WHO IS A LEADER

WHO IS A LEADER?

The one who has an answer to the question, "So where do we go from here?".

WHY LEADERS EMERGE EVEN LATER THAN MANAGERS

WHY LEADERS EMERGE EVEN LATER THAN MANAGERS

In the beginning, a business has need of an entrepreneur. It needs someone to do the work of creating the product, setting up the service, and winning customers. He or she does everything from licking stamps to keeping accounts. They may even hire a few hands to help them do them work. If the business survives and the entrepreneur gets tired, managers take over. Managers create order and control the growth of profits of the business. They develop the business mission and keep the business focused. A business can survive a long time with a mission and without leadership. When an organization is running well it has no need for leaders. However, when there comes a crisis, as there surely will, a leader will emerge. In times of crisis people ask, "Where do we go from here?" Only then is when vision is needed and leaders take over.

Allan

WHY YOU SHOULD HIRE FOR COMPASSION AND NOT COMPETENCE

 

WHY YOU SHOULD HIRE FOR COMPASSION AND NOT COMPETENCE

Every business hires competent employees.  They focus on skills, and then train employees for the mission. That is just the problem. Compassionate employees are willing to serve the mission and learn the skill. Of course it would be ideal to hire the both the skill and the will. However, we often place much emphasis on the skill rather than the will. Skill is about the hands and head. The will is a matter of the heart

Employing for competence is no guarantee that the employee will love the job, the customers or the organization. On the other hand, compassion is about love for what you do, the customer and the organization. Competence focuses on performance. Compassion focuses on service.  Hiring for compassion is no guarantee that a good job will be done. But it does guarantee that the job will do a lot of good. Competence is about me. Compassion is about others. One is about self the other is about service.

Allan

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD TO FIRE SOMEONE

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD TO FIRE SOMEONE?

Hiring anyone is a tiring process. Firing anyone is quite harrowing as well. The basis of hiring is work. Firing is because work is not done. I have always wondered if there is a way of making it easier for everyone. The simple answer to that question is, don't look for a job if you really don't want one and only hire if you really if you can't do without. Take the job if you are agreed and work at it like it is yours. The more complex answer is don't do work you don't like and learn to like what you do. Like what you do. Moreover, if you must hire don't hire for competence, hire for compassion.

 Allan

WHY MANAGERS EMERGE LATER IN LIFE

WHY MANAGERS EMERGE LATER IN LIFE

Management is a competence quite separate from professional ability or academic skill. These two can be facilitated by talent. And are spotted quite early in life. Management requires the gift of organization. Managers arrange things in order and organize to get things done. You can get administrators from school, but managers are made in organizations. Managers can go through school without recognition. However, they emerge in organizations when their gift is needed.  Managers are the backbone of any business. A business without managers will soon go out of business. A business with poor managers can survive a long time. It can be very effective. A business with good managers will excel. It will be extremely efficient. Yet leadership is far removed from all these.

Allan

HOPE NEVER DIES

Hope never dies. When it is buried it grows into a tree. A life giving tree .

WHAT KIND OF DRIVER ARE YOU

WHAT KIND OF DRIVER ARE YOU?

The most powerful driver I have ever seen used to be so powerful. He could tell his boss what to do. When his boss told him to go left, he went right. He had no mercy on anyone at all. No one knew when to expect his bus. It is a miracle that he ever kept a job. He caused so much trouble, but no one had the guts to tell him he was wrong. Eventually he walked away from the job. It was the kindest thing he could do. What about you what kind of driver are you?

Allan

YOU DONT NEED VISION TO BRING CHANGE

YOU DON'T NEED VISION TO BRING CHANGE

You don't need vision to bring transformation. All you need is sufficient contempt for your current position to bring change. No vision, however compelling, has enabled anyone to move a muscle if they are comfortable with where they are, or what they have achieved.

Allan

WHAT 5-MINUTES-LATE MEANS

WHAT IT MEANS TO BE 5 MINUTES LATE

Joe wakes up at 5 AM every day. He is always ready to leave home at 6 A.M. On this day he left five minutes later. He strolled down to the school van and warmed it up in preparation for his daily pick up. There were ten children on his route. He pulled out of the parking lot 10 minutes later. By the time he arrived at his first pick up, he was 10 minutes late. David looked up at him with tears in his eyes and said, "My mom left me to go back home to look after my little sister".  At the second pick up the father glared at him as he said, "have a nice day" to his daughter. Usually Joe got a "have a nice day" from this dad too, but not today.

