive with dissident emissaries to see you out of the game. Take comfort in the words of thirteenth century classical writer, Sa’adi, who assertively remarked, “the ammunition selected by your enemy is clue of the size of their fear of you.” I could not make sense of Sa’adi’s scholarly statement until I remembered what happened to Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ ministry touched every aspect of the wheel of life. He worked with everyone and for everyone. Are you not baffled why a community could conspire to kill a problem-solver? He was there for the bereaved - he resurrected Lazarus from the dead and comforted the bereaved sisters. He was there for fishermen - Peter and his friends spent the whole night without catching any fish. Jesus appeared on the scene. He instructed Peter and his fishermen friends to lay their net on the other side of the lake and the catch was enormous. He did not stop there. He calmed down stormy seas for travelers. Jesus’ work was unmatched. Even scholars, judges, and the learned sought wisdom from him. The Pharisees, who were considered as great philosophers of their time, ran to Jesus to seek knowledge. He never left the hungry to starve - one loaf of bread and two pieces of fish were enough to feed a multitude of hungry followers. For the non-believers - he performed miracles. He associated with the poor, the rich, the lowly, children alike. He kept the law and obeyed those in authority. Above all, for his followers, he did not only teach them leadership, but commissioned them to spread his school of thought and take the ministry to the world. Despite all the good works that he initiated, he still received criticisms, rebuke, scorn; they called him names; they accused him of certain offences and eventually killed him.

Learn a lesson from Jesus’ encounters. If people do not talk about you, do not criticize you and your work, you better ask yourself hard questions. Perhaps you are not doing enough. It is tragic - you are wasting a life. Someone once said; “nothing significant has ever been achieved without criticism.” Achievements come with criticisms. If you avoid being criticized, then you are running away from great performance. Success will certainly elude you and you become a failure. Do not worry about people’s criticism against you - just be a (wo)man of good habits and everything falls into its right place. You and I would expect a person who does good in society to be treasured and celebrated. Ironically, the world has its own ways of expressing and paying gratitude for virtuous deeds – often through scorns, rejections, and criticisms. Do not expect praises every time you do excellent work either for yourself or for others. People will not clap hands for you all the time. As long as you achieve superior results in your life, score good grades at school, live happily, rise progressively in your career, you will attract detractors. And they will grow in number as you gain more excellent results. Henry Ford put it better than I could; “Airplanes take off against the wind and not with it.” Some people see those achievements of yours as part of the competition. They get upset with your spectacular performance. But who cares as long as you are doing excellent work in furtherance of your life purpose? Remain steadfast.

As long as you are a leader, you should know that you will attract criticisms, resentments. As long as you think like a leader, act like a leader, some of your peers, followers and sometimes friends, will try to soil your good name and wonderful work. Pay no attention. Their disapprovals and condemnation against you should be taken as fertilizer for your progression. Do not relent. Push on and engage extra gear.

My message to you today is simple. Every achiever, male or female, has in his or her life, been misjudged, ridiculed, mocked, disapproved, and laughed at. They laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round. They referred to Dr. Banda, founder of Malawi nation, unreasonable when he vowed that we would destroy federation of Rhodesia and Niasaland and bring people freedom. They derided the Wrights brothers when they said man was able to fly. Who is laughing now? Aristotle once said, “If you do not want to be criticized, do nothing and be nothing.” What is the fun in that? When a CEO shares lofty vision of the company with his employees, we are quick to dub him as illusioned, deranged, daydreamer. When the same CEO keeps the vision to his inner circle and few mavericks, we call him big-headed, pompous, arrogant. When a hard-working colleague gets merited promotion, we point finger at the boss for practicing partiality, nepotism, indulging in old-necktie favors. When an industrious entrepreneur successfully grows his business, we call him a satanist.

The point of wisdom for managers and those that lead others is that as long as you are a leader, some of those who carry out your instructions will always misjudge your motives. As long as you think and act like a leader, there will be factions within your followers who will disbelieve, question, and oppose your ideas, vision. There is something special in you that scares your peers, subordinates, business competitors, neighbors, and other critics. Be happy amid condemnations, criticisms, mockery. You are not a barren tree. You are a fruit bearing tree. As long as you continue to bear good fruits, hecklers will hurl stones at you. Rejoice. One sage from the East once said, “a bird that flies the highest gets the most arrows.” My role today is to cheerlead you and declare that I am your fanatic fan. You are a real deal. If you were not a real deal, there would be silence in the stands where your critics sit. Always, remember, no one throws a stone at a barren tree. 

Lester Chinyang’anya ǀ General Manager - Operations ǀ Minet Malawi