ITLever™

The class dinner was held for the Lagos, Nigeria IT Manager Institute class in downtown Lagos. If you have never been to Lagos, I can tell you it is quite interesing, , , and very busy.

IT Manager Institute class dinner - Lagos, Nigeria - May 2010

My class always wants me to try some of the specialty dishes, but my “delicate American stomach” does not always respond well to some of the more exotic foods I encounter. Wish I was smarter than I am, but I seem to try things that sometimes haunt me a bit later in the night.

Last night, my class presented me with a hand painted canvas titled “Every Day Life” that depicts fishing and travel on the water near Lagos Bridge. The city of Lagos is on an island and is somewhere around 7 million people, , , to say the streets are quite busy is an understatement.

Hand painted canvas gift from the Nigeria class

The class dinners are always one of the highlights of the IT Manager Institute (also referred to as the IT Leadership Institute in my African visits). We have held a dinner for every class I have delivered, , , it is simply a small way to give back to those who have invested time and money in our program. It’s also something our students seem to remember and appreciate.

When I set out to create the Institute program, I wanted to make it different and special for those who attend. The class dinner and other “surprises” I spring on the class during the week seem to work, , , the IT managers who attend tell me that the program is unique and very special.

Here are a few comments from this week:

“The quality of course materials is simply excellent. IT management is not complete without these training materials.”

“The Institute was beyond expectations.”

“Lots of information to help me improve my work as IT manager. I recommend anyone wanting to be an IT manager should take this course.”

“I wish I had attended this course earlier in my career. Very eye opening.”

Nigerians are fun people and they make me feel welcome and very much “at home” when I visit their country. There are already discussions of a return trip.

Well, I made it to Nigeria, , , got my VISA in the “nick of time” and had a great trip (albeit a long one) to get here.  I’m in Lagos, Nigeria staying with my host company, Digital Jewels, Ltd.  It is a 10 1/2 hour non-stop flight from Atlanta – not too bad compared to some other places I’ve visited, , , but still a long flight.

Been teaching the IT Manager Institute this week – my 39th Institute. We have had a great class – very attentive and interested managers.

Digital Jewels has a 1-bedroom suite that I reside in right next to their office, so I have a great 1-minute commute. They take very good care of me and see that I’m comfortable and with plenty of Coca Cola – something I seem to need to function.

Tonight, we hold our class dinner and it’s something I always look forward to. I meet some of the most interesting and best people in the world as I focus efforts toward, “helping IT managers of the world achieve more success”. I’m truly blessed to be able to do what I do. The class dinner is one of the highlights of the class.

Nigerians are some of the happiest people in the world from what I’ve observed. There are many challenges in their country, , , as in most countries, , , but they persevere and rise above the challenge. I have mentioned to many of my colleagues in the past that, “when Nigerians are in the class. we seem to have more fun”. This is certainly true of this particular class, , , they are all super people that I have had pleasure to get to know in such a short time.

They are taking their ITBMC exams now and will finish shortly, , , then it’s time to relax, enjoy good food, and tell one another tall tales of our experiences over dinner. I look forward to it.

The trip to the Atlanta Consulate of Nigeria on Thursday paid off. We received our Business VISA just as requested in short order, , , and just in time — my flight is on Saturday. It was a 4-hour drive to Atlanta each way, but worth it in the end.

To obtain this Business VISA was a massive effort mostly due to the fact we could not reach anyone or even leave messages, send faxes or send e-mail to the Consulate in New York. The Atlanta office was much more responsive and reasonable to work with.

If you see headlines about an American being detained in Nigeria, it may be me, , , hopefully I have not ticked anyone off to be flagged upon my arrival for pushing so hard to get this done.

I’m looking forward to seeing my friends at Digital Jewels – Adedoyin, Ayo, Funmi, and others, , , maybe even some of my former students – we have had over 60 Nigerian managers attend the program in various locations – Johannesburg, Dubai, and Abuja, , , even many to attend in Nashville, Tennessee.

Oh yeah, I should make a note about Nigerian people. I have worked with many over the years and found them to be one of the happiest, fun-loving people in the world. They have big challenges in their country, but they overcome adversity and rise above it with a spirit like no other in the world. I truly love working with Nigerian managers and enjoy their strong desire to become stronger managers and to do good things for their companies and for themselves.

