By CHARLES KUMOLU

DRAWING lessons from personal experiences and his versatility, Africa’s Premier Brand Strategist and Principal Consultant of ADSTRAT Branding Management Consortium, Charles O’Tudor, tells a compelling life-changing story.

In the beginning

Remember The Intern, a business reality show of 2006?

What about the sights of the intelligent young men and women, who had captivating moments on the show as a result of multitasking activities?

Has anyone forgotten the tensed boardroom moments?

If these memories had been erased, the sights of the dreadlocked  anchor of the show, Charles O’Tudor, who was known as the Boss, is surely still be recognisable.

Charles O’Tudor

With his attention-grabbing personality, O’Tudor and his team presented the challenges, frustrations, and opportunities of a typical business environment to the contestants in manners that somewhat gave him out as a slave-driver.

In fact, a section of viewers considered the Boss a fault-finder, who  demanded much from the contestants.

Till date, this phrase “You are fired,” which he used each time an intern was evicted from the show, echoes in the memories of many.

But that was the game which was aimed at creating new business leaders and promoting the spirit of entrepreneurship among Nigerian youths.

Many years after the show which was sponsored by the defunct BankPHB, O’Tudor, an authority in branding, hasn’t stopped creating entrepreneurs.

Intellectual, professional and social pedigree

Unlike on the show where interns Dami, Bose, Ogechi, the eventual winner, Afolabi, and others were supervised in accordance with its grundnorm, O’Tudor is currently using his intellectual, professional and social pedigree to create a new generation of entrepreneurs.

“At the moment I am busy on different projects, which are geared towards wealth creation,” he said at the commencement of this chat in Lagos.

O’Tudor, who is reputed as Africa’s Premiere Brand Strategist and Engagement Consultant, continued thus: ”My personal Brand Master Class for C-Suite executives has kept me extremely busy.

”I have also been involved in series of speaking engagements.

The last two being the TEDX Calabar and the Procter & Gamble Women’s Entrepreneurship Development Course. I am booked for six more in the next couple of weeks. I am also preparing for the annual Charles O’Tudor Personal Brand Master Class scheduled for June 20, 2018. Unlike last year when I hosted 406 exceptional entrepreneurs, we a are hosting 1007 this year.

Young entrepreneurs

Asked the reason for the project, he said:” This is the perfect time to give back by adding value to the young entrepreneurs. This is the time to guide them based on my own mistakes over the years. We will  guide them against bad strategies and bad projection so as to ensure they have the right foundation.

Achieve a lot in life

“”When one has achieved a lot in life he needs to give back. My advice for them is to remain focused, be more organised and think outside the box. This is the time to rise up to the challenge. This is a clarion call to Nigerian entrepreneurs to step up and step out of the box. I often advise  young entrepreneurs to believe in the word of God, be focused, have faith and be disciplined.

“To get a slot in our entrepreneurship programmes, the person needs to send a proposal to us. A committee will pick the right person based on his proposal. After that, the person would be taught the basics of entrepreneurship. After that, the person will pass through a brand DNA review and SWOT analysis. By the time these entrepreneurs leave, they will be equipped with new and better ideas about how to run their businesses.

Most of them are doing well while some are still learning.  The beauty of this is that we give them a new vision about how to run their businesses with the right strategy. We teach them how to brand their businesses in such a way that they will be taken seriously.”

Fear of failure

Knowing that he is reputed as being a man of ideas, who has been instrumental to the birth of some successful concepts like the Calabar Carnival,  branding and rebranding of top-flight companies in Nigeria, it was just natural to ask O’Tudor his motivation.

The man, who found  fame and fortune early through the aforementioned endeavours, said the fear of  falling pushes him towards his goals.

He explained it thus: “Over the years I have met great men, who built brands from the scratch and I was  fascinated by their secrets.

”One of them actually told me his secret formula which really stuck in my memory. He told me that the fear of failure  in a venture is not new. What is new is not trying at all.

Becoming a big personality

“Therefore, the first step is for someone, who wants to distinguish himself in his craft,  is to immerse himself in knowledge. I am very hungry for knowledge to the extent that I never get satisfied. People should remain hungry for knowledge and be consistent in what they do.

When one remains consistent in his drive, strategy, and focus no matter what life brings, the person would excel.  Rigour and tenacity are very important. I tell people to be rigorous and tenacious no matter what time brings.

