Àgbà búra bí èwé ò bá ṣe é rí

One of my employees recently resigned without giving notice; She worked at Lendsqr for 18 months before serving me breakfast. She was fantastic in her first year with us but struggled terribly in her last six months. 

She just woke up one day and left. 

It was so sudden and I was livid! It felt like liquid rage was coursing through my veins. Luckily, common sense prevailed if not I could have ended up with a stroke 🤣.

But then, I kept thinking about her. This employee was genuinely excellent. So, what went wrong? 

I was extremely upset and disappointed and in that state, my mind immediately reached for the Gen Zs and millennials are lazy narrative:“Young people today aren’t serious!” “They’re entitled!” “Something must be wrong with them!”  In my time …

… and that’s when a Yoruba saying hit me: “Àgbà búra bí èwé ò bá ṣe é rí”—elder, swear if you were never young (and a little foolish). It stopped me in my tracks. There was nothing different “in my time”. I was young once and I was foolish. Very foolish.

Big-ups to those who survived the storm that was my youth

I’ve worked in financial services since chicken had teeth and I have a decent enough reputation. Everybody knows I keep my word. If I make you a promise, you can take it to the bank. It’s not motivated by some noble ideal; I’m just too proud and allergic to getting sh*t from anyone to imagine that I could give a promise and not keep it. 

I’m very dedicated to my work and when I started out in banking this paid off. It took me only six and a half years to move from entry level to a senior manager even though I didn’t have a godfather paving the way for me. This was no small feat. I know my stuff and people know that I do but the truth is, this wasn’t always the case and even when it appeared like this, it wasn’t the full story. 

There’s another side to me that most people don’t know.

I started out as an NYSC intern in Standard Trust bank and I gave them hell—I was unruly, disrespectful, and even appeared before the disciplinary committee after which I was given a final warning. Obviously,  I was not retained after my service year ended. I’m sure they were ecstatic to finally be rid of me. I was happy to go as well but I was even happier to leave them with a flaming bag of sh*t to clean up as a parting “gift”. Before I left, I deleted the CSS of the intranet I built when I was leaving. Oops 🙈

I was 24 years old, and it should be clear to you by now that I had no common sense.

This wasn’t the only time I showed myself. I was on a roll for about another decade. Back-to-back hits (well, misses, now that I look back on how terrible I was to others):

While waiting for a proper job after my National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) year, I got a job working at a cyber cafe. I can’t remember what the last straw for my employer was then but one day he just got so mad and fired me. 

I took this foolishness into my marriage as well. My ex-wife is an amazing woman and I tell this to my kids all the time. I did some really stupid things I’ll forever be sorry for but that’s not for me to write about here. 

Fast forward to my more senior role in SystemSpecs; I was so annoying! But maybe they endured me because I was good at my job. Evidently, I left.

My point is that when I think about this young lady who left me by the side of the road  without the courtesy of giving notice, I remember my own level of wisdom and behavior at her age and I know that placed side by side with her, she’s a saint compared to who I was. 

Brilliance is no reason to be an a**hole, neither is stupidity

Being great at your job doesn’t make up for your being a terrible human being. It’s a hard truth, but some of the people you’ll work with will be downright stupid. Maybe they’ll change, maybe they won’t. But here’s the thing, we’ve all been there. At some point, we were absolute idiots ourselves. Some people (not me) might have even started out good and lost their way; others started out as complete screw-ups (yes, like me) and turned it around.

I’m not a Christian, but there’s truth in that message “let he who is without sin cast the first stone”. If Jesus were a Yoruba man, specifically from Ilesha in Osun state, he probably might have framed that message with a bit more oomph, like the title of this piece. Maybe Jesus needs steez?

Therefore, my dear congregation, let’s be more forgiving to people, especially young people still figuring their sh*t out. There was a time when I couldn’t stand people who left Lendsqr but now, I could even take some of them back (of course, terms and conditions apply; like swearing before Ògún that they would behave themselves). I think people can change, or at least, grow up and become less foolish. 

Despite my discipline, focus, and professionalism today, I’ll admit I was incredibly stupid as a young man—more stupid than most people I know. So yes, I think young people should be given chances to redeem themselves when, not if, but definitely when they mess up

However! Let’s not confuse this with giving people a license to be idiots or take on jobs they’re not prepared for.

To the good people who’ve left Lendsqr, if you can prove that your head is now okay, the door isn’t entirely closed. This message isn’t for all of you though. There are still some people I wouldn’t take back even if God Himself put a gun to my head.

Why? 

Because while youthful stupidity might be temporary, a rotten core is forever. And I’m nobody’s savior.