S5 Ep. 308 Value Over Virality

SPEAKER_00: Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. Good everything. Wherever you are listening to me at this very instant, how are you? Ah, yes, I will ask that question. Because it it makes me happy. I'm good. Very good. Where I am. Grateful to God for every minute. Yep. Well, we're back. Did we ever leave? Yes, we did. To go get ready to come back. All right. I was asking myself before we came in. You know, I was asking myself some questions. And it formed part of what I want to discuss or share with you. Our world is a stage, it's a platform. So many things are happening at the same time, simultaneously. As you're laughing, there somebody might be crying somewhere. You're hungry, somebody might be eating. You know, you're unhappy. Well, somebody might be happy somewhere. But there's something I come to realize in our generation today that is pervasive. It has taken over the space, the human space, like living spaces, and you see all sorts playing out. What am I talking about? Content creation. So, what I want to talk about today is content creation versus value creation. Now, like I said, the world is a grand stage. So many things are happening. Everybody is a producer, everybody is selling something, everybody has something he or she wants to say. But there's one thing that divides morning from evening today from tomorrow. What is that? Value. Value. So when I look at the content creation space, I see a lot of us chasing cloud, a lot of us chasing the likes, a lot of us chasing the algorithm because we just want to have uh money in our pockets. Yeah. I'll tell you a story. Most of you might not, you may you you maybe you've not heard about the story. This is your first time hearing about the story. Sometime in Nigeria, the Ebola crisis. Ebola crisis was I think 2000, I think it was 1011, thereabout, the Ebola crisis. Was it 10? No, it wasn't. Sorry. Ebola crisis was 2013-14, thereabout. That's when we had the Ebola crisis. So there were this group of, I think they were sisters, if I'm not mistaken. They came together to do a video, and the video was about uh how to take care of yourself during the Ebola crisis, and they said you should put water, sorry, salt in water and to drink the water, blah blah blah. And amazingly, a good number of Nigerians, learned, educated, as it were, fell for it. Even I heard that period, people, you know, coming to meet me to say, Oh, have you heard this is how to deal with a baller, salt in water and all that. I said, That is salt in water. Okay, salt water, yes. I'm from River State. Have you gone into brackish water before? If you swim in brackish water, I give you 10 minutes, come out, your whole skin goes off. It's not true, but a lot of Nigerians were fooled. Man, that period, the uh technology had not grown to what it is today. I imagine the following those guys would have gotten, how the algorithm would have worked for them, but they sold a lie. They sold a lie, and a lot of us believed in it. So now content creation has a big question mark. I understand the generation we're in, technology has provided a platform, and everybody, a good number of us, want to cash out as it were. But have you thought of value creation, not content creation? Value creation, you're creating value at the end of the day. Now, if I came on set, like I told you, you know, we're playing out some things, we're just playing out, and I seldom do this, but I'm going to do it. I'm going to use it to talk about what I want to talk about. I saw Pastor Jerry as a yes, what God cannot do does not exist. He made that statement. Popular, streams of joy. He gifted uh Pastor Nat, Nathaniel Basi, hallelujah challenge. A good number of us know him. You know, and he gifted him. I think there was a Range Rover. I think they bought that car. He bought that car from Coast Charis. I don't want to tell you the amount. If you want to know, call call Coast Charis. And he, you know, as usual, the media, the airwaves, oh, you have the people who are complaining, people are hungry out there. Why will he buy them? Who's that? And you have a lot of another group who are like amazing. It pays to serve God and all that. But this is what I see in all of it. Value. Value. Value. Value. I use that word over and over again because a lot of us have missed it when it comes to value creation, value addition. People respond to noise. People pay for value. Did you hear that? People respond to noise. People pay for value. That is what has created this delineation between the West and us. Value creation. You pick up a material like crude oil, for example. You think because you have crude oil, you have everything. No, another person comes pick up that same crude oil, adds value to it, brings it back to you. You pay for it. So you see, we pay for value. So it is not about, you know, somebody will say, Oh, these guys have been consistent and all that. No, it's not about consistency, it's beyond consistency. It is called discipline. Evil is consistent. Do you know that? Yeah. Evil is. But the discipline, staying true to what you know, you're committed to it. Come rain, come shine, you're there. In the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, you're there. You're true. When you're weak, when you when you are you've lost everything, you you're still there. So it's about value creation. It's not just about content creation. Because you go around the streets of Pathakat, Lagos, Abuja, practically