When I sat down with Godwin Tom for Episode 2 of Life to a Teee, I expected a conversation about the music business. What I got was a masterclass in how honesty, vulnerability, and consistency builds a brand that transcends industries.
His mother cooked for rich people. His father drove for them. They lived in a one-bedroom where the living room became the bedroom at night. His dad once got written up because young Godwin’s football went into his boss’s compound.
Today, Godwin is the Managing Director of Sony Music Publishing Nigeria. He built MBA (Music Business Academy for Africa) from scratch, training the next generation across Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.
But here’s what struck me most: everyone who encounters Godwin says the same thing. He’s an upstanding, honest man. Not in a performative way. In a way that feels earned, lived, grounded.
And in watching the response to this episode—from both men and women, across continents, across industries—I realized something profound about what makes a personal brand truly resonate.
The Power of Honesty in Brand Building
We talk constantly about “authentic branding” and “showing up as your true self.” But what does that actually mean in practice?
For Godwin, it means being willing to say things most executives won’t:
“I don’t give a shit. I achieved my dream years ago. Everything now is just extra.”
It means admitting: “I love my wife more than I love my kids.”
It means being honest about money: “You need financial stability to create balance. Stop lying about it.”
These aren’t carefully workshopped brand messages. They’re truths he’s lived into. And that’s precisely why they land.
Your brand isn’t what you curate on LinkedIn. It’s what people say about you when you’re not in the room. It’s the consistency between who you are in private and who you show up as in public.
Godwin’s brand, built over years of showing up with integrity, allows him to be radically honest now. Because people trust that the honesty isn’t performance. It’s pattern.
What Men Talk About in Private
This episode resonated differently with men than I expected.
The comments. The DMs. The voice notes from male friends who said, “I’ve never heard another man say this out loud.”
Godwin talked about things men discuss in private but rarely say publicly:
The fear of not being enough. The weight of providing. The guilt of choosing work over presence. The complexity of loving your wife while raising kids who will eventually leave. The reality that you need money to build the life that allows you to be present.
One man told me: “I’ve been trying to explain to my wife why I work so hard, and Godwin just said it better than I ever could. I want to have dinner with my kids more than I don’t. But that requires resources.”
This is the vulnerability we need to normalize in men—especially as fathers, especially as husbands.
Not the toxic “alpha male” performance. Not the self-help guru posturing. Just honest men talking about the weight they carry and how they’re trying to carry it well.
Godwin and I joke about how exhausting it is to hold space for everyone. To be the dependable one. To be the person people lean on while carrying your own load.
But here’s what he taught me: vulnerability isn’t weakness. It’s the foundation of trust. And trust is the foundation of every strong brand, every strong relationship, every strong legacy.
From Grass to Grace—With Class
“Grass to grace” stories are everywhere. Rags to riches. Poverty to power.
But what makes Godwin’s story different is the dignity with which he wears it.
He told me about identifying “new money” by looking at their feet: “Dirty feet in Gucci slippers. They’re not prepared for what they have.”
When you grow up poor, your feet have cracks. Over time, as you work and build, those things disappear. But when you make money fast—fraud, quick schemes, instant wealth—you want the expensive things immediately. You’re not fit for them yet.
“You’re wearing expensive shoes,” he said, “but you have legs that will damage them.”
This isn’t about judging others. It’s about understanding that character development must match financial growth.
Godwin drove the same car for nine years. Not because he couldn’t afford a new one, but because he didn’t need to perform wealth to feel successful.
He achieved his dream years ago, having dinner with his kids more times than he doesn’t, being able to tell them exactly how he made money—and everything since has been extra.
This is what grace looks like. Not the absence of struggle, but the refusal to lose yourself in the ascent.
The Godwin Standard: What It Means to Be Known for Integrity
Here’s the thing about Godwin that everyone mentions: his reputation is spotless.
In an industry known for chaos, exploitation, and ethical gray areas, Godwin is known as someone who does right by people. Always.
And that reputation? That’s his competitive advantage.
Students across Africa trust MBA because Godwin built it. Artists and managers seek his counsel because his word means something. Executives collaborate with him because they know he’ll deliver.
