Tag: God

Uncertainties & Risks

Posted on by Josh

F-Heisenberg_uncertainty_principle

By Okello Okello

Often times people talk of risks as the only fear to getting to entrepreneurship but do they really mean risks? What are risks? Is there anything else other than risks that can raise an entrepreneurs adrenaline. As an entrepreneur, if an action does not cause you to take a deep breath before you do it then it might not be risky enough and that means that it is not as important.

It is also good to understand that there is no perfect risk out there. There is a lot of uncertainty with decisions we make since we mortals can only operate in a linear time scale unless we are supreme beings. Therefore, people are always not scared of risks but the uncertainties that come with entrepreneurial decisions you make. What are uncertainties?

Uncertainty refers to outcomes not contemplated during the decision-making process while on the other hand risks refers to outcomes that have been contemplated, and are quantified as probabilities. The fact that risks are premeditated makes them expected in a way but uncertainties are those happenings that are not thought of and those are the most dangerous ones.

Duo-contemplation is about how to react in such occurrences of uncertainties. An entrepreneur needs to have clear thoughts when things do not go as planned. It can be drenching to operate in such a situation. Uncertainties can also include unexpected positive results or unexpected successes.

Uncertainties can be as a result of , Workers skills not matching the required standards of performance, low productivity due to low employee moral,  or the general mishaps in assumptions in the forecast sessions. Entrepreneurs should then give more weight to non-financial and qualitative factors than financial data. This is not to say that financial data are less important, but seeing past financial data can help give a second come back after uncertain occurrences.

Duo-contemplation matrix covers recovery from both risks and uncertainties and it heavily relies on the leaders ability to absorb market shocks and make wise decisions after a fall. For duo-contemplation to happen successfully, a leader should be ready for drastic changes. Employees should also be in a position to take the change with minimal and if possible no resistance however before these changes happen, an entrepreneur or a leader should consider;

Emotional Effects

How are the changes going to affect the entire team that an entrepreneur is working with? Are they comfortable trying new things? If they are not, how can we transform their fears into a cash flow generating ideas. That is the reason why business gurus do well. Dismantling failure, uncertainties and fears that come with it forms a strong base of success. As an entrepreneur, you do not want to be at the mercies of your emotions. Use your emotion to defeat itself. Change your emotions into happiness and enjoy the outcome no matter what it is. Sharing this attitude with your employees build confidence and a strong belief in the organization after drastic changes have happened. It is also important to know that when making changes, they should not be hard to adopt.

Psychological Effects

Let us take mind as the function of feeling, awareness and motivation. Anything that interferes with your state of mind negatively is what you do not want as entrepreneur. This is not easy as it may sound especially after a failure. The idea of duo-contemplation is to have a strong and stable state of mind to help you fight all the emotional effects that might come with a failure. Human mind is the most versatile organ in a body and can be trained to respond positively to any action.

As devastating a failure can be, human mind never run out of tentative solutions to the main problems in other words, there is no big challenge that human mind cannot handle. “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13). I wish every entrepreneur would read a bible as it boosts one’s faith when it comes to trying risky things. Based on this bible verse, you can meet challenges of different kinds but God has promised that you will not be over come by temptations, therefore do not let your challenges affect your state of mind.

Why the Change

Entrepreneurs should not just propose a change because they feel like it is good to implement one. When going for a change, plan and always remember to maintain your core values intact. Always have a positive and a better reason than before of why you think a change is important. A change can be too big that it becomes insignificant. That is when a change is leading to a permanent failure. Based on keen observation of British Motor Works (BMW) X series, Starting from X3 to X6 there has been very slight changes on every stage, either on chassis shape, gearbox setting, interior space, engine size etc. The changes are always minimal, direct and less complex. They are identifiable changes that does not need extra work to learn or adopt especially on a consumers perspective. The fact that you can also order a custom design BMW makes it even better so the changes suit your preference. The point, always have a reason why you are introducing a change and let it be easy to adopt.

How “The Art of Execution”

Doing the same thing all the time, tremendous repeat or repeated abuse as one of my friends describes it is unhealthy. It is said that change is as good as a rest therefore change should be constant and always in motion. That is when you change the change. So how should people execute the art of change? Implementing the art of change can be hectic yet it can also be simplified through these key points.

  •  The vision: It is important to lay out the vision, what exactly is changing and how is it going to change. The vision gives a broader picture of what the team will work towards. This vision should be clear, short and precise. By making the change vision clear, short and precise, you are simplifying it for your team to easy adopt it therefore there is a higher chances that they will buy into it.
  • Specialization: You want to match the tasks with skills required to accomplish them. Through specialization and division of labour, you are already simplifying the change making it easy to adopt. Clarity with each individual on how important their tasks and roles are to the vision of change helps develop a team synergy. Duo-contemplation work best if you match your team with what they can do best. It is all about maximizing the output from your team.
  • Follow-up: Great leaders go to their employees to inquire if they are meeting any challenges. Try it, it works. You do not have to implement a change to do this. Just ask how you can help them meet their goals, make fun and create a lively work environment. How many entrepreneurs like to crack jokes with their juniors? You want to create an environment where your team enjoys your presence and the work they do. It is also important that you make them know that you are in control, a manager, a director, and the boss if you like calling your self that.

