Why you need to give yourself a great start to a Happy New Year!

You are probably thinking of a resolution you can commit to in the coming year. Maybe you have already decided on one. But perhaps you are also thinking about what will make you keep your resolution and make you a winner this time round. Well, first, the end year season brings about a goodly feeling of a new beginning, re-branding and re-positioning. The season is a God given opportunity where your efforts are likely to be openly welcomed, accepted and encouraged by friend and foe. Second, it is a season of forgiveness, forgetting the hurtful past and putting aside the many fiasco's of the past year. In this season, people choose not to remember your failures and give you a fresh start. Third, the fact that you want to give yourself a great start means that you want to engage a positive mindset to cling to the promises you wish for yourself, your friends and your family. A positive mindset is the greatest personal asset you can have to carry you and others through the coming year. Finally, your new year resolution is a statement of Hope! You may have faith, but Hope is something you cannot live without. So don’t let up. Do the honorable thing! Give yourself a great start to another year -Happy New Year!!

What is your pain threshold ?

A friend of mine, recently inspired by Eliud Kipchoge's sub two hour full marathon run, decided that he too would make a sub two hour 10 km walk next year. Now that seems laughable, but taking into account that he has not been in active sport for over 20 years should  tell you something about the power of Eliud's inspiration and my friends humility. There is no way he could do even a half marathon in that time. After doing the math he started out with 20 minute morning one kilometers stretches before committing to a 3 km walk every other day. That is when he encountered a threshold of pain. All of a sudden every muscle in his body revolted painfully. For a couple of weeks the pain persisted, then went away. Feeling good, he decided to do 5 km every other day. After a while the pain came back, but not as bad as the first time.  He kept at it.  The pain went away with a new lemon massage technique he learned. Now he is at 7 km, but again the pain is back . This time he has not been able to walk for a week. He's wondering  whether to go back to level off at the 5 km comfort zone. After all he has made progress. Nobody is pushing him to do it. He does not have to endure the pain. But he tells me what he is learning is that for every gain there is a threshold of pain. He thinks the pain will intensify as he approaches his goal. He will have to decide if he really wants it or whether it is worth it at all. That's the only thing that will keep him in the race. Most of us have to decide sooner or later whether we want something or not whether it is worth it or not. What we are not prepared for is the thresholds of pain it may require to get it.

Think on this as you make plans, resolutions and commitments for the coming year.

Happy New Year

Tomorrow is Christmas day

I took some time to reflect on why the world comes to a standstill on this day. Only on one other day in the year does the world come to a pause -New Year’s Eve. While this second day brings hope of a new beginning, Christmas is a special day because it is one of giving. I don’t know how many gifts you have received and given over the years, but the tradition never seems to get old. The joy that lights up the eyes of a child with a new doll and the meeting that ignites a smile on the face of a long-lost relative or friend is a priceless memory. God gave the world such a gift. But in this season, there will be those grieving, hurting and can’t be with friends and family. They wonder if Christmas was ever meant for them. Remembering them too is Christmas day. My take in this season is in what we have, who we are and what we can do; lets resolve to make our world a little better every day – this is my gift to you.

Merry Christmas everyone!

How to Get Past NO

Of the many books walking around in my head, the one that I know I should get down to writing is “Getting Past NO”. But why write a book on getting past NO? I can bet that you can remembers all the people that told you NO today and that you are still seething with anger, rejection, dejection and despair from the NO that you were told last week, last month or last year. NO, it turns out is a very powerful word. It stops you in your tracks and brings you face to face with reality. If NO can stop you from doing what you are doing, then all the more reason it is important to get past NO and move on with life. If you do not get past NO you might as well be dead in your tracks. Unless you turn NO into a signpost it becomes your gravestone. Here lies a man who never moved on. I do not mean to be insensitive to the feelings of those who have had to face huge, real or imagined terrible NO experiences in life, but I do want you to consider the following five points before you give up on life.

1. NO HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU

The NO you face is not a personal attribute or quality of your person. It is an English word that means just that NO. It is you who attributes and attaches your feelings of personal rejection to the NO you are facing. I know because I have been through that painful journey any number of times. The feeling is really bad, sad and overwhelming, but the NO does not define you in any way. A beautiful woman who feels spurned by the man she thought would marry her is STILL a beautiful woman AFTER the NO. The high school graduate who was denied access to the Engineering school is still a high school graduate! A person whose business has failed is STILL a person after the event! What I am trying to say is that NO will affect you as much as you allow the event to affect you in the way that you allow it to affect you, but that is a choice you make. I am not saying you are a stone and have no feelings. I did not say you should not cry for a while. What I am saying is that NO is merely a point of information to which you are entitled to respond. The first step of getting past NO is to realize that NO is a point of information. How you respond to it is a choice you make. You can allow that information to crush you or to help create you.

2. IS IT AN ETHICAL OR TECHNICAL NO?

Once you get passed yourself in dealing with the NO, you can consider whether that NO is an ethical NO or a technical NO. An ethical no is one that carries moral issues of conscious that you must decide between you and God. Your culture, religion, customs, laws of the land, traditions come in here too. In these matters I urge you to tread with caution because an ethical NO has substantive consequences as a matter of principle. So even if you don’t agree with the law that says 'NO person under 18 is allowed to drive a public service vehicle', there are substantive reasons for it and substantive consequences for going against it.  In most cases an ethical NO is something that is best for you and protects others. You can abide by it and move on with life without much harm to your person.

