Day Two: Power of friendship, synergies and collaboration
My training plan has a 16.8km walk on certain days. So on one of those days, feeling geared and pumped up, I stepped out of Sheraton Gym literally floating in space and pursing my personal best over a 16km distance. A kilometre into my walk, I bumped into Counsel Isaac Mpanga, a man double my body size but high on triple inspiration and drive to get fitter, than teenagers.
It was my first physical meeting with Isaac, we normally meet and chat on the social media streets but now here we were. I decided to drop my ambition, and he changed from his preferred route. We merged our missions and headed out for a joint walk with a compromise agreement read out by counsel in the tone of a jovial High Court lawyer; “Keep your normal walking pace, I will run alongside you.” At the start I didn’t think he would last the journey but dude has got a groove – up Wampewo Avenue, Upper Kololo Road, Acacia Avenue, up Kololo Hill drive on and on we went.
Story after story, wisdom, and insights were shared. At the end of the walk I hadn’t hit my initial target but I had learnt a lot about the power of collaboration, synergies, friendship and leadership that enabled our parents and grandparents to tame their challenges and spur development way before modernity came to our 7 hills. And as we departed at the 14-kilometer mark I looked back at Isaac’s weight, his height and attitude and I wondered about other people. What’s your excuse for not working out? What’s your motivation? It’s only you who can stop you from achieving your greatness.
