A mentor warns that your name and digital footprint follow you forever. He shares a story about a poorly branded product that killed investment potential, then tells Nigerian youth that every tweet and post becomes permanent evidence of who you are.
Chapters
And never forget this. Those who are brand strategists and brand consultants can tell you this much more. There are times that your brand can defeat your intentions. Let me tell you what that means. One time I was speaking with a young lady in our church, one of our branches of our church, and I said, what do you do? Say, I make chin chin. So, okay, can I see the chin chin? Brought it in a tied cellophane leather. I said, no, go get this thing branded well and come back and represent it to me. If I'm going to invest into what you're doing and give you resources, it must be that you're on the right direction. So she went and then brought the chin chin some other time. And when I collected the chin chin, I'd forgotten that I asked her to bring it. The first thing I thought was that there was a wake keeping and then somebody died, so this was the chin chin they shared there. Because I was asking myself, what was the cross doing on chin chin? And why? What business does chin chin have to do with Maranatha? I say it's coming soon. Listen, I don't deceive people. I don't tell you God will bless what I know can't fly. So I said this chin chin is for the dead, so I can't take it and it's not going to get anywhere. And then that's it. Listen, that's brand in terms of product. There are times that where you are going, your personal brand, what you're doing with your name, what you're doing with your legacy what you are doing with your track record everywhere you get to has already gone ahead of your future and messed it up. There's going to be much more poverty with this current generation of Nigerian youth. Why? Social media will never forget the things they say and the things they do. Listen, the older generation had little repercussion. Don't forget that because of when they grew up, there was no media. It was not like they didn't have mistakes. Or your mistakes have been recorded in digital footprint. You will never see the kids of the mighty throwing words around anyhow. Saro Soké generation, you will suffer if you continue that habit. You can talk to any pastor, drag anybody. I'm not saying you should not show your grievance, speak up, but you must do it as one whose hand was held and showed the way of power. If you didn't meet it at home, prepare for it. Learn it. There's a way to talk. There's a way to tweet. Some people just do that. Once you get on Twitter, suspect modesty. Suspend it.