Three blocks away a discussion was going on in a parked vehicle as the couple decided who was going to wait for the van that takes junior to school. One of them would have to be late for work. When Joe picked up his next victim six blocks away, the cab driver rushed off at such as speed the that Joe decided that he could not be Daisy's father. When all the children were in, Joe drove comfortably to the school lane and dropped off the children five minutes to the bell.  They were not late for school, but they usually arrived in school half an hour earlier.

That day Daisy threw a tantrum in school and would not eat her break. She said she never got to say bye to her dad. Her father missed the ferry and got the next one that comes one hour later and got to work at 10 o'clock. The couple in the car had temporary jobs so when the mother came in late to work, she was fired and had to walk home.  Later that day the school headmaster got phone calls from three angry parents. When the headmaster called Joe into his office to talk about the matter, all Joe could say was, "Boss, I don't see what all the fuss is about. I just woke up five minutes late". That night when David's mother asked him why he hit his little sister, whom he loved very much, he said, "these days she gets too much attention".

Allan

DO YOU KNOW HOW TO MASTER CHANGE

CHANGE MASTER

Change has four parts; the trigger, the change, the effect of the change and the transformation that follows.

Allan

EXCHANGE YOUR JOB FOR A BAR OF GOLD

EXCHANGE YOUR JOB FOR A BAR OF GOLD

Rich came into my office with a smug look on his face. His appointment letter was on my desk, but for some reason I had delayed to talk to him about it. Anyway that was not the reason he was here. When I asked what he was smiling about, out came a story like nothing I had ever heard before.

“I met two herdsmen on my way to town. They had found a bar of gold, but didn’t know what it was. They told me they had picked it up in town and figured it was something important when the owner came back looking for it. Please give me 5000 so I can buy it from them and sell it for 140000. It will be the easiest money I have ever made”

I looked at Rich in silence for a while. Then told him the folly of the gold story he had just told me. He told me he needed the money to go to university.  When I told him that such a move could even cost him his life, he would not believe me. After all, he had done no wrong. If anyone had done wrong, it was the herdsmen who should have returned the gold. All he needed was the money.  

Most of us will never come across herdsmen with gold in our lifetime, but all of us will come across golden opportunities. I don’t know if integrity is worth its weight in gold, but one thing I never told Rich, as he left my office that day was that he had just lost his job.

Allan

DO YOU NEED CHANGE OR TRANSFORMATION

DO YOU NEED CHANGE OR TRANSFORMATION

 

Change is an event, transformation is a process. Change is short tem. Transformation is long term. However, expectations of both are usually the same and nobody really cares about the difference between them. That is the leaders job. All the people want is results - now.

 

Allan

CHANGE YOUR HEART

At the heart of change is a change of heart.

PLEASE GET EXCITED ABOUT BUILDING YOUR LIFE

PLEASE GET EXCITED ABOUT BUILDING YOUR LIFE

I had a challenge with classmates who would not do their homework. They believed they were working for the teacher. It pained me when I realized that most students work for their parents and not themselves. I now work in a school the struggle continues.

Then I looked up at the teachers and I realize that the teaching spirit is really where it starts.  But then teachers are not where teaching starts. I look at the parents and how they call life a struggle. They pass on the message until the child knows the drill. I wonder if we can change the game. In every office it is the same. This problem is bigger than just a name. The sin of complacency, as Kotter says, is everywhere. People won't change. There is not enough excitement about life anywhere.

Excited people don't play this game. They tame the tiger and build a life. They are not cowed or snowed under or swamped by the challenge and change of life. They would rather live a life and die trying than live dead. They don't just let life unfold or complain about what they are told. They don't just wait to finish class, finish school, finish work, live for the weekend and go home to die.  

Excitement is not smiling or laughing wildly. It is working joyfully with the God given power to create new things, and work on ideas and build new life. It is working with the spirit that things will change and that change starts with me. It is the beginning of life and living. I think the main reason why life does not change much is that we have robbed it of excitement. It's the only way to build a life. Please get excited about building your life.

