"Daddy Desire, Pls is your friend with you?!"
"No! He is not. Is he not back?!"
"I haven't seen my husband. And it's already late"
"Have you tried reaching him?"
"Yes, his phones are switched off"
So my friend's wife rang me. It was late in the Night. I'd already retired in bed.
It's very unusual that any of my friend's wife would call. That should be her first time.
So I quickly answered the call.
"Daddy Desire, Pls is your friend with you?!"
"No! He is not. Is he not back?!"
"I haven't seen my husband. And it's already late"
"Have you tried reaching him?"
"Yes, his phones are switched off"
That's very unusual of my friend, staying out late at night. He closes 5:00pm everyday. Apart from our seasonal hang out; i don't think he keeps late at night.
I got worried too.
"Okay! Please we are Expecting you"
She has begin to feel so worried.
My friend lives in a very far place. So, I left so quickly.
Heavily pregnant; with three year old Anny!
The little girl was crying and asking where her Daddy is after seeing her mom in such a sorry state.
"Let's go inside."
"His number isn't going!"
"It's okay, okay?!" But she can't be okay.
Everyone of them haven't seen him for days.
" Could Bode be keeping extra marital affair?!
Could it be an accident?! No, way."
These were my thoughts.
It was getting more late.
They're the only one who would have a sleepless night when you're not in bed.
They're the only one who'll really cry wholeheartedly when you go missing.
Many wives won't eat; waiting for their husbands arrival. That's love.
She was so restless. Poor her.
Then a call came in.
"Hello!"
"Shola"
"Oh Bode!"
"Bode. Bode. Did you just say Bode?!"
I nodded my head.
She came standing before me.
"Where did he say he is? How is he? What'd happened to him? Pls talk to me.
Let me talk with him"
"With your family"
" Pls come over and pick me"
He gave me his location.
His wife wanted to go with me.
I met Bode in tears. He was seated somewhere in Maryland. He handed me a letter.
"What's the letter all about?"
"I've been sacked. I can't go home to my pregnant wife"
I felt for him.
Truly, there is a Pregnant wife, a running loan repayment, a sick mom and lots of pending bills.
He told me:
"In times like this, you count your friends.."
"You're right Bode. You're right."
I patted his 'back'.
"I'm always here bro! Always."
He told me how much push he'd to engage in. The prayers; the tears.. How long he spent in the streets.
It's going to be hard starting again.
It's going to be hard.
"You'll be fine again.
For a man will fall seven time and he will rise up yet again.
We will start all over again. We will do the usual; right from where you started and soon you will be on your feet."
"We?!"
"Yes, We!"
I guess that meant a lot to him.
Two days later. His wife put to bed.
I visited them.
Same day the baby arrived; Bode was recalled back in his working place.
I smiled.
Oluwanishola Akeju Whitehead
@Threadreaderapp unroll
More from Life
1/ Some initial thoughts on personal moats:
Like company moats, your personal moat should be a competitive advantage that is not only durable—it should also compound over time.
Characteristics of a personal moat below:
2/ Like a company moat, you want to build career capital while you sleep.
As Andrew Chen noted:
3/ You don’t want to build a competitive advantage that is fleeting or that will get commoditized
Things that might get commoditized over time (some longer than
4/ Before the arrival of recorded music, what used to be scarce was the actual music itself — required an in-person artist.
After recorded music, the music itself became abundant and what became scarce was curation, distribution, and self space.
5/ Similarly, in careers, what used to be (more) scarce were things like ideas, money, and exclusive relationships.
In the internet economy, what has become scarce are things like specific knowledge, rare & valuable skills, and great reputations.
Like company moats, your personal moat should be a competitive advantage that is not only durable—it should also compound over time.
Characteristics of a personal moat below:
I'm increasingly interested in the idea of "personal moats" in the context of careers.
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) November 22, 2018
Moats should be:
- Hard to learn and hard to do (but perhaps easier for you)
- Skills that are rare and valuable
- Legible
- Compounding over time
- Unique to your own talents & interests https://t.co/bB3k1YcH5b
2/ Like a company moat, you want to build career capital while you sleep.
As Andrew Chen noted:
People talk about \u201cpassive income\u201d a lot but not about \u201cpassive social capital\u201d or \u201cpassive networking\u201d or \u201cpassive knowledge gaining\u201d but that\u2019s what you can architect if you have a thing and it grows over time without intensive constant effort to sustain it
— Andrew Chen (@andrewchen) November 22, 2018
3/ You don’t want to build a competitive advantage that is fleeting or that will get commoditized
Things that might get commoditized over time (some longer than
Things that look like moats but likely aren\u2019t or may fade:
— Erik Torenberg (@eriktorenberg) November 22, 2018
- Proprietary networks
- Being something other than one of the best at any tournament style-game
- Many "awards"
- Twitter followers or general reach without "respect"
- Anything that depends on information asymmetry https://t.co/abjxesVIh9
4/ Before the arrival of recorded music, what used to be scarce was the actual music itself — required an in-person artist.
After recorded music, the music itself became abundant and what became scarce was curation, distribution, and self space.
5/ Similarly, in careers, what used to be (more) scarce were things like ideas, money, and exclusive relationships.
In the internet economy, what has become scarce are things like specific knowledge, rare & valuable skills, and great reputations.
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I like this heuristic, and have a few which are similar in intent to it:
Hiring efficiency:
How long does it take, measured from initial expression of interest through offer of employment signed, for a typical candidate cold inbounding to the company?
What is the *theoretical minimum* for *any* candidate?
How long does it take, as a developer newly hired at the company:
* To get a fully credentialed machine issued to you
* To get a fully functional development environment on that machine which could push code to production immediately
* To solo ship one material quanta of work
How long does it take, from first idea floated to "It's on the Internet", to create a piece of marketing collateral.
(For bonus points: break down by ambitiousness / form factor.)
How many people have to say yes to do something which is clearly worth doing which costs $5,000 / $15,000 / $250,000 and has never been done before.
Here's how I'd measure the health of any tech company:
— Jeff Atwood (@codinghorror) October 25, 2018
How long, as measured from the inception of idea to the modified software arriving in the user's hands, does it take to roll out a *1 word copy change* in your primary product?
Hiring efficiency:
How long does it take, measured from initial expression of interest through offer of employment signed, for a typical candidate cold inbounding to the company?
What is the *theoretical minimum* for *any* candidate?
How long does it take, as a developer newly hired at the company:
* To get a fully credentialed machine issued to you
* To get a fully functional development environment on that machine which could push code to production immediately
* To solo ship one material quanta of work
How long does it take, from first idea floated to "It's on the Internet", to create a piece of marketing collateral.
(For bonus points: break down by ambitiousness / form factor.)
How many people have to say yes to do something which is clearly worth doing which costs $5,000 / $15,000 / $250,000 and has never been done before.
