Debates & Flashback

John Stith Pemberton, born on July 8, 1831 in Knoxville, Georgia, United States, is known worldwide as the inventor of the Coca-Cola drink.

(The Art of Seeing Others Deeply And Being Deeply Seen)

By David Brooks

1. Practice Deep Attention: True connection hinges on going beyond the surface-level pleasantries of small talk. Deep attention involves actively listening, not just hearing words. Pay close attention to nonverbal cues like body language and tone of voice, as these can reveal hidden emotions. Asking clarifying questions demonstrates your desire to truly understand the other person's perspective. Cultivate genuine curiosity by prompting them to share more with inquiries like "Tell me more about that" or "What was that experience like for you?"

By Russ Harris

1. Confidence is a Skill, Not a Trait Confidence can be developed and strengthened with practice and effort.

(A critique of Ifeoma Chigbogwu’s Transformational Leadership: A Guide for Empowering Executives published by Ifeoma Speaks TV, Lagos, Nigeria, 2024)

Ever since Jim MacGregor Burns, the American presidential historian, used the term, transformational leadership, in 1978, and Bernard M. Bass, the academic, wrote well-received scholarly papers on it a few years later, the concept has seized the imagination of not just social science and business researchers, but also practitioners, politicians, and the general public. Whereas scholars and other experts view transformational leadership -- which is differentiated from transactional, charismatic, authoritarian, authentic, situational, and servant leadership styles, among others -- as technically the ability to inspire and motivate followers to attain unexpected levels because the followers see them as caring and working for the common good and as role models ethically and professionally, the public sees transformational leadership as the ability to bring about positive radical changes within a short period. Nigeria’s former President Goodluck Jonathan pledged, on coming to office in 2010, to provide transformative leadership given the enormity of the development challenges paralyzing a nation that the revered former Vice Alex Ekwueme, a polyvalent intellectual, described as “a miracle waiting to happen”.

By Judea Pearl

1. Beyond Correlation, Embrace Causation: The book emphasizes going beyond simply observing correlations and delving deeper into the "why" behind phenomena. It encourages seeking evidence-based causal inferences to avoid misleading associations and make effective decisions.

(A poem on the present situation in Nigeria)

By Ifemesia Iferenta (Furious Frank)

emilokan squats

and squeezes with ease

the very life

out of endangered skeletons

that rattle without synchrony

timidly aspiring

to humanhood claims

skeletons rattle across

the streets of chagrin

- skeletons that cringe from liberating laughters

skeletons that wear wizened masks

they deign to call “human faces”

yet the noose tightens

and tortures the fortitude

that now ebbs into a groan

squeezing out droplets of blood

that form little puddles

of muffled protests

at the calloused feet of emilokan

and many startled skeletons

wave goodbye

at the thresholds of eternity

and with sighs that seem to say

“it is finished, it is finished

Copyright: Ifemesia Iferenta (Kambili Kamanda), 3.30 p.m, Wednesday, February, 21, 2024. NNL.