The Secret and Imperative of Keeping Secrets

By Ogiri John Ogiri 

Introduction 

I understand that my articles can sometimes be as long as the windy road from Sokoto State in northern Nigeria to Lagos State in southwestern Nigeria. This is why I do appreciate those of you, my readers, who invest a great amount of time, resources, courage and patience into the reading of my works online. Honestly, I do try my best to write with you in mind. It is just that sometimes, I cannot help but elongate the progression of my piece so as to be able to explain my points to your better understanding. I urge you, therefore, to Keeping reading me and keep offering your informed opinions and criticisms that can help shape, for the better, my worldview or perspectives on issues of life

Having said that,  let me begin with the thesis, though subject to debate, that, the secret of Keeping a secret successfully is to be positively secretive. It lies in protecting your most treasured secrets. As I sit in my sitting room, facing the mini library in one corner of my room, penning down this piece, I think about successful business people as well as inventors of several essential products and services who have enjoyed unceasing patronages from customers from centuries past to the present time. I think about Google, Apple, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, Meta, MTN, Glo, Airtel, Dangote, among others too numerous to itemise here. I think about the secrets of their successes; the compelling secrets which owners of these companies have continued to keep, protect and use in maintaining and sustaining their current market dominance in their various areas of niche. How have these companies been able to maintain their leading positions in the global market over the years?

Again, I think about powerful, successful political leaders who have been quite instrumental in the transformation of their countries' socio-economic and political destiny from primitive underdevelopment to real development. I think about the late prime minister Lew Kwuan Yew of Singapore, India's Mahatma Ghandi, the Japanese and the Malaysian revolutionaries, leaders of China, the United States as well as many European leaders whose uncommon, daring leadership adventures were responsible for the great feats they achieved for their country men and women. In all of these litanies of successful people, one thing is obvious; they are all united in the art of Secrets-keeping and protection. Only they and their "disciples of inner circles" knew and still know such secrets. 

On the other hand, I think about those who crashed out of business, and still do daily. I think about many whose dreams got truncated or aborted because they could not discipline their courage to keep certain things about their plans secret. They talk and share too much of many of their plans that should have been left secret until the right time. Just a little prompting and they are already divulging their prized secrets, particularly those forming the bedrocks of their enterprises. A careful observation reveals that this is more common among the less fortunate than the more fortunate particularly in Africa. 

Let me shock those of you who are yet to know. If you own a business, a workshop or a beautiful scenery you have transformed into a venture, it becomes an attraction to people. So, when they visit, they tend to take pictures. These pictures are sometimes a subtle way of getting the right information in pictures about your business. If you reveal too much too soon, you will be shocked to find a clone of your original enterprise emerge elsewhere with a modernised design and outlook better than yours. Find out the secret of Lexus Jeep invention. This is why it is more beneficial for your entrepreneurial interest to keep your secret unless you discover that the benefits of revealing the secret outweighs the costs of keeping it. In any business, your best business secrets give you a competitive edge over your competitors.

It is therefore important to emphasise by way of conclusion that keeping useful secrets is an asset every individual should court and have. It is equally an art every serious-minded person should strive to master. It is one thing to have a secret, it is another thing entirely to keep it. So, keep your treasured secrets secret. You cannot afford to trust anyone with it too soon. Unless one person is dead, two individuals cannot keep a secret successfully. Why then should you risk what you cannot afford to lose?