Femi LazarusCEO at Femi Lazarus Consulting

If you could only choose 5 people for your team, who would they be?

24 Mar 2026 · 2 min

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2:17

In this conversational podcast segment, Speaker A opens with a personal anecdote about a pre‑wedding photo shoot that required on‑the‑spot creativity: with no gown or props, they improvised a makeshift dress and used the natural beach setting to produce a memorable image. Using that story as a springboard, Speaker A outlines the six key qualities he looks for when assembling a five‑person team: (1) improvisational ability – quick, resourceful problem solving when standard methods fail; (2) creativity – leveraging any available material to achieve goals; (3) leadership – coordinating and managing the group even without being the most technically skilled; (4) consistency – staying committed until tasks are completed; (5) vigilance – noticing hidden opportunities or risks that others miss; and (6) cost‑effective impact – delivering large results with minimal spending. He stresses that success hinges on the mindset and mental agility of team members more than on gadgets or tools, though tools still play a supporting role. Speaker B prompts the discussion, but the core content is Speaker A’s criteria and philosophy for building a lean, high‑performing team.

Chapters

When I was getting married, there was a picture I took my wife. I'm going to put it on the screen. That picture was my wife wearing a gown, flowing gown at the sea, sunset. Yes, I remember that. Do you know that that picture, behind the scene of that picture, you're making sugar picture, there was no gown. In fact, we were just jizzing there. I said, well, we need to, we need to, we need to shoot pre-wedding picture. There was no gown. There was no gown. What he did was I just got a white shirt, a white, a white long clothes Tied it around her, blah blah blah. Somebody was drawing it. In fact, somebody was inside the water, wave of the water in the beach was flowing on them. There was no gun, right there. Another— that's creative thinking.
Wow. If you're going to set up a team and you're going to have 5 people on your team, what will be the— what would I put it— the temperament? And then what will be those things you look out for in those 5 people? Yeah, I don't really care about the temperament.
I just have things I'm going to look out for. Number 1, I need someone who can improvise. There are people that the way, the technique they see in paper is all they can do. I need someone who, if that is not available and that's not working, can quickly see. I need someone who is creative, somebody who can use anything to get anything done. I need a leader. The leader may not have the talent like the rest but can manage all of them. You see that now? And I need somebody who is very consistent, somebody who can stay on the work till the work is done. I'm going to share them in different places. I need somebody who can watch their back, who is seeing what nobody's seeing. That kind of people I want to look out for. They get me results. None of these guys, they talkative. Then I need somebody who can get big results with small spending. Somebody who can get big results. I know. I'm going to show you something. The reason why I say I know, Apostle, is from experience. See, I get you. Everybody will get things done. Nobody wants to just keep spending money on necessary things. You see that? So at the end of the day, it is not the gadget, it's the mind behind. But gadget is also important.
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