In what school doesn’t teach us Olusola reflects on changing market place

What School doesn’t teach us is a career-changing book written by an entrepreneur and a Nigerian in the diaspora, Segun Olusola. The book reels a lot of life skills that can help the reader on how to effectively get the best out of life. Indeed, recent researches show that a life changing decision is a daunting task in a world of uncertainties. With the technology induced changes of the modern world, the job market and business startups, What School doesn’t teach focuses on the relevant skill gaps that formal education has neglected.

Hence, Olusola helps you to identify values that you can translate to personal development, thereby helping to create and deliver products and services in high demand. Also, the author has taken from the jaws of Artificial Intelligence (AI), new skills handsomely rewarding financially, enabling citizens to live lives of purpose and fulfillment.

The book was published in 2017 at Authurhouse Publishers, London. UK. It has nine chapters, 116 pages, a foreword of two pages and an introduction of three pages. This relatively small, beautiful paperback teaches you the skills you need to thrive in this precarious world.

In this book, Olusola is telling us that the changing world of the market place has made formal education unimportant. In comparison, informal education is now very essential to obtain the best out of yourself and chart you a career in the modern world. Moreover, it teaches you the most important item that will create a thriving career that will give you financial independence. According to the author, most things taught in formal schooling are not practical and so do not correlate with real life skills needed by employers, customers and in entrepreneurship. Formal education has become a waste of time in today’s marketplace.

“Life gives you what you deserve, not what you want or desire. You need to acquire many skills and only then will life accept you and give you what you desire; which is the value you are giving into life, thereby rewarding you with financial empowerment, power, status and wealth.” How to acquire the monetary resources to nurture world- class success, is what you learn in this book.

The era of working for a company just for the pay has ended because the Internet has changed the way we work. Technology has revolutionised the way we do things. Many desks are now obsolete making jobs scarce. We now need to be aware of the environment and develop ourselves to be able to hold our jobs or combat competition.

If you follow this book, you will be able to muster a successful life. It will enable you adopt new attitudes, open you up to new thinking; what you ought do at the university. It provides a template on how you can be the best you can be. It will teach you how to take on your competitors and take your destiny in your two hands to fulfill your destiny. In the first half comprising for chapters; Olusola talks about choosing your career, setting goals, personal development and building your foundation. Financial reward should not be the only reason of choosing a career. Your choice should be influenced by your environment, your goals and happiness.

Indeed, the resounding theme in the job market is specialization and building skill sets.Bill Gates spent his childhood learning to use the computer. He later specialized in computer programming; which brought him fortune he never envisaged. He used to lock himself up memorizing codes and creating new ones. He became a geek at 12 years. Surrounded by poverty, Sir Alan Sugar started his own business selling antennas at the age of 16. By 21 he had become a millionaire. Most wealthy people started working in their youth. Their environment guided them. Olusola shows that your success begins from what you mastered at an early age.

According to the second richest man in the world, Warren Buffett, “You choose a career based on what you love doing and you are good at in your early age, and you master it throughout your adult life.” Later Buffett added what you love doing alone isn’t enough but what you are good at and desire to be perfect at doing. Also, let your environment motivate you. The dreams we create in life will determine the level we reach. The ability to create a vision, set the goal to make it a reality will propel you ahead of your contemporaries.

There are many goals: financial goals, spiritual goals, health goals and political goals. Steve Jobs the co- founder of Apple Computers spent decades designing different computers in his father’s garage. After several attempts, he became successful in one of his models because there was demand for it. In setting goals, the author adopted the SMART acronym. This means your goal must be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, meaning your goal must relevant to your person, your occupation and your environment. The last t in SMART represents timeliness. Your goal must be timely. Life is time bound making timeliness essential for success.

The last part comprising chapters five to nine talked about selling yourself, growing your income, creating a cash flow template, and a credit system. Personal development means building yourself in modern skills. This means being computer literate, beating artificial intelligence by making action your watchword. In personal development you are expected to model yourself by the acronym: VRIN. V denotes value. You must have such values as integrity, courage and modesty. Many Nigerians of today have no values, which is why they engage in fraud, cyber crimes, and corruption and pipeline vandalism. In politics, people without values engage contract scams, diverting contract fees into personal use. They refuse to part contractors and their employees.

In VRIN, R stands for rarity, I stands for inimitable. That means they cannot takeover your identity. The last N indicates non- substitutable. Also the book teaches you must have a mentor. Your mentor is expected to be more experienced than you. President Donald Trump has lawyer Roy Cohn as mentor; Buffett has Benjamin Graham, Beyonce has Dwayne Wiggins and Cristiano Ronaldo has his coach Laszlo Boloni as mentor. You should surround yourself with people who are tuned into what you want. The author, Segun Olusola lives in the United Kingdom.

After his first degree in Investment and Finance he did his masters in Business Administration at the University of Liverpool. He is involved in several businesses including stockbroking, property development and writing. He is married to the love of his life, Olubunmi Olusola.