A technical NO on the other hand is a NO that sounds like, “NO, you did not make the grade for college” or “NO, you can’t have that because you can’t afford it”. Examining this NO will tell you that the person saying the NO, like them or not, does not have authority to say otherwise. If you were in the same position, you would say the same thing. But it also tells you that you have the power to get passed this NO if you meet certain conditions. For example, you may have to retake the college entrance exam or you may have to work for two years to save enough money to come back and buy what you want. Understanding that a technical NO does not take away your power to get past the NO helps you to address the situation with the sobriety it deserves. This seems like a good point to stop reading this book, but many people fail to take full advantage of the NO because they do not follow through with the following three empowering points to help them get past the NO victoriously. 

3. VALIDATE THE NO

Is the NO justifiable, reasonable, did I contribute to it, what part did I play in it? What am I responsible for, what are they responsible for, would I say the same to someone else in my situation? Validating the NO helps you deal with your feelings even if you don’t agree with the validation itself. Resolving the issues around the NO will help you see that there are other important perspectives to the issue that you must consider before you take action. It helps you appreciate that there is possible reason, cause or justification for the NO that can empower you to get passed the NO with the substantive personal growth and learning rather than harbour the miserable joy of your hurt feelings.

4. DEAL WITH YOUR FEELINGS

Dealing with your feelings is a matter quite apart from the NO and is a matter that is individual, personal and perhaps private to the extent that you will allow it to be so. Usually, you may find a close friend to help you process your feelings in this regard. A good friend will not always agree with you, but they will help you to get past the feelings you have attached to the NO.

Feelings are very powerful and they formulate motives and conspire irrational action and so they need to be checked before one does something foolish. In this regard, the NO receiver is advised to provide for substantive time between stimulus and response to the NO to provide for recovery from feelings of anger, spite, envy, hatred and jealousy. Actions taken out of these kinds of feelings cause myopic responses like an eye an eye, hitting back and seeking revenge. Dealing with your feelings frees from bitterness, allows you to forgive, move on, turn a new page and more importantly opens your heart and your thinking to global possibility. If you don’t move on from your feelings, your actions will focus on righting the wrongs that have been done to you. In this prejudiced, tearful, blinkered state you will make ridiculous decisions you may later regret. However, if you determine to get past your feelings and brave yourself to look at possibilities instead of personalities, you will get past the NO to take what I call super-ordinate action!

5. TAKE SUPERORDINATE ACTION

Superordinate action takes into account the bigger picture rather than focusing on the NO. In taking superordinate action the NO becomes a sign post and not the reason for the action. The NO becomes a prompt and a point of reflection of your total circumstances and not the locus of your existence. Superordinate action for the high school graduate denied College entrance may mean investigating other career options available in the environment such as boating, taking a year off to pursue a hobby, taking a holiday or rethinking his life goals. The NO becomes an incident of evaluation that prompts enlightened action and not an inhibiting condition. The man who was told NO by a publisher discovers that self-publishing is an option. The lady spurned by her would be fiance discovers that her gift of charm helps the people around her see value in themselves and resolves to use her gifts in the service of others instead of pinning away in a cause of love that cannot be. When you get past NO, you discover a world of opportunity that was hidden from your blinkered view.

Getting past NO helps you invest in your future and not stagnate in your past. Getting past NO will bring out the best reserves you may never know you had. Getting past NO releases, the stops and becomes a step towards success. Getting past NO will allow you to look back and thank your enemies and the proponents of the NO for redirecting your steps to a greater personal vision and victory. So now that I have got past my NO and written the book, I have no doubt that you too can – Get past your NO!


Also see

The Road to Destiny; The Psychology of Growing up

When a Teacher does not teach

Potential is more than profit

How to Get Past “No”!

Do you have a passion statement?

Go Against the Tide

Taking Action

Get your first 100 days to work for you

One employee can make a difference

The Seven laws of creation

Determined to fail

Strive to know the purpose of a thing

Realize Your Full Potential

Politics and leadership are bed fellows

You may have heard it said that there are no permanent enemies in politics. What is not so obvious is that there are no permanent positions in leadership either. Politics is an advantage of influence, while leadership is the exercise of authority. Both of these compete for power and prominence.

Whats the Greatest Job in the World?

THE GREATEST JOB IN THE WORLD

What criteria can we use to identify the worlds greatest job. Is it fame, fortune or is it in glamour, prowess, power, impact, authority, responsibility or seniority? There are many jobs that would meet these criteria; President, CEO, Bishop, Singer… the list is endless.  Then there is the professional; the Engineer, Lawyer, Doctor, Journalist, the Judge all of whom humanity places great faith and holds in high esteem. But then there is another set of criteria away from the limelight.  The humble jobs that keep things moving. The roles that prop up others, the jobs that are self-effacing and sacrifice on behalf of others. These jobs keep humanity going from generation to generation. They are the back-office jobs; the mother, the father, the brother, the nurse, the sister, the servant, husbandman, farmer, the teacher, yes, the teacher the one whose work of a lifetime influence generations to come. These jobs are among the greatest in the World!   

