Add to that the fact there is a dearth of mentors interested in helping young men and you see there is a problem. But sometimes, you see something from afar and if you're a smart chap (which I believe you are) then you realize you can learn from what you have seen.
Take for instance the photo doing rounds of Bob Collymore's group of friends: the boys club.
At first glance, it just looks like a group of men having fun but upon keener inspection, you should be able to see the following:
Alykhan Satchu -CEO-Rich Management Ltd
Patrick Quarcoo -CEO-Radio Africa Group
Peter Kenneth -Politician
Jeff Koinange -Well-known journalist
Bob Collymore -CEO-Safaricom
Bharat Thakrar -CE0-WPP/Scan group
Nic Hailey -British High Commissioner to Kenya
Joshua Oigara -Group Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Commercial Bank
These are some of the most powerful men in the country. They are all self-made. Here are some lessons to learn from the boys club:
#1. Pick your friends carefully
I know someone out there is going to say that while you're young you should get the dumb stuff out of the way but I beg to differ. Get yourself surrounded by young men who are looking to succeed in life.
Get yourself around focussed friends because we are the average of the 5 people we spend the most time with.
#2. It's about quality, not quantity
Stop stunting and flexing in the hopes of becoming popular. It doesn't matter how many people you know, what matters is the quality of the people you know.
And here I mean both the quality of the character aswell as the quality of ambition.
#3. Learn to network
None of these men grew up together. They met one day and introduced each other, one to the next. One day, they realized they had similar interests and they coalesced around those.
Learn to introduce yourself and make small talk while at class or as an intern. You never know where that connection could lead to.
#4. Be the type of person people want to associate with
Success has very many fathers, failure is an orphan. You have to want to win and succeed at everything you do with every fibre of your being.
You have to become the type of person whom other people post photos of on Facebook with the caption, "I knew him before he succeeded" or "I knew him before he became..."
