By Christopher Oji
The pastor in charge of Daystar Christian Centre, Oregun, Lagos, Sam Adeyemi, has said what the world needs to survive the challenges confronting mankind is innovation.
Pastor Adeyimi, who spoke during a two-day programme, tagged: “Excellence in leadership: Innovation for lasting impact,” at the church’s auditorium, said: “Innovation is the heartbeat of progress, and without fresh solutions, we cannot effectively address the challenges we face as the world is constantly evolving.”
Adeyemi, who officially launched the 2024 Excellence in Leadership Conference (ELC) on the occasion, said leaders in any capacity must forge new paths that drive growth and meaningful change, stressing, “a major focal point this year is the use of innovation as a tool for progress.”
He urged leaders to see challenges as avenues for creating value, stating, “Our challenges offer an opportunity to build solutions, and innovation allows us to maximise our resources.”
He outlined nine practical steps for fostering innovation in organisations, including embracing diversity, celebrating ideas and recognising the value of structured leadership. Adeyemi also underscored the importance of love in leadership, reminding attendees that “the measure of love is how we treat people in our society and how we show respect for each other. Probably, the biggest need of the world right now, especially because there is a season of change, uncertainty and disruptions, is innovation. One thing we should always remember is that we can do it. Innovation is the opportunity to convert intangible realities into physical realities. If you are going to innovate, your imagination has got to be active and your mind has got to be able to process, create plans and strategies and then you execute and bring things into the real world.
“All cultures in our world do not value the mind the same way. And you need to be sensitive to the culture from which you evolved. This is where the leadership dimension to innovation comes from. So, not only are we asking or proposing that you innovate, we are also proposing that you influence innovation.
“If you lead a group of people and you want innovation to be part of your culture, you need to provide guidance. You cannot just say, ‘innovate.’ Define what the problem is that we’re solving; next, set the example, be a pointer, generate ideas. Next, encourage ownership. Encourage ownership of the members of your team; let them own the vision and delegate power. Next, find hidden gems, look at the people on your team, everyone is gifted, everyone is a genius. I don’t believe there’s a human being on this planet that is not talented. You’ve got to see the genius, find the genius in your team members.
“Celebrate diversity. They are going to be different and that difference is the strength of a team.
“If you have eight of you on the team, all eight of you have exactly the same temperament, the same skills, the same mindset, you will have perfect peace; no arguments in your meetings, everybody teaching the same way. One person starts a sentence, another person finishes it.
“Innovation actually takes what is already in existence and makes it usable. It uses it to solve the present problem. So, to innovate means to make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods and ideas.
To make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas or products, is simply finding solutions.
“Why should we innovate? Because we have problems. There are problems in our world. We have needs. We have challenges in our world. We really have physiological problems.
We need food. We have the need for shelter. We have needs for this body, for clothing to cover our nakedness. We have so many needs in our world. We have the need for transportation. We have social problems. Wherever you put humans, if you have one person, just that one person has problems. Then when you put two people together, the problem multiplies. And then you have 50 people, 100, 1000, a million. We have social problems. We have relationship problems. We have economic, psychological, emotional and spiritual problems. We have political problems.
So the existence of problems is what establishes the need for innovation.
“The fact is that we’ve just got to be able to rearrange things, to put things together in order to create solutions for the problems that we have. We also need to innovate because it is the way to thrive in the world. This is very important, to extract great value from our resources.
“At the end, you have mineral resources in the soil, like we have crude oil in Nigeria. Without innovation, crude oil would be totally useless. We can’t drink it. We can’t use it to cook. We can’t use it to bake.
Without innovation, we never would have been able to extract the things that we get out of crude oil, including petrol, diesel, kerosene, plastic chairs and several other products. Without innovation, what would we do with the cotton on the fields? We have to be able to innovate to produce textile materials. The skin on the back of cows, without innovation, we would not have made any shoes. So, innovation is what helps us to extract value from the resources around us.”
On her part, co-convener and speaker at the conference, Pastor Nike Adeyemi, outlined that the measure of love we have is seen in how we treat people and how we show respect for each other. She gave this message urging leaders to serve as “healers” and “light bearers,” using compassion as a guiding force amid challenges.
Gathering attendees from across Nigeria and beyond, both in-person and online, ELC 2024 highlighted the pivotal role leaders play in shaping solutions to society’s pressing issues.
The conference presented a distinguished line-up of speakers, such as Leke Alder, Victor Gbenga Afolabi, Adaora Mbelu, and ID Cabasa, each bringing unique insights on driving impact.