Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Wednesday shared his personal experience in leadership elevation, telling an assembly of youths that one’s capacity to deliver on a set of simple tasks entrusted to one when serving in smaller roles can be the building block for greater leadership exploits.

The forum was the Lagos Leadership Summit organised by Lateef Jakande Leadership Academy (LJLA) at Konga Place in Lekki, Lagos.

The event, themed ‘Transformative Leadership: Developing Responsive, Adaptive and Inclusive Models’, was also attended by a former Lagos State governor and former minister, Babatunde Raji Fashola, the Olu of Warri, His Majesty Ogiame Atuwatse III, Emir of Zazzau, Amb. Ahmed Nuhu Bamali, Oniru of Iru Kingdom, Oba Omogbolahan Lawal, among others.

Speaking to participants at the summit, Sanwo-Olu recalled how the then Lagos State Governor Bola Tinubu, now President Tinubu, groomed and raised his leadership capacity by trusting him with multiple tasks.

Sanwo-Olu was an investment banker before joining public service in 2002, when Tinubu, who was Lagos governor from 1999 to 2007, appointed him Special Adviser on Economic Matters.

He told his audience that the chance he was offered to serve in multiple roles during Tinubu’s government in Lagos became his biggest opportunity to explore his leadership potential.

“I was appointed to serve as Special Adviser when former governor, now President Tinubu started to lay the groundwork for the transformation of Lagos to a modern city. For me, this was the period I started gaining from Tinubu’s transformative and pragmatic approach to leadership,” Sanwo-Olu said.

“This opportunity exposed me to international trips where we had official engagements with various multinational organisations. I was crisscrossing from one portfolio to another, serving in areas that included Transportation, Environment, Public Safety and Education.

“While I served in Transportation, I put in my very best and challenged personnel in the sector. I was deployed to revenue generation; I went in there to improve on the numbers and boosted staff capacity. In Environment, I changed the status quo. I was doing all of these without thinking of future expectations,” he said.

When Tinubu’s governorship tenure ended in 2007, Sanwo-Olu said he was nominated to serve in specific capacity in the succeeding Fashola administration.

He said he was posted to a ministry considered as a “dry land”, because it was believed the position was not rewarding, but the task was one that would bring out his very best in terms of capacity and how one can transform human capital to achieve real progress.

“I took up various other roles and did excel. The period I was appointed for different leadership roles gave me the option to reappraise myself and retool my skills. Then, I had the best opportunity to launch myself into another level and subsequently got me into the current position,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu noted that his journey in government had not been completely smooth, observing that there were times his expectations were dashed. He urged his listeners not to give up when faced with unfulfilled expectations, but to use the period of their disappointments to reappraise their skills and improve on their talents to meet the future opportunities.

“For the little period I was out of the government, I was able to put my skills together, learned from my past experiences, gained new insights and explored new areas,” Sanwo-Olu said.

“You should also learn new things and challenge yourself that you will not give up. Don’t lose what you have learned; you should unlearn and relearn to push yourself forward.

“It is not how many times you fall that counts, but how many time you get on your feet when you fall. When you are given a little task in whatever role, give in your best because the world is watching. Use the period of disappointments to improve and this may open up new opportunities for you,” he said.