The Founder of the Salt and Light Ministries, Rev. Joyce Aryee, has urged the youth to be creative with how they deal with problems in the new world in order to stay relevant.

She urged them to think about what they wanted to do, the effect that it would have on people, and come up with better ways of doing it.

At the maiden 2021 Springboard Roadshow which was held virtually under the theme ‘repositioning, she said “if you want to reposition, you need to review the past, redesign the present and reimagine the future”.

For this to be possible, she advised the youth to use what she described as the ‘seven roots’.

The seven roots included integrity, vision, concern, creativity, result orientation and courage.

Integrity

She urged them to make integrity a key pillar of their lives.

“You must be true to yourself and to the people around you. Being true to yourself means you are anchored on some strong values.

“One of the strongest values is that life is not a population of just yourself but about others and yourself; and that what you do in the public space to make the lives of other people better is best of all and makes you fulfilled,” she explained.

Need for a vision

Rev. Aryee also advised the youth to have a unique vision if they are to survive in the new world.

“What is your life about? Because we are not true to ourselves, we even try to grab the vision of others but we are all different people.”

“The world is so big and all of us can make huge contributions but what we need is to determine how you want to contribute. Own your vision, believe in it and shape it,” she said.

Result orientation

She also noted that result orientation was very key in today’s world.

“When you have done everything, there has to be results. Enough of the complaints, we want results.”

“You also need the courage to make difficult decisions. Sometimes decisions about yourself and how you need to reposition and envision the future,” she stated.

Investing in future

Rev. Aryee also urged the youth to invest their time, energy and talents into repositioning themselves in the new world.

“When we talk about repositioning, the word that readily comes to mind is invest. Investing time, energy, and talents. If we are going to reposition then we need to understand that things are never going to be the same and as such we need to think ahead.”

“I am reminded of Noah’s time, anytime I think about our time now. Suddenly the world changed, they were on water for a long time and the past was gone, they had to think about how to deal with the present as well as the future,” she stated.

Appreciating how the world sees you

Giving the keynote address at the roadshow, the Chief Executive Officer of UMB Bank, Nana Dwemoh Benneh, advised the youth to appreciate more how the world sees them than how they see themselves.

“The big lesson I have learnt is that, it is not about me but what the world appreciates about me. The skills that you think are important to you may not necessarily be the skills that others appreciate or want so when working with clients, you must pay attention to what it is that they require from you.”

“Many of us have lots of skills but sometimes we tend to appreciate some more because that is how we like to see ourselves but you must pay heed to what the world is telling you they appreciate about you and that is the value of feedback,” he advised.

He urged them to learn to understand what the world values most about them and use that to be their success tool.

In doing so, he, however, cautioned them not to compromise on their integrity and ethics just to please others.

“Your integrity and ethics must not be compromised even in your quest to satisfy your clients or boss,” he stated.

He, however, advised them to do so quietly, firmly and consistently.

“It is often good to state your case quietly, firmly and consistently so that people will associate you to a certain set of values,” he stated.

Continuous learning journey

Nana Benneh also advised the youth to see life as a continuous learning journey which only ends when there is no more life.

“Life is a continuous learning journey and the destination is when life ends. I smile when people ask me how I got to the top, because, for me, I do not recognise the top. It is a journey, when we say how we got to the top, we see it as a destination but it never ends.”

“In our repositioning, we need to realise that whichever level we get to is just another step in the lifelong journey. Once we think that way, it enables us to continually reposition ourselves and make ourselves relevant in the fast-changing world,” he explained.