Why you do, what you do, the way you do

Your perspective changes throughout life. At first it is about outlook. In the middle it becomes context. In the end it is all about relationships. It is amazing how these perspectives influence your decision making and your approach to achievement and challenge in life. Appreciating these perspectives helps you understand why other people hold to specific arguments and why you do what you do the way you do.

Ideas have power - don't waste them!

Ideas are not to be taken lightly, trivialized, toyed around or fooled around with. Ideas have power! They are to be meditated upon, imagined, dreamed, written down, defended, interrogated, argued, wrestled with, travailed upon, prayed over, persisted, endured and developed until they are created! He who has an idea has a future. He who has no idea has no future.

Also see

The Road to Destiny; The Psychology of Growing up

When a Teacher does not teach

Potential is more than profit

How to Get Past “No”!

Do you have a passion statement?

Go Against the Tide

Taking Action

Get your first 100 days to work for you

One employee can make a difference

The Seven laws of creation

Determined to fail

Strive to know the purpose of a thing

Realize Your Full Potential

When was the last time you were humiliated?

The Ultimate Humiliation

What would you consider to be the ultimate humiliation? Is it when your team losses a game to your rivals or is it when the person you trusted most turns against you? Is it when you are unable to deliver what you promised? When I think of humiliation, I think of Nelson Mandela who tells numerous stories of twenty-seven years of humiliation without any sense of anger or pride. Humiliation is an intensely emotional experience and I doubt anyone can go through it without the pain of being misunderstood.  

A friend tells me of how he was sacked and dismissed in front of his colleagues at an office function. He left the room discouraged and distraught. His friends dissociated themselves with him in case they came to face the same fate. Humiliation is a humbling and isolating experience that calls on all your mortal reserves and spiritual core to withstand. It is a wound that feel like will never heal.

Unlike Mandela, some people may not outlive their humiliation, but all of us must overcome and not allow it to stop us from moving forward. There are mothers and fathers, men and women, boys and girls in all stages of life who will never get to tell their stories of humiliation and how they overcame. But today I want you to know, though I do not know your name, you are heroes in my hall of fame. With tears in your heart, give up the pain and in the name of all that is good, get up and stand again.

Don' t get stuck in half-time!

The first half of a rugby game is a good indicator of which way the game is likely to end, but it is hardly the determinant of the final score. Any number of incidences and opportunities may arise in the second half that can change the course of a game from an obvious result. The fact is the first half has to be played before the second. This means that half time is only a marker of progress towards an outcome. Some people go into the changing room with a sense of destiny, while others come out of the mid-term with an attitude that the game has just begun! How do you use your talk time at half-time. Do you call it quits, recommit or just take a rest? Your discussion will either prepare you for defeat or condition you to come out a winner. Kofi Annan was set to leave the UN on retirement just before he was appointed Secretary General of the world body.

What we are talking about here is not a game. It is about life. When you move from one job to the next, when you retire at the end of the day, when you are fired or when you are hired. Halftime can come around when you are retired or take time to consider your future. I have looked around me and noticed that half time is a mode of existence. It is a neither here nor there for many people considering their future after the first half of a life struggle of one kind or other. My challenge to all half-timers is that it is limited. Lick your wounds quickly, but don’t dwell on the past because the future awaits and the game can actually restart without you. If you are stuck in halftime recognize that that was just the first half. The second half is do or die - so give it your best!

You learn nothing in school; until you teach yourself.

You learn nothing in school; until you teach yourself.

I want to be a millionaire... do you?

A friend of mine reminded me that he wanted to be a millionaire by 2017. That was two years ago. He would have been fifty five. That year his business collapsed. He could not pay salaries. He put up the family home as a security for a loan, but the bank would not give him the money he needed. He had to borrow from friends, family and even neighbors to cover his debt. Two years later he says “I am not out of the woods, but I am still on track. I don’t know when the reality will come, but I have refused to let go of the dream. I know that someday it will come”. I don’t know what your goals are or what you are going through, but what matters is that you are still on track.  

A leader is to a people what a manager is to an organization...

A leader is to a people as a manager is to an organization just as an  entrepreneur is to an enterprise. Each is key, each is essential and yet each is core. All can be one as the need determines success. When among people, be a leader, when in an organization be the manager and when in an enterprise be an entrepreneur. The key to success is to understand the difference.

Eliud Kipchoge's Run...

Today, as you make your run, you are running for everyone who wants to achieve something in life. I guess that we all have our excuses, but you have shown that the gift is in the courage to try. Considering the number of us behind the line, you are already a winner! God Speed!

Leadership is...

Leadership is what you do when you want to get people from here to there.