everybody is creating a content. People are fighting. Instead of us to separate them, instead of us to go, ah, what's happening? No, we're taking pictures, we're doing videos. We'll be the first person to post it as you just created the content and all that. I want to go viral. No. Have you thought about value? Value. This thing I am putting out there, how valuable it is. I mean, is it? Can somebody learn from it? Say can somebody sit down and really watch it, listen to it, learn, gain experience for it or from it? Or is it just a question of you just want to goof around, you just want to create content, you just want to have the numbers, clicks, likes. There's something about creation that we mustn't lose sight of. Responsibility. Responsibility. Are you res I mean are you ready to be responsible for everything you create? Everything you put out there. Are you ready? Just like the sisters who put out salt water solution during the Ebola, it affected a lot of people. Are you ready to take responsibility? Are you ready? Like we say it in Nigeria, our Pigeon English palace, your full chest. If you're not, rethink it. So very often when I sit here in the studio to share thoughts with you, it's not just because I want to go viral. No, it isn't. No. It's beyond virality. I ask myself serious questions before I come on to share thoughts. And one basic question I always ask myself is are you ready to be responsible for everything you say? Just like it is said, whatever you say can and will be used in the court of law against you. So stop saying things if you're not ready to defend them in court. And to a large degree, when I sit here and I share things with you, I tell you, without me saying words, you can take it to the bank. Yeah, and you will cash it. I'm very careful, absolutely careful. It isn't about content. Just like when you pick up a bottle of Coca-Cola and they tell you liquid content only. No. This is not about content only, it's about value. It's about value. I can't stop using that word value. When something is of no value, no matter how many people you see going about it, forget it. It doesn't have a future. It doesn't because it has no value. They will spew it out of their mouths. It's like after one, two minutes, it's gone. They're looking for the next. But when something is of value, people keep coming back. We should have the mindset of value addition and value creation standing on the platform of responsibility. Your sacrifice should not be that that will cost people pain. But rather it should be that would that that sacrifice that will cause people to be happy. What do I mean by sacrifice? Because we a lot of people who do who are in the content creation business, they do a lot of, they put in a lot of whatever sacrifice. If you understand what I mean by that. Then again, you ask yourself, to what end? To what end? So, guys, whatever you do in the content creation space, have this at the back of your mind. You are responsible for something. You are, whether you want to like it or not, you want to believe it or not, you are responsible. But remember this what you are responsible for should not be what will bring somebody down. So back to that story gifting, Pastor Nat by Pastor Jerry Eze. You see that it pays to be faithful, it pays to create value. I know Pastor Nat did not want to put that, I don't know him in person. So don't think he's, you know, we have any form of relationship. But I I follow his thoughts and all that. I seem to be a very simple person. He I know he may not, you know, I don't want to show it out there, but on a second thought, just to appreciate a friend for gifting me this, and he brought it out there. Is a lesson for all of us. Do you really have a friend? Are you a friendly person? That's another question you will ask yourself. Well, I don't want to dwell on that so much because that's not the crux of the uh discussion. The crux of our discussion is value creation. Be a value creator, not content creator alone. Don't we are so obsessed with content creation, content creation, content creation, every little thing, even in church? You see, people will go to church to worship, people are dancing, they are using their phones. Excuse me, hello. You came to worship. Why should you be doing that? And you see that today in church, you'll be putting out sorry next thing you see it on social media. It is like, do you know what is called sacred moments? Do you know what is called solemn moments? Uh okay. Should I end it? Should I end it? I have to. This is what I came to do on the show today. I just want to encourage all of us out there who are in the content creation business. You occupy a space. Don't forget that. You occupy a space. You are responsible. So don't play with it. Please, I beg of you, don't. Right then, guys. I have to run now. You know how we say it on the show. This is the space where we come in to lean on one another's experience to forge a positive path. We are available on all the social media platforms: LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. Ah, we also have a social media, sorry, a YouTube channel. Have you subscribed? Please subscribe. Yes, let's grow together, let's create value together, let's reach the world together. Thank you for being there. All right, then I have to run now. But it has been an amazing, amazing time, you know, sitting here and sharing with you moments like this till I come your way again. My name is Amakri. Amakri is away. Bye for now.