Your personal brand isn’t about being the loudest, the flashiest, or the most visible. It’s about being the most trustworthy.
In a world of noise, consistency is the signal.
In a culture of performance, authenticity is the edge.
In an economy of attention, integrity is the moat.
How to Build a Brand Like Godwin’s
After this conversation, I’ve been thinking about what makes Godwin’s approach to his personal brand so effective. Here’s what I’ve learned:
1. Document the journey, not just the destination
Godwin keeps records of how he made his first 1K, first 10K etc. Not to brag, but to teach his sons. “I don’t want my kids to ask people how to make money and they say ‘it’s God.’ There has to be some sort of system.”
Your brand is built on the specifics of your story, not the generalities of your success.
2. Be honest about the role of money
“People that have money will tell you money is not everything. Please give me the money, let me find out myself.”
Stop performing humility about resources. Be honest about what financial stability affords you: presence, peace, options.
3. Let your values show up in small, daily actions
Godwin’s sons carry their own plates at 3 and 5. Nobody picks them up when they fall. He tells them he loves them every day before bed and before school.
Your brand isn’t built in grand gestures. It’s built in consistent, small choices that align with who you say you are.
4. Be willing to fail publicly and move on quickly
“I’ve shut down over six companies. I don’t dwell on failure. It happened. Either we could do it or we couldn’t. Clearly we couldn’t.”
Your ability to metabolize failure quickly and move forward builds more trust than a perfect track record ever could.
5. Prepare for opportunities by being ready when they arrive
At 15, Godwin met an American Major by chance. He washed his car for four months without him knowing, just to access his library. That connection changed his life.
“I was lucky,” Godwin said. “But I was also prepared. An opportunity came and I was ready.”
Your brand is what makes people want to bet on you when the opportunity arrives.
What This Episode Taught Me About My Own Brand
Recording this conversation reminded me why I started Life to a Teee in the first place.
I wanted to create space for honest, necessary, deeply human conversations. From the boardroom to the living room. About how to lead, live, and love with more intention.
Godwin embodies this. He doesn’t separate “Godwin the Executive” from “Godwin the Father” from “Godwin the Husband.” He shows up whole.
And in a world that constantly asks us to fragment ourselves—to be one version at work, another at home, another online—that wholeness is revolutionary.
My brand, like Godwin’s, is built on the belief that success without groundedness is just performance. That legacy isn’t about what you accumulate, but what you leave behind in the people you’ve touched.
This episode resonated because it gave permission—to men, to women, to executives, to parents—to stop performing and start showing up fully.
To say: I love my wife more than my kids, and that’s healthy.
To admit: I need money to create the balance I want.
To acknowledge: I was lucky, but I was also prepared.
To own: I’ve failed six times and I’m still here.
The Brand You Build When No One’s Watching
At the end of our conversation, Godwin said something that’s stuck with me:
“I can’t misbehave outside now because my students might be watching.”
That’s the ultimate measure of a personal brand: who you’ve become when you think no one is looking, knowing that eventually, someone always is.
Godwin’s brand wasn’t built in a marketing meeting or a LinkedIn strategy session. It was built in one-bedroom BQs and library staircases. In difficult conversations with his mother about who comes first. In the decision to drive the same car for nine years. In telling his sons he loves them every single day.
It was built in private, over decades, with dignity.
And now, when he speaks publicly, people listen. Because they trust that what they’re hearing is the same person he’s been all along.
That’s the brand worth building. Not the one that gets you the most followers, but the one that earns you the most trust.
Not the one that makes you famous, but the one that makes you reliable.
Not the one that’s loudest, but the one that lasts.
Listen to the full conversation with Godwin Tom on Life to a Teee, Episode 2. Because some lessons can only be learned by sitting in the presence of someone who’s walked the path with grace.
And if this resonated with you, share it with someone who needs to hear it. Tag them. Send them the link. Start the conversation.
Because the world needs more Godwins—people building brands that matter, lives that last, and legacies worth leaving.
Until next time,
Tope