Interview With Jennifer Kabaaga, Author of Strengthen Your Character Or Else… You Remain Just An Average Employee.
Posted: Saturday, April 16, 2005
by ngoldman
Norm Goldman
The following interview was conducted by: NORM GOLDMAN: Editor of Bookpleasures &CLICK TO VIEW Norm Goldman's Reviews
Today, Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures.com is pleased to have as a guest, Jennifer Kabaaga, author of Strengthen Your Character Or Else… You Remain Just An Average Employee.
Good day Jennifer and thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview.
Norm:
Jennifer, could you tell our audience something about yourself, your professional background and why you wanted to write Strengthen Your Character Or Else… You Remain Just An Average Employee?
Jennifer:
I am married with four children (I had three when I wrote the book). I am originally from Uganda. I am a Management Accountant by training. I have a strong passion for making people feel hopeful and encouraged. It’s with this background that I launched a monthly parental newsletter, Motivate Your Child.
When I was growing up, I thought that having done my fair share of formal education primary school through to university, success would be guaranteed. I was soon surprised to find out that success in life didn’t depend on qualifications alone but on one’s character. People will warm to you depending on how easily you annoy or please them through speech and actions. You may wonder what that has got to do with success well no man is an island and somehow everything we do requires assistance and support from people around us.
I’ve had experiences of luck where people refer something to me simply because I treated them well. The inspiration to put the book in a work place setting is that many of us spend most of our time at work, and I am one of those people. So, it is there that we annoy or please people through our speech and actions. This inevitably affects career success and satisfaction in many ways.
The title Strengthen Your Character or Else… You Remain Just an Average Employee seems patronising from a glance but that’s not the point of the book. In fact the title emphasises the fact that we sometimes feel patronised when we shouldn’t be hence the need for strength of character.
Norm:
Do you feel sometimes from the feedback you receive, that many of your readers are aware of much of the advice you suggest and that you are preaching to the converted?
Jennifer:
I have read many career books where the writer states a problem, offers a solution and that’s the end of the story. However, I know from experience that procrastination is a weakness that affects many people. It is easy to read a book and think what a great book it is but it’s hard to find the motivation and inspiration to put the suggestions into practice.
Strengthen Your Character or Else…You Remain Just an Average Employee, is not a plain career strategy book, it touches moral issues where the reader is encouraged to look deep into themselves to assess their approach to their job and to life generally.
For example, I was prompted to write the chapter ‘opposing destiny’ when a friend confided in me that nothing in her life gave her any sort of satisfaction and that she wasn’t going to try any harder since failure seemed to be her destiny.
I wrote ‘opposing destiny’ for any readers out there who may share that same view about life. There is no such thing as an ‘immovable destiny’, otherwise, we would all sit back and watch patiently as our destiny comes closer.
Also, Strengthen Your Character or Else…You Remain Just an Average Employee is an empowering book. Yes, your employer pays you but you are not under their mercy. You hold all the power to make bold changes within your life. Most of the feedback I have received confirms what the American scholar and author said,
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires."
Whether I am that great teacher, it’s up to the readers but I have certainly inspired many.
Norm:
How did you come up with many of the pearls of wisdom mentioned in your book?
Jennifer
I read many books from the 1800s and early 1900s. Despite the big generation gap, there is always something to learn. Most importantly, I enjoy learning from my surroundings and from people around me.
I am also quick to spot wisdom when it comes along in any form. I was watching Mohammed Ali’s interview on British television. He was shown clips of his famous fights and his comments about racism in his speeches at the end of those fights. The interviewer specifically asked him about his present stand on those comments, to which he responded,
“If at 60 years, I still believe in the same things I believed in at 30, then I have wasted 30 years of my life"
To me, that is wisdom in its simplest form and a classic example of why we must embrace change.
Some of the wisdom comes from experience. I have made many mistakes over the years. However, I don’t regret making those mistakes because I have learnt from them. When you have small children like I do, somehow you think it’s everyone’s birth right to make mistakes after all.
Norm:
Can you explain to our audience some of your research techniques, and if the Internet has been helpful in the writing of your book?
Jennifer:
I use the Internet extensively but with great caution and I find it a very useful tool. Unless I already know a fact, I cannot take it as the plain truth from the Internet. I use the Internet to get quotes to compliment facts that I already know.
While searching the Internet I came across a sermon delivered on Sabbath morning, 6th February 1859 by Rev. Spurgeon at the Royal Surrey Hall:
“…If you walked the streets of London, you might imagine that all those shops were built of marble, and that all those doors were made of mahogany and woods of the rarest kinds and yet you soon discover there is scarcely a piece of any of these precious fabrics to be found anywhere, but that everything is grained, and painted, and vanished. I find no fault with this, except that it is an outward type of an inward evil that exists…"
I found the moral of the sermon very useful in explaining hypocrisy in the workplace.
I also read in my local library, draw from experience as well as face to face interviews as other research techniques.
Norm:
What is your idea of a successful person, and how do you differentiate among mediocre employees from those who are outstanding?
Jennifer:
In Strengthen Your Character or Else…You Remain Just an Average Employee I haven’t attempted to write any criteria for differentiating what a successful person is since we all have different interpretations of success. However, I have encouraged the readers to find what success means to them and then to gear every effort towards attaining their definition of success.
To me personally, success is a peace of mind, an inner satisfaction of life that allows me to appreciate the human race and the love of life. When I read those many books from the early 1900s, knowing that the authors are no longer with us, I know life is temporary and therefore must live it to the full. I am happy that my day job is in line with my philosophy of life and success.
Any person who does a task because the procedure dictates so, without questioning why they do it and without a spring in their step contradicts the very belief that we are here for a while and we shouldn’t compromise ourselves. I wouldn’t like to use the word mediocre but that person is settling for less than they deserve.
Norm:
Are there any unique ways you will be using to market your book that is different from how authors market their books of a similar nature?
Jennifer:
Booksellers used to have an upper hand in their relationship with book readers. The Internet has changed that fact since book readers can get information from virtually anywhere. I intend to use the Internet as well as other traditional bookselling channels.
Most importantly, I appreciate the feedback I have received from the readers of Strengthen Your Character or Else…You Remain Just an Average Employee.
Word of mouth will undoubtedly play a vital role as readers recommend the book to their colleagues.
Norm:
What challenges or obstacles did you encounter while writing your book? How did you overcome these challenges?
Jennifer:
I feel passionate about the topics in Strengthen your Character or Else… I would have wanted to explain them deeply and site as many practical examples as possible. However, on the other hand I know that very few typical employees have enough time on their sleeves to read large volumes of ‘character and career’.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to overcome this challenge. I still carry with me the other half of the book in my head!
The biggest obstacle I faced was that, I lost the script after completing three quarters of the book. I almost gave up. How did I overcome that? I didn’t have to do anything it had been in my daughter’s spare school bag for over three weeks.
Norm:
Do you have any future books in the works?
Jennifer:
Yes. I have a project underway but I have put it on hold to devote as much time as possible to my one-month-old daughter.
Norm:
Is there anything else you would care to add that we have not covered.
Jennifer:
I am grateful for all the readers’ feedback, keep it coming. More information about the book can be found at Amazon (US), Amazon (UK) or the following site.
Norm:
Thanks once again Jennifer and good luck with all of your future projects.
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