10 April 2026

Hello there. Welcome, welcome to today's leadership class. And today I'm going to be sharing with you beautifully on how to develop stakeholder mentality as a person and also in the people that you work with. How to develop a stakeholder mentality? What is a stakeholder mentality? First of all, I will look at an employee mindset. We talk about mentality. We're talking about mindset. The way you think, way you perceive things. An employee mindset talks about I want to work for them. When you have the attitude of I'm working for this person, I'm working for this person. I'm working for this person. Ah, I'm just working. I just working his money and just working, working, working. That is an employee mindset. A stakeholder mentality or uh uh uh stakeholder mindset says, "Oh, I am working with them." Because when you work for someone, it's about what they can give you and what you can give them. It's more about what you can get from them when what you can give to them. But when you're working with them, it's about hand rubbing on hand, making both hands cleaner. Um, two lying side by side keep each other warm as said in the book of Chronicles. So a stakeholder mentality is a conscious sense of a owner is a conscious sense of ownership ability and contribution to a shared vision regardless of one's position or pay grade. I'll say that again. A stakeholder mentality is a conscious sense of ownership, ability, and contribution to a shared vision regardless of position or pay grade. I want you to picture this scenario. If the organization, your department, your church were a moving vehicle, who do you think are the drivers? And who do you think are the passengers? And who do you think are the mechanics? I need you to put that answer. somewhere. If your organization, your department, your church were to be a vehicle, who are the drivers? Who are the mechanics? Who are the passengers? Now, take note that every one of them is connected. But keep your answer to yourself. We'll come back to it. This is a core principle and that is this ownership starts from identity. You cannot own what you don't identify with. For you to have an ownership mentality or mindset, you will need to identify with the vision because people protect what they build. As long as you you see yourself to be a part of it, it's easier for you to be connected with it to try to make sure that it is sustained. We're building our church building at 147 Sapp Road Benin and there was this proguey of this uh spiritual son of mine. He's my drummer. It had nothing to do with building but that building helped him gain experience and knowledge with building. He was there day and night. Uh for a good part of the construction of that project we worked day and night. I mean it was 24 hours work every day. A shift of people worked now they they go another set comes that's how they worked. So when we moved to Abuja, we found this out that um one day he called me and said, "Sir, I think we need to get uh um a facility manager." I said, "Why?" He said, "Because we the office seemed to not understand the value of the facility." He said, "I was here when we're building. And I saw you how the monies was spent, how you sacrificed and and and even couldn't buy yourself a car but made sure that this church facility with expensive materials and all were done. And I don't like it when I see it not well managed and that touched me a lot and because he was part of it he seen his blood. He wasn't on salary. He's seen his blood. He's seen his energy. He's seen his sacrifice. He's seen his time. Now, some of us might not have had that privilege to have been there. But do you connect with the sacrifice that brought the organization before you joined? People only protect what they build. If you are not building, you won't protect. When you take ownership, you stop waiting for instruction and start driving results. People who when they come to a place is what they can get, who they can toast, who they can flirt with, who they can ruin, who they can pounce upon. No, no, no. Those are vampire vampires. Every organization needs stakeholder minds. And really stakeholder minds are only minds that you can use to build something to very high altitude. In a church or business, many people serve for approval or impact. A stakeholder must see himself as an entrusted person by God and leadership, not an not an employee even if you are being paid. So, I need you to write something down for me. I need to write down three sentences that has this is my ministry. This is my department, this is my project, I will whatever. So write is three sentences for me that has these words in it. This is my ministry stroke department stroke project. So I will so that ministry department or project so I will do what? I want to see what you write. Go ahead and write it down. So we need to understand the stakeholder spectrum. category, description, example of what a stakeholder mind is. That's what they call the behavior spectator. The behavior. Okay. Okay. I need us to understand the spectrum stakeholder spectrum and the goal like this. If you run right uh behavior uh um um the behavior. Okay, we have the category, description, example, and behavior. Category, description, example, and behavior. Now, the category, first category is a spectator. The spectator watches what is going on. They criticize or comments after events. That's what the spectator. she they just waiting for who will fail or who will succeed. A participant does this. They join in the activities when asked to help and it's usually when it's convenient that they do. A contributor is constantly supportive of the vision. He suggests improvements. He volunteers ideas. A contributor is consistently supportive of the vision. He suggests improvement and volunteers ideas. Now the other category is the category of a stakeholder. A stakeholder takes full responsibility. He thinks long term and mentors others and as well as drives initiative. The next category, the category of the stakeholder. The stakeholders take full responsibility. They think