Your talent could be your biggest safety net - Rev Albert Ocran

An executive coach, Rev. Albert Ocran, has challenged emerging leaders to discover their innate talents and deploy them to solve societal problems during these uncertain moments.

He said COVID-19 and the ensuing socioeconomic disruptions and displacement had altered the settings of the world in a profound way that was unlikely to be totally reversed.

“Apart from the unprecedented economic recession, jobs have been lost and will continue to be lost, people have been laid off without benefits. Earning power, job security and financial options will continue to be severely eroded,” he stated.

He said this was, therefore, the time that leaders and emerging leaders must step up to the occasion.

Rev Ocran was speaking at a Springboard Network Webinar series, which was held under the theme ‘Awaken The Talent Within’.

“This is time where your talent comes in as a gift of God and a buffer for you. If you do not rebuild your personal economic model, you could find yourself marginalised and disadvantaged. And yet your biggest asset from God could be lying idle.”

“The support systems you’ve relied on are being shaken in an unprecedented way. Your talent could be your biggest safety net,” he stated.

Every talent has value

He said one’s ignorance about one’s talent did not nullify its existence hence the need to discover it.

“The famous story ‘Acres of Diamonds’ proves that one could have great resources within reach and yet travel around the world looking for fleeting opportunities because of ignorance. It’s never too late to find it. In fact, people who find their talent late in life are generally referred to as late bloomers.”

He stressed that each of us is unique in our abilities. That uniqueness is actually your greatest advantage.

“People who are talented in a particular field often get surprised when others cannot do what they do so naturally,” he noted.

He also pointed out that there was a strong relationship between one’s natural talents and his/her identity.

“Many people who relate to you connect very easily to what you are naturally good at. They refer to you either directly or indirectly by the talent you possess. You cannot talk about Larry King without thinking about communication; neither can you mention Steve Jobs without exciting technologies,” he explained.

Talent connected to financial success

Rev. Ocran also noted that an individual’s talent was connected to his/her financial success.

“That is why top talents like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer, Serena Williams and Oprah Winfrey earn more in a month than the average person earns in a lifetime.

“Whether you’re a small scale artisan or a big-time business mogul, you stand the chance of achieving financial success if you work wholeheartedly and diligently in an area that you have the talent and the passion to excel in,” he advised.

Talent not enough

Rev. Ocran, however, cautioned that talent alone was not enough to guarantee success. It required hard work and development of a top level skill.

“As long as there are people in the world, there will be diverse talents. If that were enough, everyone would reach their potential. What is often missing is that extra set of things people need in addition to talents.

“Many place a lot of emphasis on talent alone in selecting people to employ or promote. Renowned leadership expert John C. Maxwell contends that this is the wrong way to approach success. “If talent alone is enough, then why do you and I know highly talented people who are not highly successful?”