Two principles of family finance

Inflows and outcomes

The structure that regulates family expenditure is a budget. A budget is a useful tool of resource allocation but it is not the ultimate in terms of determining wealth and success. Indeed, a budget will do no more than you tell it to do. Like the “garbage in, garbage out” principle of computer operations, people use budgets to justify their actions. While those who do use budgets should be commended for making a more than an amateur attempt at managing money, those who will succeed in creating wealth will step up to the principle of managing inflows and determining outcomes. If you appreciate that money has to come in before it can be spent, you develop a tremendous amount of respect for those who make the time an effort to generate income. Given that inflows are not a matter of visiting the bank, income is recognized as created capital some of which needs to be retained if the family is to accumulate wealth. It with this in mind that specific outcomes can be designed into the process of budgeting and the usage of those funds to facilitate family success. Principles that emerge from this understanding include; spend less than you earn, multiply what you earn and grow your savings

Seasons

Though the financial origins and circumstances of your family beginnings are unique, your destiny is determined by how well you manage the seasons of family life. Every family moves through a predictable life cycle. However, unlike the ups and downs of a normal business as a going concern, the seasons of family life are a growing concern. In other words, the concerns grow gradually and predictably over time. At the start of a family there are two youthful people with a great deal of energy and only their careers to deal with. As time moves on children and family concerns grow into rising demands of urgent attention. By middle age you family members employment or enterprise may no longer be guaranteed yet family needs are at their peak. Shortly afterwards society begins to sideline your participation in the economy and your basic needs become a crisis of continued existence. Poor preparation for seasons ahead leads to a great deal of family frustration and regret. But understanding the principle and authority of seasons will enable you to order your family life, make wise financial decisions, invest in long term priorities, build your house early and implement a strategy to earn passive income. Start sowing and saving early and by God’s grace you will harvest sustainable returns in later years that you will hand over to generations to come.   

Also read

Two Principles of Family Finance

Family Strategy

What is Family Strategy

Family strategy presentation

Family Strategy – Friends

Family Strategy - Green Pastures

Calvary Chapel – Kampala

What is the family strategy – toolkit?

How to use the family strategy toolkit

The Art of planning a future for your family

The only person who can spend money freely is the one who does not earn it.

The only person who can spend money freely is the one who does not earn it

There are two kinds of intelligent people in our world - where do you reside?

There are two kinds of intelligent people in our world. Clever people analyse problems. Creative people develop solutions. Clever people find out why it can’t be done, creative people find out what can be done. Interestingly, both claim to be adding value to the situation. Clever people know who should do something about it, creative people suggest how to go about it. Clever people know what could go wrong, creative people are not afraid to try. The majority know what the problem is while the minority try to solve it. Since we live in a democratic world, the majority usually wins, but the world only benefits if the minority persist.

Don't fake your confidence, create it.

I can’t help you develop your self confidence if you do not appreciate your self-worth and raise your own self esteem. A person who appreciates their self-worth works on it and enhances it through evaluation, study, discipline, character and competence. Raising your self-esteem is a measure of how much you value and utilize the investment you make in yourself. It is also a practical and realistic assessment of your capabilities and competence. Self-confidence, then, is not a facade, it is about your ability to step out and deploy your worth to create value for others and benefit humanity.

No man can turn back the hands of time.

No man can turn back the hands of time, but any man can change his character, his attitude and his competence.

The buck stops here

“The buck stops here” is a quote popularized by Harry Truman 33^rd President of the USA. He also had a plate on his desk inscribed with the same words accepting responsibility and accountability for the decisions he made. In my books it is perhaps the highest description of the word “ownership”. “Passing the buck” is a phrase used to express the lack of integrity of a person in a position of responsibility in a matter that they should handle to completion.  It is also used by fault finders to lay blame on another person for the general failure of a group or team that lacks corporate sensibility. Such people love to clean themselves and make themselves look good by making other people look bad. Unfortunately, we see a lot of this every day. When work does not get done instead of seeking to resolve the issue within our means and capability, we would rather pass the buck to the next seemingly gullible or responsible person to handle the said problem. It’s the reason why what should be done never gets done until somebody responsible shows up.

I plead with you, the world is in dire need of people who will take responsibility for their own lives, the lives of others and the work that needs to be done. Many governments, employers and entrepreneurs are hungry for one man or woman who can take ownership of their work, take pride in it, put their name to it and make it a success. Taking “ownership” will change your life, but it will also change the world around you. So dig in, take ownership of your work and do not be found in the company of those who shirk responsibility and pass the buck, the monkey or whatever else you would like to call it.

Help me say Goodbye to Joe

Have you ever met a person you could not pick a fight with? A person who will give you everything you ask of them? A person who will gladly give you their last shilling, pray for you and walk away with nothing. A man with such big faith that he could go register for a university course without money and believe that he will walk away with a degree. A man whose hand could fit two of yours and leave a bit of space in between. Have you ever met a man who never stopped smiling, giving, sharing and just being himself – straight as an arrow, reliable as the sun. A man who did not know how to tell a lie. Joe was such a man. He did not know how to give the impression he was under pressure. Joe protected everybody from anybody. I would have introduced you to the man save for the fact that his life was tragically cut down in his prime by another.  You are probably wondering who  Joe Orlale is. Joe is not the guy sitting at the piano – that's me 1985. Joe, as you can imagine is the Giant in the back. That is where Joe thrived. In the back, looking out for everyone else - keeping the peace. Taking care of family, friends, children, rich, poor, old, young and people who never knew each other before they met Joe. That was Joe – annoyingly humble, peaceful and relaxed. Sounds impossible, but it is true. Big Hand, Big Heart and Big Faith. That was Joe. Joe is in Heaven now. Singing in the back of the Angels choir. I just know he is making space for everyone. That should make me happy, but I mourn from the depths of my soul because we still need such great men among us. Good bye Joe - till we meet again.

