Shai –Osudoku with Daniel Tei Mensah Dei: Something to watch out for in 2016

Daniel Tei Mensah Dei for the NPP seat

On a busy day, I decided to walk in the township of Dodowa, in the cause of my walk, I saw a banner of this young man contesting on the ticket of the NPP and I was wondering why he should be disturbing himself since he is not known among the people and the delegates. But my encounter with him actually change my viewpoint about him ; although he is new , he is an indigene and some of the aspirants already have made their names and actually relying on that to win the contest. But on a Sunday morning when I was preparing to go to church, I saw a documentary on Cine Plus on Multi TV about the race of the Rabbit and the turtle. I developed interest in the documentary and I watch it and it later drew my attention on the contest going on in the NPP parliamentary race at the Shai-Osudoku constituency when I was thinking Daniel Dei Mensah was wasting his time. Probably you have heard about the rabbit and the turtle story but if no then it goes like this,

“Once upon a time a Turtle and a Rabbit had an argument about who was faster.

They decided to settle the argument with a race. They agreed on a route and started off the race. The rabbit shot ahead and ran briskly for some time. Then seeing that he was far ahead of the turtle, he thought he'd sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race. He sat under the tree and soon fell asleep. The turtle plodding on overtook him and

soon finished the race, emerging as the undisputed champ. The rabbit woke up and realized that he'd lost the race.”

The moral of the story is that slow and steady wins the race. This is the version of the story that we've all grown up with.

But then recently, the story still continues:
1st modern story:
The rabbit was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. If he had not taken things for granted, there's no way the turtle could have beaten him. So he challenged the turtle to another race. The turtle agreed. This time, the rabbit went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish. He won by several miles.

The moral of the story?
Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady. It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable.

But the story doesn't end here.
2nd modern story:
The turtle did some thinking this time, and realized that there's no way he can beat the rabbit in a race the way it was currently formatted. He thought for a while, and then challenged the rabbit to another race, but on a slightly different route. The rabbit agreed.

They started off. In keeping with his self-made commitment to be consistently fast, the rabbit took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of

kilometers on the other side of the river. The rabbit sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the turtle trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, continued walking and finished the race.

The moral of the story?
First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency.

However, the story still hasn't ended.
3rd modern story:
The rabbit and the turtle, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better.

So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time. They started off, and this time the rabbit carried the turtle till the riverbank. There, the turtle took over and swam

across with the rabbit on his back. On the opposite bank, the rabbit again carried the turtle and they reached the finishing line together. They both felt a greater sense of satisfaction than they'd felt earlier.

The moral of the story?
It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies; but unless you're able to work in a team and harness each other's core competencies, you'll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well. Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership.

To sum up, the story of the rabbit and turtle teaches us many things.

(1) Fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady;

2. Work to your competencies
(3) Pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers;

(4) Never give up when faced with failure
(5) Compete against the situation - not against a rival.

After the documentary I always tell my people and staff about the moral of this story and always improve ourselves and cooperate well with others to better serve the requirement of clients

In life, when faced with failure, sometimes it is appropriate to work harder and put in more effort. Sometimes it is appropriate to change strategy and try something different. And sometimes it is appropriate to do both and Daniel appears to realize this approach and it appears to be working for him on the ground as lots of people are now rooting for him.

The rabbit and the turtle also learnt another vital lesson. When we stop competing against a rival and instead start competing against the situation, we perform far better. When Roberto Goizueta took over as CEO of Coca Cola in the 1980s, he was faced with intense competition from Pepsi that was eating into Coke's growth. His executives were Pepsi-focussed and intent on increasing market share 0.1 per cent a time.

Goizueta decided to stop competing against Pepsi and instead compete against the situation of 0.1 per cent growth. He asked his executives what was the average fluid intake of an American per day? The answer was 14 ounces. What was Coke's share of that? Two ounces. Goizueta said Coke needed a larger share of that market. The competition wasn't Pepsi. It was the water, tea, coffee, milk and fruit juices that went into the remaining 12 ounces. The public should reach for a coke whenever they felt like drinking something. To this end, coke put up vending machines at every street corner.

Sales took a quantum jump and Pepsi has never quite caught up since.

To sum up, the story teaches us many things. Chief among them are that fast and consistent will always beat slow and steady; work to your competencies; pooling resources and working as a team will always beat individual performers; never give up when faced with failure; and finally, compete against the situation not against a rival.

So the name Daniel Dei Tei Mensah has become a name among the most of the delegates and people talking about him in town, his magic of not competing with anyone but rather dealing with the relevant issues on the ground and telling the people his mission and vision has appear to work for him marvelously. I have leant lots of lesson from the story of the rabbits and the turtle and Daniel Tei Mensah Dei attitude has also transform my decision in life not to compete with people or organization but rather dealing with the issues and not rivals.

Daniel Tei Mensah Dei, once student of Ghana secondary School where he studied general science. He later went to university of education, Winneba and had his first degree in Mathematics. Certificate in Oil and Gas Management from MDPI, postgraduate diploma in management, marketing and entrepreneurship- Center of Creative Initiatives, USA. Microsoft certified professional from GIMPA. He formerly worked with Barclays bank, Teaching Assistant at Regent University College of science and technology and currently he is a mathematics teacher at Tema Secondary School. The young vibrant teacher had a clear vision for his people; he intends to bring fresh ideas on board to develop the constituency, tackle education by setting up an education fund to sponsor needy children in the district. Training for artisans and empowering them to set up their own businesses, he has a sewing house to enable the young ones ; who have interest in fashion go in for training and after empowering them to set up their own businesses.

He possesses a massively strong character, combined with a unique normal grace, and an infectious optimism about life itself. Above all, he understood the shai people’s character and their heart belonged to this ancient land and its equally indomitable and funny inhabitants, whom he want to served with confidence, style and reliable dignity hopefully if he gets the nod.

For Daniel I say don’t be complacent and become a boiled frog. Be vigilant. Don’t let unexpected change creep up on you. Don’t become a “boiled frog.” Pay close attention to what is going on around you, so that you can notice when the “water” is getting hot. Also remember that the NPP have a about 6,000votes that is statics for the constituency for every elections ,so who ever wins needs to do every thing possible to either improve upon it or better still becomes the people choice in the constituency. Remember currently Hon David Assumeng has 18,089 votes. I wish all of you guy the best and the Shai-Osoduku belongs to all of us.

Dr. Raphael Nyarkotey Obu is a registered alternative medical doctor and a PhD student (A.M) –Indian Board of alternative medicines Academy, Kolkata, India. He is the author of the book “catalyst for change in the dangme land” believes and support anything that will transform the dangme land