Ofu, my 5-year old likes homemade pancake, especially on Saturday mornings. He knows that usually; mom does the frying and I assist with the mix.

This morning he came to me and asked, “Dad, can we have Nigerian pancake (as we call it in ours) for breakfast?” I said “ok.”

He went to mom and said “Daddy said we can have Nigerian pancake for breakfast. Can we?” Mom agreed. Off he went to play excitedly in anticipation while Sweetheart and I got on with pancake making. Lessons learnt:

1. He appreciates that teamwork is necessary to achieve an organizational goal.
2. He understands the importance of securing leadership sponsorship in order to achieve the goal.
3. He knows that all stakeholder buy-in is required for the successful accomplishment of the goal.
4. He knows how to influence the various stakeholders towards achieving the goal – that’s a leadership skill!

Someday when it’s age appropriate, I’ll tell him this story and the skills he displayed. For now, we are happy that he’s learning to make his request nicely as we have been stressing. Good job, son!

• 10/15/16