I Believe Therefore I Am — a Book Review
If you are a young professional looking for a way to start the new year inspired; inspired to overcome personal and professional hurdles to get to the top, your answer is here — in this book.
The rise of Dato’ Prof Noor Azizi Ismail from being an orphan in a village without electricity to the very top of academic leadership at a very young age, is a testament that discipline, diligence and dedication pays, eventually.
Losing his father at a tender age of 13, having to juggle being in school and supporting a poor struggling mother, enduring the pains that come with not being able to afford basic needs during college years for lack of financial support, overcoming rejection and lack of confidence occasioned by poor spoken English, learning to study and work in odd jobs at odd hours (in a foreign land) to provide for a young family, rising above peer’s cynicisms and lack of trust in his ability to lead a new organization, and finally making it to the very top in his career, Prof Azizi’s story seems like your classic Grass to Grace story. Well, it is not.
It is much more than that. The problem I have always had with Grass to Grace Story is that people, especially young people, tend to focus on just the two ends — what happens while in the grass and what happens when in the grace.
The attention should be more — if not exclusively — on what happens in-between. That’s where the real lesson is.
But before I tell you all the ‘in-betweens’ that led Dato’ to where he is today, let me tell you the interesting story of how I met this man and what has come out of my knowing him.
Call this one the Story of the Rejected Stone, you would not be wrong.
In 2014, I was to start my PhD studies at Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) under a Business School headed by Dato’, but on arriving Kuala Lumpur (KL) from Nigeria, I changed my mind.
I opted to go to Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) instead. For context, UTM Business School is in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia while UUM is in the state of Kedah, about 500kl from KL and 1km to the border of Malaysia and Thailand.
With the one day experience I had in KL and having seen the beautiful ambiance of UTM-KL Campus, I certainly didn’t want to go anywhere else. But unfortunately for me, I was denied registration by UTM.
The reason being that although I got admission from the two universities, my VWR (Visa With Reference) was issued for study at UUM and by law, I could only be at the address reflected on my VWR.
I didn’t know this fact until then. My options were two: go to UUM and start my study there or go back to Nigeria, cancel the current VWR and apply for a new one through UTM — a process that could take another 6 months. My decision was a no-brainer. I chose to go to UUM.
But I was devastated. I was angry. Having seen the beauty of KL and having heard about how dry and far away UUM campus is, I didn’t want to have anything to do with it. Grudgingly, eventually, I packed my things and headed for the forest — UUM.
Getting to UUM, luck immediately shined on me: the Dean of the Business School (Prof Noor Azizi) accepted to be my supervisor.
Deans are usually very busy and hardly have time to take on PhD students. When they do, they take very few students. I was among the lucky few. But that was only the beginning of my good fortune.
Dato’ was a highly respected and influential Dean in UUM. Through information he availed me with, I got the university’s scholarship. I also got to participate in premium skill-building activities of the Business School.
I would eventually be engaged as a Research Assistant (RA) at both the Business School and the Entrepreneurship Center — CEDI, at different times.
To crown it all, I am now a Senior Lecturer at Universiti Kelantan Malaysia (UMK) — the school he currently serves as the Vice Chancellor of.
Although the scholarship, RA and the Senior Lecturer roles were given to me because I merit them and passed the open selection process, I probably would not have any of the opportunities had my path not crossed that of Dato’s.
I have been blessed by Dato’ in many other ways. As reflected by several exciting stories in I Believe Therefore I Am — the book, confirming what I see in my interaction with him everyday: humility, sacrifice, truthfulness, integrity, excellent work ethics, contentment, family, thirst for knowledge and sense of fairness are virtues that matter.
I have also been influenced, powerfully, by Dato’s believe in giving students a superior experience, the need to build an academic culture that puts students at ease as well as the importance of motivating and celebrating little progress by ourselves, our students and our children.
I have always longed to learn more from Dato’. I Believe Therefore I Am came as an answer to my quest. In the book, I was happy to find interesting stories that teach the mechanics and the ways to master the virtues mentioned above.
In I Believe Therefore I Am, I find interesting stories that draw out the wisdoms and learning points in the personal story I shared above: destiny, patience, having an open mind, experiencing life as it comes, learning to stay calm when confronted with disappointments, being comfortable with not knowing what you are doing at some points, and making efforts to earn respect, trust and higher responsibilities.
Indeed, you cannot read I Believe Therefore I Am without gaining smart ideas to lead better, manage time better, innovate better, manage change and crisis better and multi-task effectively. You certainly cannot read the book without being inspired to dream big and get to the top.
On a final note, one other important ‘in-betweens’ in Dato’s road to the top is traveling. In the book, he paints such a vivid picture of some cool places in the world.
In I Believe Therefore I Am, you will get a feel of places like Jordan, London, Saudi Arabia, Shanghai, Jarkata, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, Istanbul, Dubai, Chicago, New York and many more.
The book is full of fun too. I grinned cheerfully reading through: from Kiki’s (his youngest son) endless but funny questions, to the story of Dato’ almost peeing in his trousers at his very first attempt making presentation in English, to the very funny and interesting rumor of his taking a second wife.
I Believe Therefore I Am is a full package: education, information, entertainment and most importantly, personal development.
Order your copy here
https://www.umkbookstores.com/index.php?route=product%2Fproduct&product_id=405
Enjoy the read!