The five laws of successful employment

Five laws of employment

1.       UNDERSTAND THE PURPOSE OF EMPLOYMENT

·      Many employees start work with no clue as to what they want from their jobs. Most people just work from paycheck to paycheck. If the paycheck is late, the rent will be paid late and so will all the bills and we may also be late to work. Employment provides an opportunity to plan and work progressively to achieve wealth, health and happiness. To achieve this you must understand the laws of money.

2.       HOW TO CREATE WEALTH ON THE JOB

·         To keep a job we need to create wealth for the employer first and then for ourselves. This is not a popular statement. However, we must produce value if we are to be paid and perform exceptionally well if we expect to be rewarded. Work is the process of creating wealth.

3.       ESTABLISH PROSPERITY ANCHORS

·         Put in place important pillars to aid your prosperity. Owning a home, a good spouse and investments that multiply your income. Many employees do not establish these anchors until very late. Living in a rented house in a slum or living in a rented house in an upmarket estate adds no value to your net worth. Neither is it proof of your prosperity.

4.       DETERMINE THE ROUTE TO YOUR SUCCESS

·         Nobody would think of running a successful business without a financial plan. Yet many careers and families are run on an “as where is” basis. A financial plan helps you manage income and prioritize projects that lead to wealth goals. The plan does not have to be complex. One look at your monthly budget will tell me your financial fate.

5.       MAKE USE OF OPPORTUNITY TO PROSPER ON THE JOB

·         Finally, a job is one of the greatest personal development opportunities get in life. It gives you a chance to be creative, to learn and grow your capabilities as a person and get paid in the process. The biggest payback from employment is that it gives you a chance to learn how an enterprise works.

See related articles

HOW TO PROSPER

How To Prosper – the App

Why every employee in Africa should read this book!

How to prosper in employment

Why you should prosper in employment

A house, a Spouse & a cow

Milking the opportunity

How to prosper in 90 – minutes

The best followers are leaders

The best followers are leaders. The best leaders need followers.

Why were you born?

If you don't know the reason why you were born, it is in your power to create one.

Business is not about risk

Most people think that all entrepreneurs take risks. The successful ones don't. The successful ones count the cost. There is a difference.

When to take advice

Before you take advice look at where the person giving the advice is standing. The issue is not whether it is good advice or bad, but rather if the advice is authentic. Authentic advice comes from a position of experience, exposure, education and expertise. Mischievous advice has a character flaw that usually comes with an obscure motive or concealed intent. The third consideration for when to take advice is if you are willing to take responsibility for it. Once taken you can never say "I was told by so and so", for you to own advice take time to weigh the cost to others with respect to the measure of advancement the advice will afford you. If these three are aligned its worth considering.   

Greatness is in the doing of things

It is great to do many things. It is greater to accomplish something.

What do you do when you get money?

The poverty mind thinks of what to buy
The wealth mind plans to multiply

The poverty mind wants to spend
The rich mind will find a way to lend

The poverty mind is always in need
The wealth mind would rather plant a seed.

The poverty mind seeks to get.
The rich mind will let.

The poor trade value.
The wealthy create value.

The poor till the soil.
The wealthy harvest from the soil.

Making a loss in business is not the end of the world!

It might take you some time to understand this, but making a loss is not the end of the world.  It is, however, a point of new beginning. When you have been in business long enough to experience the cycle of profit and loss several times you will know what I am saying. 

Everything has a price- everything!

There is a price to be paid for success in your youth and there is a cost to achieving success in old age.

You only get to meet a person for the first time once.

It is indeed a great mystery of life and it is one of those things that happen to all of us; we only get to meet a person for the first time once.

Always plan and prepare

I gave a young man a task to plant a tree to which he did agree. I said dig the hole two feet deep!, two feet wide and two feet across. The man said he would. But since the tree, at the time, could fit in no more than a two inch box, he saw no need to punish himself on behalf of the tree.  But plant he tree he did - in a scratch of a hoe.

Six months later we examined our work. His tree and mine.  There was need to speak. His tree was dead in the ground. While I find this profound, not much can be done for those who would not be found investing in what is sound and true. Pray tell me, you who sojourn with me, how deep are your roots or is yours dead before it shoots.

Take time to plan, take time to prepare. Take time to pray, take time to fast - before you undertake a task. For even if the ground is fallow the rains may tarry and the weather parry . If you have no reserves you will be found hard and dry. Invest in yourself, invest in your work and invest in others too. Perhaps, in time, the seed you plant will yield a harvest  no man can carry.

How to resolve a problem using the haystack theory.

Most people attack problems with a view to solving them and then moving on with life as it was before. However, you can resolve problems by creating something entirely new. Creating something new takes reflection and fore thought. Creating something new takes changing the way you think and do things. Solving a problem is a "needle in a haystack activity". In the process you move a lot of hay around. Once you find the needle the disoriented haystack remains in place. Creating something new may mean you can do away with the haystack.

Is your leadership team made up of lions, lambs, lobsters or wolves?

Is your leadership team made up of lions, lambs, lobsters or wolves?

Every leadership team is made up of leaders and followers. While it may be assumed that the leader is the head of the team, the only difference between leaders and followers is that leaders practice extrinsic leadership while followers exercise intrinsic leadership. Both are equal contributors to the success of the leadership enterprise. The emerging dynamics of engagement between leaders and followers plays out variously in different leadership teams.

