Okonkwo grew up with a father who had a terrible reputation and no farm. He lived to be known as a terrible man and died a sad one when he got a disease. This greatly affected Okonkwo which led to his style of parenting and leadership. Okonkwo basically told himself "I'm not going to be anything like my father" and stayed to it, building up a huge farm, marrying several women, and becoming known to be great throughout all of the nine villages. His ways of thinking did have negative effects though, as he refuses to let anyone take breaks, and has little respect for himself, much less other people.
