Ask Chuka

  The first time Hercules faced Hydra, he despaired after discovering that every time he cut off one of its heads, two more grew back in its place. The more he attacked the beast, the stronger it became. At that moment, Hercules feared he might never defeat it. I came across this story while reading Ikigai , where I encountered the word Antifragility , a concept proposed by Nassim Nicholas Taleb . Taleb describes antifragility as things that gain from disorder . In simpler terms, it reflects the popular saying: “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” To explain the idea further, Taleb says the word fragile refers to people, systems, organisations, or things that weaken when exposed to stress, pressure, or harm. On the other hand, words like robust and resilient describe things that can resist damage without breaking down. But antifragility goes a step further. Something that is antifragile does not merely survive shocks; it actually improves because of them. That was why Ta...

At an auto mechanic workshop recently, I overheard something that shocked me deeply. A man said a former two-term governor, two-term senator and former minister was currently broke and struggling to survive. Think about that for a second. That is almost 24 years occupying some of the most powerful political offices in Nigeria and still ending up with survival problems afterwards. At first, I found it difficult to believe until our discussion shifted to how easy it is for wealth, influence and relevance to disappear when discipline and structure are missing. But that is not even the real lesson. At my tennis club, one of our members, Mr Frank, once informed us that he was being considered for a major appointment in one of Nigeria’s ministries. We were excited and prayed along with him. Eventually, he got the appointment. If you understand how Nigeria works, you will know what many of us were thinking: “This connection could become useful for everybody.” But immediately he assumed offi...

  In 2025, I became close friends with a guy I met at the tennis court called Tosin. Because of our friendship, I spent a lot of time around his office while he sent several print and publishing jobs to us at Jewel Publishers. The relationship felt rewarding. Infact, when some of my colleagues complained about my constant absence during important strategic discussions, I simply asked them, “Are those meetings more important than the targets we are meeting?” Slowly, I became too comfortable. I even started changing some of my beliefs and accepted the popular idea that “ who you know matters more than what you know.” One day, after a disagreement with his colleagues, Tosin asked for my honest opinion. I gave it. Unfortunately, I didn’t support his position. From that moment, the jobs started reducing. Whenever I asked, there was always one explanation or another. I kept managing the little that came while trying not to make it obvious that I noticed the change.  Then one day, on...

When there was a need to engage graphic designers in the media department, Kevin hired Chuka and Stanley , both with clear job descriptions outlining their deliverables and KPIs. Over time, Kevin began assigning more tasks to Chuka, not out of favouritism, but because Chuka consistently delivered without reminders and often completed his tasks before the deadline. His reliability made him the natural choice whenever urgent or additional work came up. Stanley noticed this pattern and tried to persuade Chuka to slow down. He warned him that taking on too much work would only encourage their boss to keep increasing his workload without proper reward. Chuka, however, saw things differently. He laughed it off and explained that he did not mind the extra tasks because each one helped him improve his skills, sharpen his efficiency, and grow professionally. To him, the work was not just about the present; it was an investment in his future. At the end of the six-month evaluation period, Kevin...