Your phoenix syndrome
It must be placed upfront that Rebuilding from Ground Zero is not another penny-a-dozen motivational book. It is also not another of those get-rich-quick books written mainly by people who ironically, are not rich. This book by Seni Hazzan, a Nigerian with American inclinations and training, is in part his life’s experience and also his […]
It must be placed upfront that Rebuilding from Ground Zero is not another penny-a-dozen motivational book. It is also not another of those get-rich-quick books written mainly by people who ironically, are not rich. This book by Seni Hazzan, a Nigerian with American inclinations and training, is in part his life’s experience and also his hands-on American experience of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in New York.
Seni pulled his life from ground zero to the roaring success he is today. And as a respected player on Wall Street when 9/11 happened, he was drafted by the New York State Government among the team to set the tone for rebuilding from Ground Zero. This is the genesis of this book and the 234-page book will yet be a classic. This is because Seni shows the trait of a voracious reader and a tireless researcher. He seems to have scoured every book ever written in search of corroboration for his original thesis. From the Bible which seems to have provided him so much inspiration, to all the great books you wish you had read, Seni proves to be a monstrous researcher.
But the beauty of Rebuilding is not in the quality of research that is apparent in it, ironically, but in the quality and originality of the author’s ideas. The book itself has a peculiar structure of 20 chapters broken into four parts. It starts with the exhilarating experience of the author on his journey to America and how he eventually conquered America, so to speak, by becoming the American dream. His rapid transformation from an indigent status in the rough and tumble of Lagos, to Yale University and then Goldman Sachs on Wall Street is in itself, a study in the phoenix syndrome.
Rebuilding regales the reader with what it describes as the science of life which teaches that man is guided by nine divine laws that predict the outcome of all his actions. How much of these laws a man knows readily would inexorably determine the quantum of success or failure one achieves in life. Though these are age-old facts and truisms embedded in books of life, the author has re-mastered and re-codified them to make them more applicable and to suit the exigencies of today.
Another very important portion of the book is the chapter that treats what the author describes (and indeed copy-righted) as the power pyramid of achievement, also known as the ‘short cut to wealth. In this power pyramid is embedded such concepts as self-mastery, serving others, support system and the protective edge. According to the author, around this four pillars hung the make or mar design of every man.The power pyramid suggests that the most amount of work one has to do is on oneself. Would we allow ourselves to be shaped aright for the purpose for which we are created?
The effects of some of the author’s postulations can be almost magical to a first time reader but he suggests the need to internalize them and put them to sustained use. One more point that Seni brought poignantly to life is that the best kind of wealth is that you make by serving others. Let us hear it from him: “If you are in a vocation, or are pursuing a call that will not provide you with endless opportunities to serve the greatest number of the people, you need to reconsider what you are doing…The men and women who have created great wealth are people who helped enough people to get what they want.”
Wealth as an end in itself is a mere heap of refuse. This is one key and pleasurable message of Rebuilding from Ground Zero. You can only do well by doing good to other is its sublime summation. This book is truly capable of changing your life for good. Uncannily, every man has a ground zero in his life: be a phoenix today and rise from your ashes.