Allan

LEADERSHIP WORKS IT OUT

LEADERSHIP WORKS IT OUT

There are situations that you get into and wish that you could get out of. They are not pleasant occasions while they last, and they can stop you from doing many things. The worst thing about these situations is that they put you under pressure. They make you anxious and worry about things you think you must do something about. When you make yourself angry and snap at everyone who is about. And when you feel right to pout, moan and mope about, because there seems to be no way out - it's time to work it out.

You may think you are not to blame for bringing the situation about, but in leadership that doesn't count. You may complain, but that brings no gain. You may feel pain and that's the truth, but anything you do apart from working it out is just drawing things out. The sooner you work it out, the sooner the leader in you will come out.

Leadership challenges present you with an opportunity to do something. That something will move the situation towards resolution. If there is work to be done, the only way to get it done is to start it.  If there is a problem analyze it and find out what can be done. If you want something, work towards it. There are some things in life you can do nothing about, but those you can reveal the leader in you. The secret is to know that you can and then begin step by step to work it out.

Allan

 

MAKE A RIGHT TURN - ALWAYS

MAKE A RIGHT TURN

There is no such thing as a big decision or a little one.

There is no big sin or little sin.

There is no big turn or small turn that takes you home.

What matters is the sum of the turns.

None must be wrong

All that matters is that you make the right turn.

Allan

YOU HOLD THE POWER OF DECISION IN YOUR HAND

YOU HOLD THE POWER OF DECISION IN YOUR HAND

What makes one do and another do not. It is not until you face a major decision that you understand how much power you hold in your hands at the point of decision. To understand the full power of decision, imagine a car in which you are the driver.  

As the driver, you have the power to make the car go where you want it to go.  You choose the streets, lanes highways and byways to take you to your goal. If for any reason you choose to go back where you came from, you will never get to your goal. If for any reason you get lost, you may not survive to make another decision. If you make a wrong turn, you could face danger. If your are careless you may never reach where you want to go. If you make correct turns, you come closer to where you want to go. Now replace the body of the car with your own body and give yourself a driving test. How effective have you been at getting to your goals?  Failure to reach your goals may be a question of your driving skills.

The good thing is that you have the power. You control the power and you make the power work for you. As you think about getting home from work, you will realize there are no "little" turns or "big" turns. Only the right turns get you home. There is no such thing as big decision or a small decision. All the decisions you make in life result in the outcome. There are no little sins or big sins, they are all sins and the all count toward the goal. A little turn can make you miss the goal just as much as a big turn can get you home. Big sins can make you lose as much as little sins. A small decision can make you win, just as much as big ones can make you lose. Such is the power of decision you hold in your hand.

Allan

DID YOU MISS THE FIRST LESSON

DID YOU MISS THE FIRST LESSON

Missing a class can be one of the most expensive lessons in life. Over years of teaching and training, the most sticky and thorny issues that come up in later life are the result of one missed lesson in the early days. Missing an early class in history may lead to not liking the subject. While failing to attend to a geometry lesson can knock a person out of a design class. Not learning to do your homework on time may result in costly overtime for your boss. It is all comes back to you if it is not learned in that first lesson.

Allan

WILL YOU OR WONT YOU?

I can teach you if you will. If you wont, you will not learn.

DONT BE AS PROUD AS A WHEELBARROW

DON'T BE AS PROUD AS A WHEELBARROW

Most of us don't think of ourselves as proud until we look at what we have got. Then we realize that we are better than everyone else. As soon as we realize that, we act just a little bit special. We feel separate from the crowd and turn up our noses at those who are not like us. In short, that makes us proud.

Of course, you remember the story of the wheelbarrow and the cart… the wheelbarrow once had three wheels. It used to move so fast that you could never find it in the same place twice. It would pass with speeds that made others weep. Three wheels give you great strength and stability. Three wheels make you steady. In deed with three wheels, you can stand-alone. No one else had wheels so they didn't know how it feels

In those days, the cart had no wheels and used to be carried around by hand. You could find the cart wherever you put it down. It would never move. The wheelbarrow used to pass many carts along the street waiting for their owners to carry them around. He felt proud he could move around so much that he forgot what got him around.

