THE WIN THAT COMES AFTER
Is it possible to win when you are no longer at the wheel?
Sometime in October, NIMECHE LASU went on an industrial visit to the IMOTA rice mill, a trip I had planned during my tenure as president, but due to issues beyond my control, my dream was not realised. Throughout my time in Lasu, the mechanical engineering students had not gone on any industrial visits, programmes or events outside the campus, both social and educational since the inauguration of the chapter which only a handful of students attended, probably not more than three.
As president, I tried to fix some of these issues, which were not characteristic of an engineering department, and I realised something very important: unless you have an association that functions well already and has a systematic working process, not only is what you are trying to achieve going to be very hard and impossible in some scenarios but even if you do it, there is no guarantee that after you leave it will continue.
One of the solutions I focused on was trying to have a successor, someone who knew everything going on in my administration, loved the association, was a good leader, and had all the other necessary traits. This worked to a degree at first, but anybody who has enough experience has read enough books and knows enough about history knows that this is a plan that is bound to fail at one point, and not only has it caused wars, it has resulted in the total collapse of societies.
Another solution I utilised was developing a system for Nimeche Lasu where everything functions. Creating a working system is hard and takes a lot of time, so everybody almost defaults to the successor model, which is a short-term solution and may not necessarily give the desired outcome.
Nimeche Lasu Going on an industrial visit made me happy, even though it did not happen during my tenure. It grounded my belief in continuity as one of the top traits of a good system. This is the kind of result and value every leader should strive for. If something cannot be done in your administration, it is nothing bad for the coming administration to be the one to actualize that project; it shows that you guys are not doing this for just yourself but for the benefit of others.
Winning after doesn't only apply to associations. In 2021, I went to represent my campus in a debate competition, which was lost woefully. This loss served as a building block and inspiration for making sure not only do we have debaters on our campus, but they also become official members of the Lasu Debate Society, which has resulted in us reaching the final once and the semifinal once of Word War (a renowned Lasu debate competition). The competition I participated in has not been held since I participated, but I know that when it does, we will be on the podium.
Winning is not limited to taking the first position, winning elections or actualizing projects; it could be lessons learned, knowledge gained or what is left behind.
EXTRAS
The word for today is 爱 Ai, meaning love in Chinese.
我爱你 Wo ai ni means I love you; you know where to use that.
Jara Content
On August 4, 1972, Ugandan President Idi Amin, who had seized power in a military coup the previous year, ordered the expulsion of his country’s Asian population and gave them 90 days to leave the country. He alleged that Uganda’s Asians had been “sabotaging Uganda’s economy, deliberately retarding economic progress, and fostering widespread corruption. The expulsion of the Ugandan Asians would later backfire, as not only did they contribute 90 per cent of the revenue that the country generated, but they also possessed the technical abilities to run a business. So it was no surprise that after Asian Ugandans left, a lot of the industries they managed crashed. A working system, when disrupted without a suitable replacement, could be likened to suicide.