Leaders are required to demonstrate (extrinsic) leadership by mobilizing communicating, leading and acting in a manner to show that they are giving proper direction to everyone else in the team. The leader is under constant surveillance and has the lonely job of being the person everyone should model.  

Followers do not have to demonstrate their leadership capability, but they do need to decide to be loyal to the team, participate in decision making, engage in team activities and support the team to achieve its goals. Followers can decide to passively resist the achievement of goals and frustrate leadership efforts by leading themselves contrary to team expectations.

Lions exhibit a powerful leadership team organization with clear roles and responsibilities within the pride. While they have a leader, the followers benefit from collaboration. Sheep just follow each other and it is hard to determine whether there is a moral leader in the team. This is possibly why they desperately need a shepherd. Lobsters have great trouble accepting the leadership of another and spend their time pulling each other down. This is probably the reason lobsters end up getting roasted on skewers as a team. Perhaps your team is a pack of wolves working together, but infighting for dominance at the same time. In this team everyone needs to be aware of who is the boss.    

Leadership teams thrive on clear roles, common goals and voluntary association Followers do not follow the leader, they follow the leadership of leaders whose values, objects and vision match their personal values, objects and vision in life. In other words followers are leaders in their own right. The leader may be first among equals or chief steward among stewards but they all depend on each other. To achieve organization goals, the leader must submit to the leadership of his followers in their specific roles and areas of expertise.  The only way you can have continuous success in your leadership team is if you give your followers opportunities to lead and allow your followers to become leaders as well. When you are setting up your leadership team it is not enough to get a good leader, you need to spend time identifying suitable followers to support the leadership cause (not the leader).

What drives you prizes or passion?

In the matter of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation there are those who wait for the capacity to do to be externally aroused through visual, visceral and exterior prizes. But there are those whose arousal is obtained through identifying with values and objectives and thus reward themselves by the pursuit of those designs in which they find fulfillment.  External motivations last as long as the stimulation recurs, internal drives last as long as the passion remains. Those who rely on external stimulus are understandably impatient and are happy to sustain the routine of gratification to hunger- satisfaction is not the aim. Those that rely on internal drives are more patient and more persuasive in their arguments for the big picture – to them is granted satisfaction of a promise fulfilled.

Every organization has a SOUL

Every organization has a SOUL. Every organization is first of all a Society, then an Order of hierarchical governance and structure. For an organization to exist it must have an  Undertaking and finally an organization must have a Leadership that can be consulted for direction, control and accountability. Leadership alone, independent of an organization context can achieve no more than a winner of a marathon.

The worst thing a nation can do to its people

The worst thing a nation can do to its people is to eliminate them from the process of education and lock its citizens out of its education system. By doing so the nation fortifies the positions of the privileged and invites poverty on those denied access to knowledge.

Integrity

The one thing I demand from all my business partners and appreciate from my clients is integrity. Integrity does not mean you tell me things I want to hear, being nice and always doing the right thing. Rather integrity is having the character to table issues and resolve them without hiding or coloring the facts. It is having the maturity to accept responsibility for the realities, outcomes consequences of agreements made thereon. This is probably the foundation of trust and commitment between two people. While this basic ingredient is a requirement in successful business practice, I don’t see how a marriage can stay on the road without developing this core competence of a good relationship.

Idai - unwanted visit

We read of the devastation in our sister countries in southern Africa with sadness. Is it not enough that there are many other challenges to be dealt with in our land. May the Lord shower his grace upon the families through this tragedy and kindle a candle of hope for us and all humanity.

Please - Do not malign your leaders

I am in no way protecting despots, charlatans and hooligans, but maligning our leaders does us more harm than good. The ease with which people sling barbs, jibes and snide remarks at leaders discredits the office of leadership. It disorients society and spreads a malaise of hopelessness among us all.  It also leads to the impression that leadership is not a noble calling and can only be obtained through underhanded dealing for office.  Mudslinging your leaders discourages those who would aspire to the noble office of social guardianship. Indeed, mudslinging leaders results in the same kind being elevated to office again and again and visits the same sins on society again and again. Good leaders will not want their name dragged in the dung by a mischievous chorus of ill-informed discourses.

Here is an assignment. Take time to celebrate good leadership, service and good governance and raise the profile of those who are doing what they can to make things better for everyone. Let us raise the office of leadership to a point that it will encourage our youth to appreciate the value of leadership and know that leaders are not a tribe of hooligans, but people who in good faith look out for the interest of others. A bank manager told me that because they only train staff using authentic currency, staff are able to quickly identify counterfeit bank notes. If the bank wastes time teaching staff about fake notes, staff will spend their time looking for fake notes! Let us not waste our time teaching our children about fake leaders and start giving them examples of good leadership!  

Leadership is a valuable social commodity essential for the success of a society. Leadership is no easy task. It is difficult and sacrificial; it is dependent on others, it is a service to humanity. We are privileged to have good leadership and good leaders need and deserve our support. We must nurture our leaders, train them and protect them from the vices of evil. Let us not be flippant and careless about it. There is no celebration in the summation of the number of corrupt leaders we find. Indeed it is cause to mourn, distress and of grave concern that our children see nothing good in our leaders, because then they see nothing good in us.  Please let our children aspire to be the good leaders they see in us. If all they see is what they should not be, there really is not hope for humanity. And may those whose business it is to bring down, discredit and disdain those who try and make an effort to lead and serve sacrificially burn with shame.    

