“A bird is safe in its nest – but that is not what its wings are made for.”
― Amit Ray, World Peace: The Voice of a Mountain Bird
When Bonny* appeared at the parking lot to pick me up, his soft-spoken voice and confidence attracted me to find out more about him. As I engaged Bonny in a conversation, I discovered that he has been operating a taxi in Nairobi for seven years cumulatively. He prides himself as one who knows every corner of the city of Nairobi and doesn’t need a GPS to find his way around.
When I asked him about his experience in Uber and why he joined it seven months earlier, his response was one of mixed feelings. Bonny was alive to the fact that you cannot fight technology. The entry of Uber saw him loose a number of clients to the new platform and it was a matter of time to bid the business farewell if he did not adapt to technology. At the start, the income levels were good because there were fewer operators and the charge per kilometer was also high. With the increase in the number of Uber cars and the entry of more players in the industry, price wars led to decreased earnings. When I asked how the current earnings compared to earnings as a stand-alone taxi, he was quick to point out that sometimes the stand-alone taxi wait times were too long with no business forthcoming. His earnings with Uber are almost assured given reduced downtimes even with the competitively low fares as opposed to the long waiting times, which meant no income.
Bonny revealed his car was on loan and that he had to work hard not to have it repossessed by the bank for defaulting. Some of his friends have had their cars repossessed. As we drove past some affluent housing estates in Nairobi where house rent for apartments is an average of Kenya Shillings 150,000 (US $ 1,500), he wondered aloud why someone would live in such a house if they did not own one for themselves. His own unsolicited advice was that it is important to live within your means.
By the time we got to my destination, I imagined of many leaders and what drives them. Merriam-Webster defines philosophy of life and an overall vision of or attitude toward life and the purpose of life. As I interacted with Bonny, I could tell what drives his life – prudence and agility. What is your attitude towards technology? Are you willing to grab new opportunities and try out new things or are you stuck to the old ways of doing things and expecting different results? Are you aware of your limits – What you can and can’t do?
