Richard Bekyi Receives High Performance Recognition

We have said time and time over that outstanding is not the same as normal—in fact they are opposites. This is actually a tautology of a sort. But often even those who think they understand end up confusing the idea. They have managed to convince themselves that different means getting out of line or perhaps start heading in the very opposite direction. You are different of course when you do that but different is not always useful. In a situation where everyone wants to live those commit suicide can also claim to be different. Those who rip off their clothes in public too are different of course but only because most of us want to keep our clothes on.

To address this conundrum we must first postulate a direction or perhaps a destination that will define progress for the larger society. When this is done, being outstanding will then mean you lead the pack in the set direction towards the destination. When you lead, you are different because the majority of people tend to hover around the middle bracket doing what it called normal, average or good enough. When they cook, you can eat it because it is ok. It has just about enough salt and pepper to give a fair taste. Those who are outstanding cook something that you can eat too, except you are left with a strong urge to indulge in infantile art of finger licking. It is just too damn good. Such persons are rare and we have found they are driven by a performance conscious mindset. Ripping off your clothes and heading in the regressive direction is the easy way out to different—way of the miscreant. Real performance takes more.

Mr. Richard Bekyi, a recipient of the SPID-UP® Performance Recognition Awards is one of such personalities who give you that strong urge to lick your fingers. He does this through graphic designing and printing. Richard’s customers are not ordinary folks either. They have a consuming appetite for outstanding. If you are normal you will have a tough time understanding this man. As one customer told us;

“I thought this guy was weird… I was sure he did not understand what we wanted and he won’t even compromise. He is very stubborn about quality and you cannot persuade him to do simple things. In the end I realized I really did not understand where he was coming from. You really have to stop thinking and let him lead the way because he wants to take you to new level”

Mr. Bekyi and his team at Iseeworks Limited craft some life-transforming designs and they are not going to sit around and let some printer make a mess of it. He controls the process from start to finish making sure their customer get exactly what he promised them if not more. It is easy to confuse his work with something that was crafted a Hollywood design studio. But that is not all there is to this man and his team. Anyone who knows anything about the printing business will tell you that it’s major plague in not only quality of work. There is also a severe case of untimely delivery and Richard Bekyi seems to have developed an antidote for this blight.

For us at SPiD-UP® that is hope. We are capable as a people to produce high quality only if we decide to and one of our many examples is Mr. Richard Bekyi. We hope he is inspires you to be performance conscious enough to give your best. Regardless of what you do, you ought to activate the urge to indulge in the art of finger licking in your patrons. Mr. Beckyi will be speaking at the Upcoming SPiD-UP® workshop on performance where he will share some thoughts on the importance of performance. We look forward to seeing you there. #spidup 

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“HALF A SONG TO SING” at RODE REEL

The issue of woman abuse is not just a community problem. Neither is it a country problem; it is a worldwide problem. Day in and day out, women are abused by men who by the unwritten rubrics of marriage are supposed to protect, love and encourage them. On KNUST campus one night in my hostel, there was an uproar which forced students out of their beds to find out what was going on. A gentleman who happened to be from another hostel had come to our hostel to beat up his girlfriend. Last year, the news of a taxi driver who stabbed his girlfriend to death shocked the country. A pregnant woman was also assaulted with an electric iron by her husband and was left to rot in a locked room after she had died. There are many more untold stories as many women continue suffer abuse in secrecy.

These women have been beaten by men who had once loved them. Some argue that perhaps women of today provoke such treatment from men because of their own behaviors. The modern woman is far from the submissive, near-timid woman prescribed by culture. But do two wrongs make a right? Is violence the best way out? In making the film; half a song to sing, our aim was to give voice to women who are victims of abusive relationships and propose a simple solution-Run!  Run from the situation ad seek help, run to seek counsel and shelter, run to save their very lives. No body deserves to be mistreated. The woman is the man's reflection and as he is, so she is. She is an embodiment of his love. If she is treated well, she blossoms.

Half a song is poetry and a fine work of art in one. It is a short metaphorical story of a woman in an abusive relationship. The true status of her relationship is left to silence. In the end however she says: “he is my husband". She is a representative of the many living with abusive men. Most women believe that men automatically become their husbands once they move in with them. This fallacy of a marriage can become an obstacle to wanting to break free. Many think it could be a “waste of time” trying to come out of such a relationship and hence, continue to suffer in silence.

Half a song to sing is a blend of poetry and moving pictures.  While a joyful challenge for the team, the idea is certainly not new to film making. Telling such an important story in only three minutes forced the team to think outside the proverbial box. We had to come up with a concept which will not only entertain but also inform and stimulate public interest. In the end we believe the film has become the voice of the many who suffer in silence.

We can all be a voice for the voiceless no matter the platform available to us, even if it is a short film. Vote for “Half a Song to Sing” (http://www.rode.com/myrodereel/watch/entry/2607)

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