One day a cart asked for just one of his wheels. The wheelbarrow thought for a moment and said what would you use to for. "I would move around like you" said the cart. "Like me?" asked the wheelbarrow beaming with pride. "In that case you can have two" said the wheelbarrow.  The owner of the cart soon came along and rolled his handcart down the street and was gone. They found the wheelbarrow where he stood. They have found him there ever since. He will do your every whim and only move if you move him. You never have to worry. He cant move alone.

Allan

WHAT TO DO WHEN YOUR LEADERSHIP IS IN TROUBLE

LEADERSHIP IN TROUBLE

I read the story of a leader on a plane that ran into engine in mid air. As you might imagine everyone on the plane was caught up in the trouble. The leader did not go looking for trouble, trouble found him. Such is the life of a leader. What do you do when the result is not up to you?

The whole plane went into a flurry of activity. Everyone was checking where the exit routes were. Some were talking in low tones. Others were talking in loud tones. Some prayed others cried. Many wondered why they ever got onto the plane.  Everyone was looking for a way out, but stayed in their seats. Mandela sat reading his newspaper deliberately studying the pages in full view of everyone.

This story has a happy ending. The pilots were able to communicate and correct the trouble with the help of ground staff. When the plane landed safely, everyone thanked God and cheered the crew.

When asked why he was not scared, Mandela said in effect, "I was scared stiff, but I had to stay calm for the peoples sake". When Leadership is in trouble the one thing you cannot do is panic.  If you panic, the people will follow you. If you don't, they will assume something is being done. The second thing you need to do is let the experts do the job. Third, continue doing what you were doing, that may be the greatest value you can add to the situation. The impression you give may be the most powerful statement you can ever make on the spot.

Allan

THE TRAGEDY OF LEADERSHIP IS TRANSPORT

THE TRAGEDY OF LEADERSHIP IS TRANSPORT

How indeed does transport translate to leadership? Transport to anywhere is often assumed until it is, for some reason, absent. That is when you realize its import. Leadership is the same. When things are going well you hardly notice it. It is when things go wrong that you notice that something is not happening and that someone is not doing their job. The person is the leader. You never think of the bus driver until the bus doesn't show up. Unfortunately, you only want to find out who he or she is when there has been an accident.

This is the tragedy of leadership. No one knows when a good job is being done. They only find out when the leader is gone or at the end of the game.  Followers keep leaders as long as they benefit from them. The moment benefits fail to come through the people get rid of the leader too. What must a leader do in such a situation? Jesus, a great leader of days gone by, knew how fickle and vain was the praise of men and put no stock in it. Leadership is service, sacrifice and success. The people want these things and will have no less. The people want transport to their goals. They love it when they are served, when someone sacrifices for them, and are happiest when they succeed.

If you want to lead, you must be prepared and not bitter for this. Your duty will be enjoyable because you serve, sacrifice and succeed. Not if you earn a lot or get praise of men - that comes at the very end. You can pay for management, but you cannot pay for leadership. It is given freely and willingly and openly or not at all. The tragedy of leadership is that not all leaders lead.

Allan

 

WHY YOU NEED CULTURE

WHY YOU NEED CULTURE

Every town has a culture. Every business has a culture. Every person has a habit. To know a person is to know their habits. Culture can tell you what a person is going to do and what they will not do. Culture tells you more about you than about them. It tells you what you should do to get to them. It can work for you or against you.

Leaders understand culture. They know it is a tool. Sometimes culture is the only thing they need to change to succeed. All the great "before and after" tales are stories of how leaders made a difference. To make culture work for you, carefully study the life and work habits of staff. Identify the habits that if changed could make a positive impact. Identify those that will take a long time to change. Start with those that will take a short time. Change may be gradual but it is also magical. The more you change, the more you change.

As you dismiss the old, remember you are only creating a new culture. Someday that culture may have to change. However, you need culture to drive today's success. Systems don't change people; people change systems. Culture changes people, but people can also change culture. You need culture to change the organization and succeed in business.

Allan

HOW TO USE AN OLD HOE

THE OLD JEMBE

A “Jembe” is another name for a “hoe”. It is a tool used to till the ground. It is made for use by one person at a time. It has a long arm and flat metal cap that wedges into the ground and turns the soil. A good jembe can last a lifetime.  Hoes are still used on farms in some parts of the world today.

