I stayed up late last night to watch the U.S Open women finals between Serena Williams and Bianca ‘Whatever’. (I am still so upset with her for making Serena look so ordinary that I have no plan to find out the real pronunciation of her French sounding Canadian surname). For reasons other than the knowledge of tennis, I’d expected Serena to win an easy victory in what would have been a record equalling 24th grand slam win. After all it was Serena Vs a little known Bianca.

Disappointingly the match was a different proposition from what I expected. I watched helplessly as nineteen years old Bianca (who was not even conceived when Serena won her first U.S open in 1997) taught Serena hard lessons in determination and power play. At the end of the first set I knew the match was as good as over and could see that the curtain was being drawn on the tennis career of Serena Williams. How time flies. How time changes everything. Twenty years ago was the onset of the Serena tennis life cycle and 2019 the dawn of the decline stage. That is life.

And in another story,  the former President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe passed ‘to the great beyond ‘a few days ago. His passage was so unsung that it was as if the world had passed him for dead long ago. Robert Mugabe, the orator and statesman who according to fables sacrificed his manhood in the struggle for liberation of his country from colonial rule, died in a whimper. His death was even unmourned by the government of the country over whom he reigned for thirty seven years. I hope the manner of Mugabe’s death would serve as useful lesson to African politicians who fail to recognize that everything that is bequeathed unto man is for a season. I hope they are seeing that when a man attempts to stretch his time beyond the expiry date, he runs the risk of being removed unceremoniously like an expired consumer product on the shelve of a supermarket.

Serena Williams. Robert Mugabe. They remind me of a song from my childhood… Orlando Owoh.  ‘Igba ki’nlo bi orere’. Time is not endless folks.

Are you a leader at the decline stage of your PLC? Please don’t fail to recognize that it is the natural thing to happen. Don’t fret! Don’t bellyache! Prepare for the decline so you can expire with your pride intact. And to those whose flowers are blossoming, I urge that you use your season well knowing it cannot be stretched beyond the expiry date. Enjoy your days of bloom knowing that assuredly the day to face your own Bianca will come.