long term. They take full responsibility. They think long term. They mentor others and they drive initiatives. Now we talked about the spectator who are people who watch the participants who join in activities only when asked. We talked about the contributors who consistently support the vision and they are more like volunteer minded kind of person. The stakeholder who feels that this is my job. This whole organization is my responsibility. I'm going to play my role. Now I want you to do this. Where? Ask yourself this question. Where am I currently among these categories? Where do I I don't want you to tell me what you wish. I want to write what you do or what you think. It will help you. Remember the essence of this training is not to judge you. It is to help you become the best. The next thing we need to look at is the five pillars of stakeholder mentality. Number one, vision alignment. Vision alignment. The vision alignment mentality. Understand and own organizations and own organizations why the reason for the existence of organization. They understand it and they understand the why and they can explain the mission with their own personal words. For example, if I ask you what's the vision statement of this organization? What would you say? Let's go. 1 2 3 go. Go ahead. State it. While most of us are able to quote it, can you put it in your own words? That only comes when you have understood it. Number two is stewardship mindset. This mindset manage people, money and time like it's your own. This stewardship mindset because a steward is one who takes care of another person's property with all the benefits that accurate. So they manage people, money and time like it is their own. These people they avoid waste. They plan ahead. So when I'm in a system and the people that are working with me are always about spend the money, spend the money, spend the money, spend the money. I Oh my. Because the 300 of Gideon passed through all these Godgiving tests. Number three is the proactive initiative. This level of stakeholder mentality anticipate needs before it begins. They anticipate needs before they are told and they say things like I noticed this. I I I noticed this and I I think I we should go this way. There's already a plan for an invisate crisis. And in visit for example I asked um h pastors some time ago but next Sunday if God gives you times two the number of people that comes to your church normally what will you do? You see a proactive initiative kind of mind mindset would have thought ahead what they will do and yes and apply it. This is very very key. Number four is value creation. Value creation uh uh uh uh pillar. These people they add ideas, solution and results that advance goals. They suggest improvement to system. ideas, value that advance goals and they suggest those systems. Number five pillar is multiplication raising others who will think and act like stakeholders. They mentor them, they train them, they delegate them effectively. So the five pillars are vision alignment. Second pillar stewardship mindset, number three proactive initiative, number four value creation, number five multiplication. Let's go through it again. Vision alignment, number two, stewardship mindset. Number three, proactive initiating. Number four, value creation. And number five, multiplication. Now in our forthcoming times and seasons, nobody's going to get promoted anymore if he has not been able to create um raise somebody to take his position. If for example you're a pastor and there's an opening to go to let me say Venezuela and you are very fit to go there will think more than twice to move you if you've not been in the period you've pastored this current church you've not been able to raise somebody to speak to lead to run the church because because many charismatic People are used to the front of the show. Within swim, we should be better off than just being used to the front show. The underground work that makes the front show work. You must be used to it. So this is very very key. So everybody watching me right now should learn to switch from an employee mindset to a stakeholder mindset by adopting a shift path. Old thinking dumped, new thinking taken strongly. Oh that's not my job. That's old thinking. If it affect the goal then it concerns me. That's new thinking. They should fix it. That's old thinking. What can I do about it? That's new thinking. I'm just here for the pay. That's old thinking. I'm here for the purpose. That's new thinking. I work for them. That's old thinking. We are partners in this together. That's new thinking. I just follow others. That's old thinking. I contribute ideas and I take responsibility on time. That's new thinking. If you are still of the old, the time to cleanse your mind is now. Because God doesn't reward the old much. is the new that God sits with. If you're faithful with anothers, God gives you your own. So we need to move further to building trust. People with a stakeholder mindset earn authority through reliability. I was listening to Po you share a beautiful story. But many years ago when the the all the church earning in a whole year could not amount to to $10,000 his music director um Koulia Aay got an offer was a dynamic instrumentalist and leader got an offer to go be music director or handle music or worship in another church where he was to be paid $10,000 and he turned it down. Why? Because he felt he was a stakeholder in the redeemed Christian church of God and he was committed to paro. And when he heard of it, the man of God said to him, "All I can do for you is to pray for you and bless you." And later on in the ministry, the church became big. The church became glorious. That's why you find out that there is no way you are talented in that church that the pastor in music that the pastor will put you above him. Yes, he can he can make you head whatever he want to hear because of his sense of leadership but his value for that man is amazing. I've done ministry with him at different times in around late 90s and early 2000. What you perceive around him is just