This story is about Jess and Jeko. Jess and Jeko were friends. They lived in the same village. Their family farms were side by side just outside the main village gate. Jess and Jeko were old enough to farm their own pieces of land. They had worked together since they could lift a hoe. This year Jeko decided that she wanted a new Jembe. She would not use the old one.  Her parents told here that it would take some time to get the new one from the city.

January was a great time when all the villagers enjoyed last year’s crop. At the end of January, they began to till the land. Jeko waited for her new Jembe. Jess began to till the soil with her hoe. She was ashamed of her old hoe and woke up early in the morning to get her farm work done before 10 o’clock. In February, the early rains began. Jeko waited for her new hoe. By the end of February planting began as the main rains were about to begin. In March, the rains came on time and the crops grew. Still Jeko waited for her hoe.  Jess weeded her crops in late March. Jeko waited.

In April, the crops started to ripen. Jess was blessed with an early crop. Jeko ate some too, but she still wanted a new hoe. In May, the hoe came and Jeko was very, very happy. Jess harvested her crop and went home. That year was the year she would go to school. Jeko had to work alone wait another year all because of an old Jembe.

Allan

HOW TO RAISE LEADERS

PARENTING LEADERS

Parenting leaders is a full time job. Schools give your kids a certificate. A certificate may get them a job, but talent will get them enterprise. Schools can teach them right and wrong, but only you can teach them how to use the right and left part of the brain. School can teach them many things. But only you can teach them values and leadership by example.

To raise leaders is to mentor them, walk with them and talk with them. Leadership is a function of parenting. What you see in public is what parenting is doing in private. The public is a mirror of the inside of homes run by (absent) parents.

If you are interested in what you can do, the above paragraphs give you a clue. First, you need a good plan of action. This is not hard to do because the curriculum depends on you. You cannot teach what you don't do. All you have to do is to be; so that your kids can model after you. Parenting is more what you do than what you do for your kids. It is easy for a thief to raise a thief, because he is a thief. If you want to raise leaders, be a leader. Improve yourself then, be yourself. And that is all you have to do.

Allan

WHEN WAS YOUR EUREKA MOMENT

WHEN WAS YOUR EUREKA MOMENT

Words are amazing tools able to capture feelings, events, and moments of inspiration. Eureka is a word made famous by Archimedes. He found out how things float while taking a bath. It is obvious to us today. But back then, it was quite hard to explain why some things float on water and why others do not. It was nothing short of a miracle. Understanding this miracle changed Archimedes life. Today that miracle touches the lives of millions of people around the world as they travel on land, air and sea.

Halleluiah is another such word that captures the miracle of a changed life. It is hard to understand how God changes lives. But that has not stopped millions of people around the world experiencing the miracle of renewed life. Eureka and halleluiah are as much alive today as they came to be many years ago. Your eureka moment will change your life. And change the lives of millions of people around the world who hear about the change in you.

Allan

A LEADERS WISH

A LEADERS WISH

If I had a wish I could present, I would ask God for more leaders. I would pray that God makes me a leader. I would ask that all leaders come out and make this world a better place. I pray that we would all learn to lead and exercise leadership here, there and everywhere.

I wish that you would lead and that you would succeed. I wish that leaders would not compete and serve if they win, but that we would compete to serve and win. I wish that leaders would emerge, merge, and with a great surge improve the nation. I wish that all men and women would lead in person, private and public. I wish that I would never have to wish for leaders. I wish that leaders would not need to be caught as fish in the sea, but volunteer what they have been taught when they see the need of people on land. If this wish would be, my wish would be.

Allan

WHAT IS LEADERSHIP

WHAT IS LEADERSHIP

Leadership is what happens before anything does and what happens after anything does. It is teaching, speaking, reading, writing and taking action. It is looking ahead and around for something to be done. It makes things happen. A person can do it. People need it.  Things suffer without it. It raises hopes and makes kings. It makes dreams come true and raises stakes. It makes things work and makes things work better.  It makes sense, synergy, strategy and success. Without it poverty reigns, the rich have it. In a group, you can feel it. Managers use it, the wicked abuse it, and those who fail lose it. It is not magic; it is moral and has method. It is thought to life. When personal, it is character. In business, it is skill. In public, it is culture. In private, it is no less than integrity. It takes skill, but needs the will. It is confident, but needs courage. Leadership is the value you bring.

