“The world pays no attention to those who have nothing to offer.” Benard Kelvin Clive.
Life generally is all about interpersonal relationship and relationshipis anchored on provision of mutual value to both parties. Thus, the need to provide and become someone of value should be of paramount importance to anyone seeking to make headway in life.
According to James Hurford, value is simply the usefulness and importance of something or someone. It is an indicator of worth and impact. Success therefore is a byproduct of value.
Becoming someone of value is an important aspect of life. If you are contemplating starting a business, what value do you intend to offer? As a service provider, what value do you render? As an applicant looking for a job, why should an employer of labour hire you? What value can you add to the organization? If you think you have the qualification, are you the only one that possess it? An organization is planning to downsize the human resource in the wake of the present economic realities foisted by the outbreak of COVID 19 pandemic, why should you be retained? How vital (valuable) are your services to the organization? Why should that lady/ guy date/marry you? How would you be of value to his/her life?
From the foregoing posers, it is obvious that value comes in many forms. It is not necessarily about money or physical commodity. Value could be in the form of financial, services, professional and social benefits such as useful advice, care, attention, satisfaction, prayers etc. Your usefulness or relevance is tied to your value addition. If a company or that other person decides to severe relationship with you tomorrow, would you be missed?
There is no doubt that a company seeking business relationship must first provide value before asking for anything in return from a customer/client. This is because nobody pays unless there is an item, article or services of value to offer. It is on this premise that it is said in the world of business that value begets value. The same thing is true for individuals: you can only become a person of value when you start providing value and this entails meeting needs or solving problems.
The fact is, no matter how charitable or kind hearted someone might be, he/she would get tired at some pointif the relationship is of little or no value or the value is one sided. Imagine you have a friend or relation and every time he/she calls, it is about tales of woes, demands and what have you. The person may oblige your requests to some points, but he/she would get tired sooner or later if the one on the demand end is of little or no value in the relationship. Consequently, a recipient of benevolence should bear in mind that he/she should be able to provide value in return if the relationship is to be sustainable. For example, calling or sending text messages to express appreciation without making demands from time to time, burden sharing, volunteering to do some chores or help in any way possible are simple ways of providing values. Providing value before asking for anything in return has huge benefits. In the corporate world, it is believed that providing value upfront is an excellent way to building rapport and mutual respect with someone.
Becoming a person of value should be of utmost importance to anyone seeking to make success of their life. The truth is, there are some people you would never have access to until you become a person of value. For instance, not every user of Facebook or Social Media could have access to Mark Zuckerberg. Expectedly, you must be someone of value before you would be able to access him or before he could decide to pay you a visit notwithstanding that you are a user of one of his social media Apps. Similarly, a bank manager would not visit any type of customer unless such a customer is someone of value. Resultantly, Dangote or Mrs Ibukun Awosika may decide to call their bank managers to bring any amount of cash to them in the house and would be sure of receiving prompt response! This is because they are not just persons of value but they are regarded as ‘high valued customers’.
Becoming someone of value is therefore imperative given that a parasitic relationship hardly lasts. You must resolve never to be a leech in any relationship; whether business or social relationship. A leech is defined as someone who clings to another for personal gain, especially without giving anything in return, and usually with the implication or effect of exhausting the other’s resources. It is intrinsic that people would shun you at some point if they realize that you are only taking more than you give.
Even though relationship shouldn’t always be about capitalist idea of quid pro quo, providing value is necessary for sustenance of relationships. Value is connected to influence and one’s extent of influence is proportional to one’s value. Your outflow determines your inflow. In other words, the value you give out determines how people value you. If you are currently in a relationship where you feel not valued or less valued, this might be a clue that you are not providing value. In value chain equation, you can’t get what you don’t give.
Therefore, to become a person of value, you must:
a. Discover your purpose and passion. It is in pursuit of this that you can add significant value to the lives of others and hence become someone of value.
b. Pursue personal development. Personal development entails understanding and developing yourself with a view to realizing your full potential. This would enable you to add value. How are you better today than you were 2 or 3 years ago?
c. Identify a problem you can solve for people. Think of what you can do to make life better or easier for someone. No matter your present condition, you should be able to meet some needs or solve some problems using knowledge, skills, resources etc. You should be able to solve a problem in your community or provide a solution if you would ever become a person of value.
d. Pursuit of excellence. What you do is as important as how well you do it. Don’t do anything haphazardly, no matter how seemingly insignificant the task, assignment or project is. Go extra mile, put a touch of excellence. Let your name be synonymous with excellence. This is a mark of someone of value.
f. Integrity is key. You may lack finance, skill or knowledge but don’t ever be deficient in integrity. A person of value must not joke with his/her integrity.
Finally, here are some personal assessment questions to ascertain whether or not you are a person of value.
Am I a leech?
In what ways can I provide practical value?
In which area do I have comparative advantage that I can leverage on for the benefit of the other person or people?
Do people look for you?
Is your presence appreciated?
Will your absence be felt?
Do people seek or value your advice or opinion?
Do people talk about you in a positive way?
Will people recommend you?
Do people want to partner with you?
Are people willing to pay for your services?
– Benjamin Atanu Achimugu writes from Abuja and can be reached on benjaminachimugu@nigerianbar.ng
