The distinguished Pro-Chancellor of Covenant University and First Vice President of the Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Abioye, has stated that everyone desires altitude, which means height, greatness and change of levels; therefore, one must cultivate the right attitudes that secure great altitudes.

Bishop Abioye made this assertion at the Special Convocation Service held in honour of the Graduating Class of 2020/2021 while delivering a message titled, ‘Cultivating Right Attitudes that Secures Great Altitudes.’   In the message, he stated that attitude is superior to skills and capacity because a man’s skills may take him up, but his attitude keeps him up.

He posited that many employers have discovered that you could have outstanding people in the interview but, upon being employed, are discovered to be a great mistake in the organisation. “You can fake skill; you can use skill to compete, but it is your attitude that would validate the opportunity that you have been given. Attitude can be described as a set of behaviours. How you behave is far more important than what you do. There is a lot of struggle in our world today for greatness. But people forget that behaviour is far more important,” he added

The Pro-Chancellor pointed out that a man’s behaviour is a natural path to what he becomes in life; whatever he is today can be traced to how consistently he behaved in the past. Wise people, he said, look out for behaviour more than skills; greatness is an unending journey guaranteed only by continuous engagement of right attitudes.

He said what attitude is to altitude is what the base of a triangle is to its height. “You spread the base of your attitude in order to increase the base of your altitude. Those who have a good attitude don’t pray for great altitude. Great people don’t wish or compete to be great; they just find themselves standing out in greatness. Neither do they envy nor seek to cut down anyone that is great. You can simply assume greatness as you continue to improve on your attitude,” he further explained.

The Pro-Chancellor listed some characteristics of the right attitude to include humility, which he described as one of the attributes of Jesus.  He said greatness awaits the humble, and no attempt can ever be made to cover or push down a humble man. He mentioned a quote by Dr. Oral Robert, which states, “When you become great, remain small in your eyes.”

He said, “One big definition of humility is remaining small in your eyes regardless of your accomplishments.  Never count yourself to be extra-ordinary or superior to others. There is nothing anyone can do to stop the greatness of a humble man. How you behave determines how you end. Humility goes before honour; destruction awaits the proud. If you can maintain meekness, it won’t take you more than five years to find your way.”

Another significant characteristic of the right attitude, as pointed out by Bishop Abioye, is servanthood. According to him, a servant is someone who renders services that others feel too big to render. A true servant, he said, does not see anything as too small for him to do; a true servant doesn’t choose what to do; he does what is right to do. He said that a true servant is not looking for a seat to occupy but a duty to carry out. “Bigness is not for those who want it. God would never give you anything until you have lost the taste for that thing. Your taste for greatness would hinder you from greatness. Saul struggled to retain the throne, but David was begged to ascend the throne because he was a servant. Service rendered may put you in a corner, but greatness would meet you in that corner,” he added

He also listed faithfulness as one of the signs of the right attitude, stating that a faithful man keeps custody of what is assigned to him. When you touch what is not yours, he said, you miss what is yours. “What is not yours is counterfeit; what is yours is on the way coming. Before you get to your right place, you would be given a ‘mock’ place to test you. You must face a trial before you emerge triumphantly. You must be proven before you are approved. Faithfulness is trading the present for the future, managing small to grow big. Faithfulness would always grow because the faithful shall abound with blessing,” he stressed

Diligence, Bishop Abioye added, is a great attitude; it is the commitment to work. According to him, “Statistics shows that you would be 50% above your peers if you are hardworking. Sweat at work so you can rest at night. Don’t be lazy if you don’t want to be laid down. Work your work until your work knows you’re working it. Idle hands would always result in low ratings in life. You are either diligent, or you end indigent. Anyone that is not diligent today would end up indigent tomorrow. There is no substitute for hard work. People don’t care about your appearance but your work. Nobody cares about your age, race, gender when you are hardworking. Diligence suffers no discrimination. Working with your brain can only be an enhancement to working with your hands, not a substitute. Brainwork is only a plus to hard work. Hard work is core; brainwork is a plus. Hard work would learn just anything and everything. Get committed to duty anywhere you find yourself.”

Moreover, he said continuous learning is key to emerging at a high altitude in life.   “A committed learner becomes a distinguished leader. Great people always learn; they always ask questions. No individual is a custodian of knowledge. Reading provides us with wings to fly; learning opens us up to the world of impossibilities. Reading breaks the mentality of impossibility. It increases your capacity to do beyond what you think you can do,” he posited

Others include gratitude, which he explained as simply thanking God for today, to secure your tomorrow, and remaining ever grateful, he said, is to be ever rising. The last on the list of the attributes of a good attitude was contentment, which he defined as the cure for covetousness. “Don’t like what you don’t have. Covetousness cuts your destiny short,” he said

The Bishop stated that all these couldn’t be taught in any business school, yet they are the secrets; they look so small, but the little things that make big things work.

Others at the event were the Secretary, Board of Regents (BOR), Pastor Adedeji Owojaiye; the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abiodun Adebayo; the Registrar, Dr. Oluwasegun Omidiora; the Chaplain, Pastor Victor Hill and other members of the University Management.