Omolara Aromolaran: I adopt Jesus’ style of leadership

Omolara Aromolaran: I adopt Jesus’ style of leadership Our Reporter January 28, 2013 3 Comments » Omolara Aromolaran: I adopt Jesus’ style of leadership ICON Women in Leadership Omolara Aromolaran: SSA to Lagos State governor By Temitope David-Adegboye Mrs. Omolara Aromolaran is Senior Special Assistant to Lagos State governor on Administration. She holds an HND from The Polytechnic, Ibadan and Masters degree in Lincoln University, California. In this interview, she speaks on life as an administrator and how she combines her many roles. What informed your career choice? I started as the special assistant in the office of Chief of Staff in July 1999. Since then, I’ve grown to become the senior special assistant in the same office. What does it take to work with civil servants? Civil service job is like any other job in terms of challenges, motivation, time and self-fulfillment. The challenge that we go through is like those in any other organisation would go through. You have a time to achieve a goal to ensure that your service delivery actually meets up with the demand. You need the will, the know-how, the motivation within yourself and maybe from the organisation to drive you to achieve your goals. Before your appointment as SA, what were you into? I was with a company as an administrator. So, you’ve always been an administrator. I actually studied marketing in school at The Polytechnic, Ibadan. But since I got out of school, my training has been in the administrative section. Having worked as an administrator for a while, what are the lessons you’ve learnt over the years? The experience so far has been very good. I am actually a people-person and I like coordinating. I like to achieve set goals. I’m self-driven and I look beyond my immediate. I try to see beyond what currently exists around me. I like to imagine what would be the aftermath of whatever I am doing. I try to think of how people would perceive it, what impact it would have on people that are going to be the recipients of my delivery. But it has been good because it helps me to be focused, broadens my knowledge and builds in me strength, because you are not just limited to one area. As an engineer or a doctor, one is limited to that area alone except one decides to acquire knowledge in other fields. But as an administrator, I cut across the engineering sector, medical, legal and all others. And it also rubs off on one’s personality.