  

Pay attention to the Hygiene factors of your job

Understanding the essentials of a job help you benefit from it in the long term and develop your career in the process. Every job has essentials that can be split into, Professional competence, work ethics and hygiene factors. Professional ethics is the most obvious and employees will focus on obtaining qualifications that suggest that they can do the job they were employed to do. Therefore an accountant will take professional exams while a driver will seek to meet all the technical requirement of the job. However, on the job performance and career development depend on the other two factors.

The answer to understanding why you were employed and what you should do to perform your job effectively is in your Job Description or appointment letter. A good sit down session with your boss should help you clarify what you are employed to do.  Because we only look at the Job description on the first day, we end up wandering and wondering through the rest of the period of employment not knowing or caring if we are adding value to the business or not. Work ethics demands that we constantly evaluate our role and employment responsibility and fulfill it. Only then can we be productive and find meaning in the work we do.

The third factor which I call the Hygiene factor is a critical element of personal success not just on the job but in life. You may not be sacked for not brushing your teeth or failing to take a bath regularly, but if you do not your associations at work (or anywhere else) will not be thrilling. Hygiene factors are the personal initiatives you take to present yourself well, put on a positive attitude and take pride in your work. If you are a driver, take the initiative to wash and clean the car. It is your tool of service. If you are the receptionist wear a smile and look interested in people. If you are a policeman take pride in helping children cross the road. Be a team player. Help your colleagues willingly. These factors are not technical requirements, but one thing is for sure they get you noticed and speak more of your potential as a person than the job you do.

When the teacher does not teach...

Last evening I got some distressing news from a network associate who told me her dream of empowering graduates with knowledge and skills to excel in their careers. She was backtracked by budget limitations. She regretted that she would not be able to carry out the good that she intended for herself and her colleagues. I could feel the sadness that comes with rejection in the tone of her email. The moment I read the script I knew that someone had threatened and tried to kill her dream. While this unfortunate incident happened more than 2000 miles away from where I was currently training in Africa, the magnitude of the dying dream struck me as incorrigible. Why must the dream have to die -was my hearts cry.

Then I read the second part of the story. After the tears and the sorrow, she said … I am called to this, I cannot let it die - the dream cannot die with me. I must let it be. There was a flicker of hope that comes with a calling. The tugging at my spirit was impossible to ignore. I knew I must stand with this dream. For her dream is part of me. When dreams die everyone suffers loss. Many of those who suffer the loss of a dream have no idea that they are suffering from the loss of a dream. This is why I must dream the dreams of others. And do all that is in my power to do. If the teacher does not teach then thirty students suffer, then thirty families suffer, thirty communities lose hope, the next generation of in that village will have to wait for another teacher to be born grow up and 30 years later sow the dream again. The nation will suffer a lack of engineers, bankers and nurses all because one teacher would not teach the class that housed the dreams of a nation.

Do not let dreams die. Never give up on a good thing. You never know how many people are depending on you to keep the dream alive. I have had the privilege of being a teacher and receiving calls from students far and wide. There is not greater satisfaction, fulfillment than touching a life, planting a seed and making tomorrow better. But this is not about teachers it is about dreamers in every profession. It is about every parent, and every friend that can make a difference - making a difference! And so a word to all those who make it their business to kill dreams I say woe unto you for you cannot live your dream.

Yoda Abyssinia... if you have never been there take a look

I visited a place where we sat on low stools in a room filled with people from all over the world; Americas, Asia, Europe and I dare say Australia. They came to see the sights and sounds that wooed King Solomon of old. There were anywhere between 200 to 300 people seated around small groups of four, six or eight at a table. The room was full of cultural symbolism and graced with the presence of past Kings and Queens of Abyssinia. On the stage sat the musicians with various forms of electrified traditional instruments aided by the power of hidden amplifiers to fill the room with sounds of tradition, history and culture. Then the dancers appeared. Their vigor and energy of the African spirit was well and truly evident. In Africa we celebrate our bodies, our strength and our togetherness as a people of promise and hope. I found the people of Abyssinia very affectionate. The tourists were dumb struck by the rhythm of expression alive in that small space. Abyssinia has a written language thousands of years old. But on that stage they spoke for the heart of Africa.  They sang Malaika Just for us…    

Our hostess made her people proud and we will forever carry memories of the traditional roasted meats, processed vegetables, injera, traditional honey beer and the flavor of great company. Thank you Ruth. Thank you Abyssinia

I have read other books but...

I have read other books on the topic how to become rich, how to be entrepreneur, how to be successful in life they were difficult to apply, but this one is simple, easy to understand and to practice.

Birtucan Demeke, 
Ethiopia

The Choice is yours Religion and Culture

Both Religion and Culture are locked in a great battle for the souls of men.

Books for EIAR

Allan Bukusi hands over five copies of How to prosper in Employment to the Director General of the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research - Dr Mandefro Nigussie at a ceremony in the Institute Library earlier today

The Corruption Virus: the more the laws the more the corruption!

The corruption virus: The more the laws the more the corruption!

