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classical musicians , opera singers , jazz musicians , hip hop musicians and many more . Each has a following but the disaster happens when a rock musician parades his gift in front of classical music enthusiasts or when the opera singer parades his gift in front of electronic dance musicians . People who do not appreciate what you have will never see you as relevant even if you are gifted or intelligent .
You are the salt of the earth , but if salt has lost its taste ( its strength , its quality ), how can its saltness be restored ? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men . Matthew 5:13 ( The Amplified Bible ).
Salt has no value on its own . Its value is not intrinsic . That is why you never hear of a meal of boiled salt or roasted salt . The value of salt comes out relative to what it is added to . Jesus taught that we are the salt of the earth thus implying that our value as people will come out as we give ourselves to making our world better . Your value will emanate from the solutions that you bring .
Many did not understand how in the past war times were very good times for the entertainment industry . The reason was simple . Well , it ’ s not rocket science . What better time to lift up the spirits of people than war time ? As twisted as it may sound , entertainment is greatly relevant during war .
The very definition of the word relevance tells us that it has to be connected to something . You cannot be a standalone relevant person . Your relevance is measured by the value you add and is NEVER measured by your opinion of yourself .
There is what I have called the circle of value . This is a two way flow of value comprising of an inward and outward flow . The inward flow is the value that is added to you .
Circle Of Value
This comes through reading , through associations that stimulate thought and through exposure . The outward flow is made up of the value that you bring to the table - the table being a time in history , your family , your community , your place of work , your nation or whatever it

Being intelligent does not guarantee relevance . This is one huge pitfall that a lot of intelligent people slump into . They are deceived into thinking there is a notion such as once intelligent , always intelligent . That is a fallacy .

is that you are a part of . You need to be constantly alert to evaluate if your circle of value is shrinking or expanding . If shrinking it means the people who value your intelligence or skill are diminishing .
If expanding , it means the people who value what you have are increasing . Donald Trump in the book , How to Get Rich , talks about his encounter with a man called William Levitt — a real estate developer who is credited as pioneer of the modern home development model of building estates and homes for the middle class .
William Levitt
Levitt , according to Time magazine , was one of the most influential figures of the 20th century . At the peak of his success , he sold his company for 100 million dollars ( which in today ’ s money would run into billions ) and then married a new wife and retired into the French Riviera . Twenty years later he tried to get back into the game but the magic was gone .
He eventually went bankrupt and in the meeting with Trump two weeks before he died he said : “ I lost my momentum .
I came back and I wasn ’ t the same .” His circle of value had shrunk . The one time master of real estate who everyone wanted to hear from was now all alone .
When your circle of value shrinks , your ideas no longer matter and your voice is no longer sought after . I believe one of the things that drove Levitt to his death just two weeks after this encounter with Trump was the fact that he discovered his voice and his ideas had run their full course .
He had been away and life had simply gone on without him . What is the net impact of your absence ? If your absence doesn ’ t make a difference was your presence necessary ? Your life will be measured by impact and not by presence . What is the point in being present if your presence is not making a difference ?
The Way Forward
The difference you make is the yardstick for measuring your relevance . Never forget the fact you are the salt of the earth . Your relevance comes from the value you bring and the value you bring will come from the quality of your ideas . When the inward flow of your circle of value increases then you will be strategically positioned to expand the outward flow . As long as your circle of value is expanding you can never become irrelevant .
Remember that in the real world , all your intelligence will not serve you if you are not relevant . When you were looking for your first job , your employers were concerned about your grades . As you rise , no one cares what you scored in Mathematics or in English .
As you rise higher what becomes important is how well you are able to solve the problems that they expect you to be able to solve at that level . If at that point , your claim to fame is that you scored an A when you were in school then you have simply made public what people always suspected – that your years of relevance are behind you .
These are excerpts based on the key note address delivered by Dr . Wale Akinyemi at the 1st 2018 Kisumu Quiznite in early May . Dr . Akinyemi is the Chief Transformation Officer , PowerTalks Corporate & Personal Development Consultants . You can commune with him via mail at : Wale @ powertalks . biz , or via his twitter handle at : twitter @ waleakinyemi .