People should keep their lane by not jumping to another one when things go wrong. A lot of people do that when things go wrong and it makes them lose focus. Those that win, are those that endure.”

Tempted to leave

He, however, gave an instance  he considered opting out of the business that got him fame and fortune.

“There were years when I was tempted to leave this business and do something different. But I remained focus and ensured that everything I did was within the realm of brand management and its associated industries.  During those periods we had a lot of clients coming to us. That was why I set up a different company outside Adstrat.

We also set up a media buying company that regulates our PR Company but I still stayed focus on brand strategy and brand management. It is all about being consistent to be able to grow. People should never be contented with the knowledge of yesterday. Tomorrow is the future because yesterday is gone.

When the pressure is on

“While on vacation some years ago, I  read some books. Among them was Chris Voss’ excellent book ‘Never Split the Difference’. In it, he summarises beautifully why preparation  is truly critical to everything. When the pressure is on, you don’t rise to the occasion, you fall to your highest level of preparation.

I consider  this a fundamental truth which means that we all need to spend more time preparing and practicing our art so that when it counts, we can comfortably fall back on our highest level of preparation. If you want to deliver excellently next time, you have to fall back to your highest level of preparation instead of hoping for the best.

As someone who spends a lot of time studying Brands and Performance Improvement, I will say that effortlessness comes from diligent preparation.

Not rehearsing specific scenes but practicing the art of improvement over and over again, continuously pushing yourself to a more fluid flow of give and take, action and reaction, are very important.

Chasing my mentors

“I didn’t just find myself like this. I was mentored in ways that added value to my life.  Everybody needs to have a mentor. Over the years, I have had different mentors. One thing about mentorship is that the person who needs mentorship would be the one to make a sacrifice to get mentored. People should not expect their mentors to be chasing them all over the place. One needs the attitude of a child to get mentored.

With that attitude, the person, who needs mentorship, should chase his mentors.

For instance, most of my mentors are chief executives of multinationals, who are very busy. What I normally do is to go to them with a list of things I want to get mentored on. But one does not have to pick every advice. People should be smart enough to know what is good for them and what is not good for them.

”When an advice is given, people are expected to pick the one they are convinced suits them. It is not necessarily to swallow everything hook line and sinker. I have been mentored by great men in this country by sitting at their feet to learn. And most of the things I have learned from them about leadership, patience, strategy, focus, consistency, discipline, and resilience add value to my life. No leader was born ready.

”One needs to acquire certain things that will add value to who he is from his environment, direct contact with people and by deliberately benchmarking himself on other peoples’ performance. One of my mentors is Mr. Ken Aghoghovbia, who is the Chief Operating Officer of African Reinsurance Corporation. Another person is Mr. Lanre Ogunlese. Another person is Sen Liyel Imoke, a former governor of Cross Rivers State.

Impressive achievement

“Managing a state brand for eight successful years is one of the things I find impressive about how we have helped individuals and organisations to be relevant. We drove the perception through branding thereby making the economy of the state viable. It was possible because we were given adequate support by the state government. It was a tedious one but we succeeded. We achieved success through the thorough research we did about the brand before commencing our job.  Having done that, we were able to articulate the strengths, opportunities, and weaknesses of that brand.  Once we were able to decipher that, we put together a strategic document that was in synergy with the real needs of the brand.

”Another major one was the setting up of the state outdoor agency.  Being able to sit back and watch the brands we worked on, succeed, gives us joy. When a client we had worked for 10 years ago, calls seeking that we add value again is a validation that what we are doing is being appreciated.  Every day is a challenge to us but I feel the greatest challenge is when we will be given the opportunity to manage the Nigerian brand.

Creating a new perception

”At the moment, we are poised to do the same thing with Africa Movie Academy Awards, AMAA. We just won the AMAA account. We are in charge of everything. We did the first branding nine years ago.  It is taking place in Rwanda in July. I am creating a new perception of the brand by bringing in new hands because when anyone is creating a new brand, it is often better achieved with fresh ideas. One must work with those, who know the direction he is going. We are reigniting a new passion for the award. Not just that, we are creating an emotional relationship between the award and the consumer. It will be such that when someone receives the award he would be so connected to it.

An award should be a reward system based on performance. The fact that some are becoming abused does not mean that everyone is doing it that way. There are some people, who are doing it based on merit. But the majority of those doing it are being driven by pecuniary reasons. It is supposed to be a reward system that rewards excellence, productivity and cutting-edge delivery. I still believe that certain brands in this country are above that.