a sweet sweet spirit. He organizes concerts even before their churches started branching abroad big time organized. He was doing concerts abroad and you will see his pastor show up for him or give him that support. You see people with a with an owner with a stakeholder mentality they earn authority through reliability. Number two, trust grows when you deliver on promises and communicate transparency. Protect the mission in public and in private because building trust and influence comes from your literal disposition, from the sacrifices you're able to pay, from the way you talk, from the way you think, the way you coordinate things and work with people. So I need you to do this as we make progress. If you feel you want to take your work with God, your work in this organization to the very next level, write down three things or three ways that you can become more trusted. I'm not talking about psychop fancy. I'm talking about quality, quality, influence, and trust. Three ways or three things you're going to do and it's going to make all the difference. Now look at Joseph. He was in Egypt in Genesis 39. From a servant to a ruler ownership in in little and elevated even inside prison, he was still interpreting people's dreams. Look at Nehemiah. He was serving in the king's house where he found favor before God to be the one to go build the wall of Jerusalem. Look at Apple. You know, when we look at Apple, people think Steve Jobs is the one that started Apple. He's not the one that started Apple. He came in. Look at Toyota. Look at Dangote. How employee ownership culture build longevity cannot be overemphasized. I think it was Carnegie that came up with one of the first set of billionaires the world ever had that came up with a beautiful idea. He say when people work with you and they've been able to build trust and loyalty step them up that let that mindset of an owner the ownership mentality earned them a place in the company. He started paying people like they own the company and got to the point where he started giving percentage of the company shares to the people. Look at Google. Most of the principal actors were employees now stakeholders with shares with ideas that are being sponsored by THE COMPANY. HOW WOULD THEY LEAVE? So it is hand wash hand that makes the hand cleaner. So we all need to learn to practice this. Fix the gap. What did I say? Fix the gap. Each team should identify one group in their department or ministry. Develop a mini action plan to address it as if they were shareholders. Now, everybody needs to do this. Your department, your directory to wherever you work, wherever you serving. I need you to write what gap do you see and how can we fill it? What would I do differently if I were to be the owner of this organization? Come up with a document like that. Now this is an unusual training and I need you writing and take note of this that the leader role is simple. How to build stakeholders? It's simple. Number one, share vision repeatedly, not once. If you're going to build people into a stakeholder world, then you have to share the vision. Habac 2:2 says, "Write the vision." And when you're going to explain it, do it over and over again. I learned like this many years ago over 20 years ago that one's sharing doesn't mean all understand because repetition they say is a law of deep and lasting impression. Never you feel that I taught it last week I shouldn't teach it. No you have to say it every time you gather. Number two celebrate initiative publicly. When people do things that are unique, identify it and celebrate them publicly. Number three, delegate responsibility. Not just ask. Delegate responsibility. Not not just do that. Give them the role. Just don't act. Give them the role. The next is reward results not routine. reward. Let result because if all you do is routine and there is no result then that's religion. Let the routine bring result before you reward the routine. Otherwise focus on results and not routine. I I don't care what you did. I don't I don't care. I don't want to care how you did it. All I want is I want the job done. Oh, I climbed the mountain and I entered the valley and I entered the dish and I climbed the gate and I crossed the fence and I at the end of the day I didn't do anything. That's and boo stories. Where is it? It is done. That's how I was trained. The next is I communicate transparency about goals, numbers and progress. You should be able to track progress and everybody should be able to see it. Oh, we were 200 yesterday. Now we are 201. That's progress. How can we accelerate this progress? This is very key. So every one of us must become builders and not consumers. We are supposed to be serving the people and not consuming So take this. Here's one of my quotes. Consumers take from what others build. Stakeholders build what others others enjoy. Consumers take from what others build. Stakeholders build what others enjoy. I used to tell my team those days, oh you say, oh this happening in Lagos, this happening in America. I ask them, what have you done? The team you belong, what have we been able to do before you go praising what people are doing in Jamaica, doing in Australia, what are you doing? If they by the hand of God did that, did God cut his hand from you? It's time to build what others enjoy. Now, if you're going to do this with us, I want you to say this with me wherever you are. Stand up to your feet and say this with me wherever you are. Raise up your right hand. Are you ready? Are you ready? All right, let's go. From today, I choose to think, act and contribute like a stakeholder. I will take ownership of my role, invest my heart, and protect this vision. We'll say it again. From today I choose to think, act and contribute like a stakeholder. I will take ownership of my role, invest my heart and protect this vision. So help you God. Amen. God bless you. Now the workbook is there. I would like us to make some work with it. I'll get your answers and your replies for all the assignment that has been given. But the Lord bless you in Jesus name. Amen.