Look for my posts while visiting Lagos, Nigeria.

Well, the New York efforts did not work, , , seems that we just lost precious time. With all the inquiries they were getting about my VISA application (from a Senator’s office, from a House of Representative’s office, even from their own Embassy in Washington, D.C.), I’m hoping no one has put me on the Interpol list.

The good news is that the Consulate General in the Atlanta Consul seems to understand my situation, , , talked to him three times now, , , and he called me to respond to my situation, , , a nice man and very professional.

So, , , I’m headed to Atlanta in a few minutes. The interesting thing is that the Atlanta Consulate is in Roswell, GA, , , within 3 miles of where we lived for 20 years, so I’ll get to eat dinner tonight at Ippolito’s and maybe see some friends.

Dark clouds usually have silver linings.

Hopefully, by this time tomorrow, I’m on my way home with the Nigeria Business VISA stamped in my passport, , , with 1 day to spare. I may get to see the Nigeria flag after all.  Nothing like playing it close!!!!!!

Keep your fingers crossed, , , it is a 4-hour drive to Atlanta so I hope all goes as planned, , , will be disappointing if it doesn’t.

Positive thoughts create positive energy, , , helps you succeed in life and in business.

I ended the day yesterday with a small bit of optimism that the Nigeria VISA will be issued and everything will come together, , , don’t get your hopes up too quickly.

This morning we had another call with the New York Consulate General – it was not very promising, although he was very professional and seems to want to help. Still, looks like a possible challenge to work through the process they are requiring in time.

Hopeful News !! Just got a call from the Consulate General in the Atlanta Embassy. He has committed to issue the VISA if I visit the Embassy this week and states, “there is no reason you should require a Work Visa to deliver a 1-week training class”.

That’s what my sponsoring company in Nigeria and I thought!!!

Called New York back to ask them to ship the documents and passport to me overnight, , , now, they are having a problem locating the file.

Can you believe it? Feeling like I’m living in Murphy’s World – remember Murphy’s Law? — “If it can go wrong, it will go wrong.”

The positive part is that New York stated they are trying to issue the VISA and they do not want me to miss traveling to Nigeria to provide the training.

The good news is that we may now have two Embassies trying to help when early Monday morning we had no one.

Keeping our fingers crossed.

I’m scheduled to deliver our 39th IT Manager Institute next week in Nigeria, but still don’t have my Passport back with the necessary VISA stamp to enter the country.

Last year, I received a Business VISA without any problems but this year someone at the New York Embassy decided I needed a Work VISA this time, , , even though the trip to Lagos is for the very same activity as what I provided in Abuja last August – to teach an IT Manager Institute.

Needless to say, it’s getting to be panic time, , , especially when you can’t get anyone to answer the phone from the Embassy, , , tried for 2 days last week to talk to someone to work through the issues and had no success at all.

Well, this weekend I decided to try some other things including:

• Faxes
• Email messages
• Calling and leaving messages to any phone I could find
• Registered letters to the Consulate General in NY and the Nigerian Ambassador to the US in Washington, D.C.
• Calls to the other two Embassies – Washington, D.C. and Atlanta
• Call to a US Senator’s office for help
• Call to a US Representative for help
• Anything I could think of to get some help!!!

Long story short – today we were able to talk with the Consulate General of Nigeria in New York and the Consulate is reviewing my file, , , we have had conference call discussions with my Nigeria host, , ,  and there is slight optimism today (Monday) when on Friday we had none.

The thing that got us some action seems to be the registered letters that arrived at the Embassies today. This act was actually one of my last resort ideas and cost me an additional $36.00, but looks like it helped get some attention when before we were getting nowhere.

Hopefully, tomorrow will bring good news and we are positioned to make our Saturday flight.

Don’t know if you are like me or not, but I like to get things lined up and have everything worked out with plenty of lead time. If the Embassy had granted the Business VISA like they did last August, I would already have my passport back and we would be all set —  no worries at all.

This time around, I’ve learned some things that will hopefully be of benefit in the future.

The good news – class materials are already in Lagos, Nigeria and I’m all set on this end, , , just a couple of things to check off my To Do List before heading to the airport. Hopefully, this time next week I will be in Nigeria teaching the class.