Allan

WHY DO PEOPLE CHANGE WHEN THEY BECOME LEADERS

WHY DO PEOPLE CHANGE WHEN THEY BECOME LEADERS?

Why do people change when they become leaders? Many people do not understand why people "change" when they become manager. The change is most keenly felt when an officer is first made a supervisor. All of a sudden, his or her views of life change. The supervisor no longer fits in with the crowd. Colleagues may feel that he or she has become haughty and no longer worthy of their trust.

However, this change has nothing to do with friendship or attitude. It is brought about by a change in view and duty station. As you rise in leadership, you see things from a new, higher and wider mandate. This changes your understanding of, and approach to everything you do.  It is like looking at a battlefield from the bottom, side or top of a mountain.

At the bottom of the mountain, all the people are engaged in the battle or business. They go about their roles with no more view than the customer they serve. They see things from a point of contact, task and service. Supervisors are moved out of the field to the side of the mountain. On higher ground, the supervisor is able to see where the battle is hot or the business needs greater attention. Of course, the major and the manager are higher up the hill. The army general and general manager are only able to direct the battle or business because they are near the top. Perhaps you now understand why, in the story of Moses, God always called him to the top of the mountain. Each time he came down, he had fresh insight and new laws for the people. When he came down, he changed, because he saw things from Gods point of view.

There are leaders who take their new post as a sign that they are better than others. But by and large, a change in perspective is needed in order to succeed as a leader. Leaders are able to treat staff with empathy when they realize that they do not share the same privileged point of view. Leadership will change you. It may not change your behaviour, but it will change your point of view. No one can escape this change.

Allan

 

TEACH LEADERHIP IN SCHOOLS

 

TEACH LEADERSHIP IN SCHOOLS

For most people leadership is caught after school. But experience in the field tells you that it should have been taught in school. The reason it is not taught in school is that it is thought to be hard to define apart from a post. In school, you could only be a leader if you were appointed a class prefect or games captain. Everyone else in school is not expected to lead, be a leader or even understand leadership.

Less than 1% of students leaving school come out with any knowledge or experience of leadership at all. But as soon as they step into the workplace they are expected to exercise leadership. That is when it strikes you that it is something you were never taught. Your employer expects you to take charge, manage a task, lead a team and organize an office. He or she expects you to know these things. Your biggest surprise comes when you realize that you will be doing these things for the rest of your life. Apart from character, the details of what you were taught in school are quickly forgotten.

So how do we teach leadership in school? Read the previous paragraph and you will get a clear idea of what you should do. Teach students about leaders, what leaders do and how they do it. Teach them to set goals and give them roles to play. Give them class projects and ask them to work in groups. Give them targets. Ask them to be creative and not just recall what you say. Ask them to stand in front of the line and see how it feels. Ask them to stand in front of the class and teach you something. Make sure 20% of the time in school teaches them to lead whether they ever make class prefect or not.  Tell them to lead the school team in the national anthem whether they ever make the team or not. Home and school is the best place to teach leadership.

Allan

WHAT DOES LABOUR MEAN TO YOU

LABOUR

Labour means different things to many people. To most men and women it means pain or gain. Some think of it as torture while to others it is the path to success. Employees think of work input, while employers think of work output. Famers think of it as sweat. Factory workers think of the union, while managers think in terms of manpower. The Government thinks of tax, while the people think of income.  To understand labour we need to think of its purpose.

The keys to wealth are labour and creativity. To create wealth you need labour. The two go together, but you can tell them apart. You can increase wealth by either or both. To increase labour means to do more of the same. To increase creativity means to do less of the same.

Labour uses land to create wealth. You can use your hands to get a good yield. But there is a limit to how much you will get in the field. But you can apply your head to multiply that yield. And if you will do well, then you must do it with all your heart. A job is where most people start. Labour is much more than work; it is a matter of your hands, head and heart.

Many people toil on jobs for a long time and fail to create wealth for the family. They produce no more than their hands allow. The labour that produces wealth is the labour of hands, head and heart.

Allan