I’m just returning from 10 amazing days in Thailand. The trip was not only thrilling and exciting it was enlightening. This was my first time in Thailand, but certainly not going to be my last. I have been to Turkey, Malaysia, UAE, to Singapore, to India, journeyed to even amazing paradises on the indian ocean – Maldives and Mauritius. All have their lessons, Thailand had a special zing to it. It not only positions as a wonderful vacation resort, it doubles as a place for enlightenment – spiritually, nationally, culturally e.t.c. This ranks as the best vacation experience organized by Avenues to Wealth till date, and from here, the future looks even more promising as we all compete towards being in Greece for the next company organized all expenses paid leadership event. Before I get engrossed in the past and future of the company however, kindly join me in learning some of the lessons from Thailand.
1. Everyone is trainable! Maybe it’s because I’m primarily a teacher before anything else, that I tend to see training and learning almost everything, but Thailand really opened my eyes to the fact that you can’t give up on anyone. I watched with awesome wonder as we were entertained by well trained Sea Lions – who clapped, danced, jumped, bowed, and performed all sorts of unbelievable stunts. I watched trained dolphins, watched trained tigers, crocodiles, elephants, it was amazing. It was a vital lesson in human dominion as elephants played football and basketball, tigers jumped through fiery hoops, crocodiles ignored human heads pushed into their mouth, birds rode bicycles e.t.c. The highlight of what animals can do, for me, was watching a number of elephants painting! Yes painting, they painted nice sceneries of trees, grasses and flowers. They were given a brush and they painted away in the full view of thousands of foreigners. I learnt that elephants were actually trained and employed in the farms a few years back in Thailand, when the cost of maintaining an elephant became outrageous. If animals can be trained to do so much, then it’s not worth it giving up on any human being. The gap between you and what you ought to be able to do, is discipline and commitment. With the right reward and incentives, you can do anything you truly desire to do.
2. Excellence has a hallow effect! When you demonstrate excellence in little things, it has the capacity to silence people about where you have obvious faults. All of a sudden the topic can change from what the problem is, to how wonderful everything else was. If you doubt this concept, then you need to go watch the Alcazar Show. This by far trumps any show I have ever watched in my life in terms of excellence of execution, stage management, lighting, sound and combination of talents. Some of the elements of this 1200 seater show are simply indescribable. With 7 layers of interchangeable stages, exceptional lighting, great sound and amazing talent, the Alcazar show has become an international wonder. Powered by 400+ staff of wonderfully talented artists and entertainers, the usually omitted downside of this great show is the fact that all the artists are either lady-men or gay. I had a VIP ticket to this show, met some beautiful angel looking ushers, got my ticket from some damsels, watched beautiful ladies dance and look like Shakira, the twist was they were all guys, all of them! When the show finished and it was time to take pictures with the stars, we were all stunned, but interestingly the discussions even by the people who should be the strongest critics of sex change and role playing centered around the excellence of the event. Whatever it is your hand finds to do, do with all your might. Be diligent in your work, strive for excellence, and watch even your critics applaud your progress.
3. 1+1>2 There is power in the group effect! Can you jump down from a 56 story building? How about feed a Tiger? Ride an Elephant? How about carry a life crocodile? Or Walk on Walking Street (Sodom and Gomorrah bows in respect here 🙂 )without succumbing to the temptation of watching an adult show or more? Drive at breakneck speed on a go cart? All these things are difficult things to do if you are alone. When you are in good company however, the power of the group helps you take the chances and do what would otherwise have ranked between difficult and impossible! I remember the first attempt I took in riding an elephant bare back, someone shouted “wow! you are courageous”, in less than 20 mins after however, everyone had taken turns in doing the same. There is a leverage we can tap into for doing great things, it’s the leverage of “if I can, you can and if you can, we can!” We did the difficult, attempted the impossible, simply because the air around was of camaraderie. If you take this way of thinking into your work and business it can take you far and above. A saying goes as if you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together. In more than one experience I saw first hand what people can dare in the company of other bold people.
4. Increase your speed, increase your reach! In the Ambassador Hotel we stayed in Bangkok (also spent a few days in Siam Bayshore in Pattaya – both 5 Star Hotels) there were a few Thailand tailors. I normally would not go all the way to Thailand to sow clothes, but there was something about them that made them totally irresistible. Not only where they great tailors in their attention to detail, their speed was remarkable. The company visibly had 3 staff including the owner, but there certainly must have been an army behind the shop unseen. Whatever they measured and got advance payment from today, was ready within 24hrs. Can you imagine this? Let me help your imagination. About 10 of us stormed the shop in Nigerian style. I wanted a jacket, 4 trousers and two shirts, my wife wanted a complete skirt suit set, and two dresses, a friend wanted 2 jackets, shirts and trousers, and the list grew on. We got them all within 24hrs, some of us made fresh orders again and got them again, all 3 days before departing. I was so thrilled, I decided to get his measurement parameters and send him work to do. It’s amazing that if you are willing to pay you can get any thing you want sown in less than 1 week including air freight, compared to the 4 weeks that my local designer does for me. I saw first hand how much more you can achieve in your business if you put a little speed around your delivery. Ask yourself, how can I make it faster, and you might find a way to double your sales.