The article by Ruth Mbula in the February 10^th Sunday Nation suggests that part of Cabinet CS Fred Matiangi core brief is to fight corruption in the country. Many other leaders have not achieved any significant results in this battle. While the celebrated CS has earned high marks in education reforms, the public will be keen to receive tangible relief from official extortion to not only alleviate poverty, but to accelerate economic production. Nonetheless, the frustrating fixation on corruption should not be a personal agenda, it is institutional. Corruption is generated from the very laws the government puts in place to curb it. The more the laws the more corruption grows. Allow me to illustrate this with an interesting story found in ancient scripture.  

God gave Moses Ten Commandments. The religious leaders took these ten simple laws and converted them into five books. Years later Jesus the Christ would drive out corrupt officials who had converted the Temple of worship into a den of thieves. The religious leaders had taken the simple act of worship and made it into a corrupt money making scam by enforcing a complex detailed set of nefarious laws to extort money from hapless believers. The temple officials used the institutional power and privilege they had to create laws that imposed punitive taxes and burdens on the public.

This colonial strategy to fleece the common man is replicated in our public service institutions and parliamentary process. The simple act of driving a vehicle on the Kenyan roads is infringed upon by no less than five different national institution; KRA, NTSA, TLB, INSURANCE, INSPECTION, POLICE including the ADMINISTRATION police! The process of registering a business takes six months to a year!  Our legal experts recently created 47 governments out of one nation. Parliamentarians raise their own salaries through commissions and parliamentary bills- all through legal institutions! The abundance of laws or legality does not guarantee justice. However, the abundance of laws does create conflict, confusion, collusion, corruption and multiple avenues for the corruption virus to flourish.

Dear Dr. Fred Matiangi, your performance in the battle to free the soul of Kenyan entrepreneurship will not be evaluated by the number of corrupt officers you sack or the number of people you take to court on charges of corruption. Your national service will be appraised by the number of superfluous legal institutions you shut down and the measures you put in place to empower Kenyan citizens to freely participate in rewarding, vibrant, ethical socio-economic enterprise in our country.

Allan Bukusi

Leadership Consultant & Author

This is how to go about transforming your organization.

There are four types of organization transformers. These agents of organization transformation have one, two or all of these transformative qualities;

1. Triggers or activators
2. Enablers or facilitators
3. Creators or inventors, and
4. Implementers or developers

These four categories of transformers also double up as the transformation process steps as well. For any form of transformation to take place there has to be some sort of trigger or crisis that makes the organization re-look at its circumstances. The trigger could be an emerging need, a progressive development or a crisis or destabilizing event within or outside the control of the organization or person. This trigger or activator may be deliberate or completely unforeseen. The challenge for a leader is to determine that the emerging situation is an opportunity to steer the person or organization towards transformation and growth.

Sometimes organizations face threats such as employee strikes or technology revolutions. Sometimes however, leaders and managers miss the opportunity to take an organization through a quantum leap or transformation cycle simply because they miss read the signal as a “disturbance” or interruption to normal operations. These leaders and managers take the approach of problem solving or emergency to put out the fire and normalize the situation back to the state in which it was before and thus miss the opportunity to change the state of the business or organization.  Triggers and activators often see things from a different perspective – a position of possibility and opportunity.

ENABLERS & FACILITATORS

Enablers or facilitators are first and fast responders and reformers. These read the signals very quickly and are able to interpret and accept the challenge of the opportunity to change transform and become even better in their circumstance. Enablers will dig into their (own) resources to facilitate the development of the idea, initiative or action. Enablers are not frontline operators, but without their structured intervention an activators idea and or initiative may never see the light of day. Facilitators enable the transformation process to get off its feet by providing the requisite skills, knowledge or process knowhow to move the concept towards recognition and consideration.

CREATORS AND INVENTORS

Creators and inventors get down to the business of creating new platforms, revamping aging processes and identifying new process maps that support the new idea. They create paradigms in which transformation gains legitimacy. These people need not be technicians. They may be financial, legal framework modelers who create a context for the new reality they would like to come into being and obtain acceptance by consumers. Creators and inventors think beyond borders, they are not limited by systems and structures. Indeed they create systems and structures to engage objections and opposition to the new and innovative. While Enablers may be advocates of transformative ideas. Creators and investors are the engineers who move it from concept to practice by relating it to what is available and creating the missing technology to bring the transformation to life.      

IMPLEMENTERS AND DEVELOPERS

These are those who are willing to carry and take the risk of an untested idea and develop it into reality. Implementers do not have the answers. However, they will find them, develop them and make them work. These are the strategy drivers of concepts they believe can work and are ready to give the best of their energies to make it happen. Very close at heart to entrepreneurs these risk taking CEOs are the agents of change that are often visible knocking on doors, out there on the front line, not taking NO for an answer. Their attitude opens doors to opportunity and options previously barricaded by bureaucracy, legalese, and virgin land. Implementers have to be pioneers as they cut through uncharted waters. These are the explorers of old charting out paths for others to follow through with the benefits they want to bring through to individuals, the organization and the market.

FINALLY,

As an individual the transformation front changes as you move through these phases of bringing about the new improved state of the business. If you are working in and with a team, you may obtain some relief by outlining the transformational role you would like each of your team mates to play in order to sell and roll out the transformation process effectively and efficiently in your organization. One more thing – pray without ceasing! I can guarantee your good idea will be resisted as you work out how to reset the obtaining reality.