5. Poverty is man made! Thailand has found over 1ooo uses for Cassava! They are clear role models to Nigeria on the basis of agriculture. They export rice, tapioca, different derivates of cassava, clothes, jewelry, fruits, fishes, canned food and all sorts of wonders tied to agriculture. Export is big in Thailand and they are major exporters of rice, canned pineapple, black tiger prawns, Chicken e.t.c. They are not as blessed as we are with natural resources, but they have tapped deeply into the potentials of what they have. Agriculturally speaking, they provide us with a fantastic case study. Thailand has been able to reduce unemployment ratios from 60% to less than 10% with agriculture. They have reduced malnutrition, and driven their industrialization primarily with agribusinesses sector private sector driven initiatives. Interestingly, their growth in agriculture has been the growth of the small time farmer and not government initiatives that are disconnected from the people. Over 70% of Thailand is employed by the agriculture sector. Food is cheap, actually everything is relatively cheap.
6. …
37 thoughts on “Lessons from Thailand”
CM thanks for making this happen, Thailand was breathtaking, Really, travelling is a higher form of education. God bless A2W
wow… amazing lessons… thanks CM for sharing
WOW…now i have a date with Thailand. I.m including it in the list of country to visit before i live this earth.
I’ve always known that Agriculture is as powerful as Oil & gas in IG. Thailand Proved that.
Nice piece.
Waow! Great learnings to take off a vacation trip. Tx for sharing your experience!
Mehn…i missed big time. I know Thailand is a beautiful country. Don’t envy you though – I know the efforts you’ve put in to make such priviledges a constant in your life and that of your family!
Woooooooow! memorable event and great lessons…
Interesting….
Lesson no. 5 captivates me. It takes a man of vision to indeed know that ‘Poverty is man made!’
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Quite a great lesson. I do hope individual reader can translate this into personal action plan
My dear brother Deolu,
Nice one here.
But I am afraid you are baby feeding a wild cat.please we need you seriously.lol.
I would have accused you of wasting milk when people are staffing-but for eco system and symbiosis you won.
Have a great day and God bless.
The contest for the retrieval of soul of Nigeria from hell is a must war to be won.I count on you and may God renew your/our energy for this collective destiny.
Interesting!! Thanks for the tip on Thai tailors. Some Nigerian ‘fashion designer’ took four weeks and all the clothes are unwearable. Will hit you soon for details.
Hmm.. in traveling, our minds grow wings.
Thanks CM for sharing those insightful thoughts
oh my God…, Its a matter of time, I will also see this.
CM, thanks for sharing this here. I am just like a pregnant woman now carrying my baby within me.I will deliver a set of beautiful twins soon.Your experience that you just told us about has confirmed this to me. The fact you have seen all these things convinced me that i will soon experience the same…..its just a matter of time. Thanks.
wow…..
CM, thank you for sharing these lessons. This lessons has further strengthen my believe that, there is no impossibility in life.
Hi Akinyemi,its quite sometime your Thailand experience so awesome l cant wait to have such
Nice one indeed. Thanks for this piece of information
Thanks for all these Deolu. How can I be a part.
Cm,Thanks for sharing your experience with us,it was really a nice one ,God Bless you
Its amazing.
Thank God i met you, otherwise i might not learn from all these. They are wonderful lessons/information.God made you visited that environment for others. Nice one Bro.
Chairman Adeolu,
U r a great blessing to us!
i M SO EAGER TO visit Thailand!
Thank GOD we in Cameroon are organizing
a catch up trip over there in Thailand
in JULY month!
Most important i will be part of the GREECE free leadership vacations by the Grace of THE ALMIGHTY !
We r so blessed to be part of A2W!!!
TO GOD BE AAL THE GLORY!
Nice one. Almighty God will definetely reward all your effort to humanity IJN.
CM, this is awesome. Thanks for the great info and insight. I am encouraged the more
This is very nice, more grease to ur elbow.
I AM BY YOUR TESTIMONY INSPIRED AND LOOKING FORWARD FOR A TRIP TO THAILAND IN THE NEAREST FUTURE.THANKS FOR SHARING WITH US.
I made 4 pairs of complete 3 piece suit and collect them the day after. Simply amazing. I experienced all the lessons and more. All who went for this vacation overcame their fears and erased their limit lines. Thanks CM for stairing this boat in this direction.
I made 4 pairs of complete 3 piece suit and collected them the day after. Simply amazing. I experienced all the lessons and more. All who went for this vacation overcame their fears and erased their limit lines. Thanks CM for stairing this boat in this direction.
CM, point 5 resonates very deeply! Thanks for sharing, as always.
Thank you sir. welcome back!
we all at eleven32 (O.A.U) missed you so much but will keep you updated with reports soon.
This is exceptionally beautiful and inspiring. If animals could be trained to do this much, then humans can do much more. just came to my mind now, “Do animals also have genius amongst them?”. keep on the GOOD work. Shalom
simply breathtaking…what else can I say…I will certainly take the lessons to heart…and I’m also taking one more thing to heart,and that’s to visit Thailand by August next Yr.
deolu, u dey try
gbosa!!!! 4 u
Thanx CM for a very inspiring piece. I dont have any excuse not to make a great success of the wonderful opportunities offrered by A2W. I’m excited to a part of this team of WINNERS.
Generally I don’t read article on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very pressured me to check out and do it! Your writing taste has been surprised me. Thank you, very nice post.
hello! 🙂 i am at work currently, so i do not have very much time to write… nonetheless! I truly enjoyed reading this article. It turned out to be a bunch of great stuff. thanks! Sincerely, Vadala
What a great experience you had, and an inspiring lesson for me to learn from. Keep it up!!!