Span it Takes to Change

How drastic are your changes? Are they changes that need 10 years to adopt? Since you are working with start-ups and growing businesses, a change should not take your team more than three months to adopt. It should be that simple. Design a change that impress, a change that every body wants to flock to. If you find it difficult to come up with one especially after failure then look at the reason why you failed or what you want to improve on and just tweak it a little bit.

Let us look at this example, you are a fruit vendor who sells a lot of bananas every week. In one week due to bad weather your sales went down and you are left with a lot of inventories that are perishable. Since You want to maximize your cash flows and revenues, you can decide to have a banana cup cake business along side your grocery to take care of the left over fruits. This is an example of a change that does not require a long span of time to adopt. It is easy, almost obvious and can still generate some income to support the business.

Realistic Goals

If you are a start up, you do not want to tell your employees or yourself that you are going to generate 1 billion in the first week of your business launch. Not that it is impossible, but setting realistic goals is always good. Start small then grow big. You do not want to risk a lot of your resources in a start up therefore losing it all is not good. Be economical, take it one step at a time and sent achievable goals with a reasonable time limit. Most entrepreneurs are big dreamers, I am saying this out of experience. This can make it extremely difficult for your employees to match your expectations because you always want your books to read 100 million revenue in your first year. Give your employees enough time and realistic goals that they can attain. It is better you give them short term and easy to achieve goals that will grow your business than giving them big, dreams that they cannot achieve making you close your business in the first few weeks it starts.

Planed Plans

When a King wants to concur another kingdom, he meets with his military heads to plan and strategist the attack patterns. This is something that has existed through the ages. Planning. You do not want to attack a giant with bear hands. Think of a story in the bible; Joshua 18. Joshua is sending out three representative to go and survey they land, they were to write  a detailed plan on what they saw, and how to get in the land they were promised. He is also laying strategy on how to divide the land, who settles on the south, who goes to the North and who remains in the East.

Key lesson is, plan your movement. Plan your action. plan and again plan the plan. It is really hard to win without a plan. That is why most politicians work with a campaign team. These are people who meet everyday to lay strategies depending on the location of campaign. Having been in African Politics as a strategist to a member of parliament, I can say that strategists do more than what you see politicians say on screens or on a political rally.

After the speech, then we analyze the clips word by word, gesture by gesture, information by information then we do a quick meeting every day to update the potential candidate on what he did well in and what he missed. We also monitor his dressing cord and match it with the tribe or a particular group of people he is going to address. All these are planning and if well executed, they can result into a big success.

Uncertainty, Risks and Fear works like three horns of a triangle. Once you dismantle one side the whole structure collapses.

Lead and Inspire

Posted on by Josh

Lead and inspire people. Don’t try to manage and manipulate people. Inventories can be managed but people must be lead. —Ross Perot

By Elizabeth Stincelli, DM

The Old Way

Early organizations were run by authoritarian leaders who believed that employees tended to be lazy. These leaders focused on ways of improving productivity through a command and control structure of leadership that was based on the belief that leaders were born and not made. The hierarchical organizational structure was born.

In the early 20th century, Fredrick Taylor pioneered scientific management. This form of leadership focused on production by breaking projects down into tasks. Employees could then be trained to specialize in a specific task. Taylor emphasized efficiency, control, and predictability. This view of leadership treated employees like instruments that leaders could manipulate. The focus of leadership was on the needs of the organization and not those of employees.

 

A Paradigm Shift

The scientific approach to leadership failed to acknowledge the complexity of organizational operations as a whole. The approach to leadership began to shift to forms of leadership that focused on the relationship between leaders and followers. This new generation of leaders believed that leadership was dependent upon one’s ability to inspire others through the building of relationships and development of trust. These modern-day leaders serve as role-models for followers. They place the needs of followers over their own personal needs or those of the organization. These leaders enable and encourage autonomy and participation in organizational decision-making. They empower others and inspire them to work towards a shared vision.

The traditional, top-down, hierarchical organizational management structure is changing. Leadership can be seen as dynamic and fluid rather than fixed. It is an emergent property where a group of individuals bring their expertise together in pursuit of a shared goal. The emerging leadership paradigm characterizes a leader as an individual who inspires and influences others with or without holding a formal position of authority.

 

Who Can Lead

Leadership is not about a position, it can come from anyone. Leadership takes place all around us on a daily basis. Being a true leader goes beyond title or position. Every individual within an organization, team, or community has the opportunity to inspire those around them. An effective leader encourages every individual to participate in the learning and leading. An individual who is seen as knowledgeable, friendly, open, trustworthy, and always willing to help can serve a leadership role by inspiring others.

The performance of a team or organization is directly related to the ability of the members or employees to share knowledge, experience, and skills in the coordination and completing of tasks. The development of close relationships based on trust and respect lays the foundation that enables one to inspire others. These relationships can be developed by employees at every level of an organization.

 

Lead and Inspire

Leadership is all about the ability to inspire others to work towards a shared vision or goal. Leadership has become cooperative, the leader playing the role of coach and supporter with an emphasis on the individuals working under them. The role of a leader is to allocate resources, serve as a role-model, coach followers, and to inspire others. It is the leader’s responsibility to offer followers the opportunity to grow. By developing and maintaining trusting relationships, leaders enable individuals to collaborate, share knowledge, and contribute to the development of new organizational knowledge.

The ability, knowledge, respect, and confidence that an individual possesses contribute to his or her ability to inspire action in others. Inspirational leaders communicate a clear vision, set high expectations, and motivate followers through encouraging individual creativity, development, consideration, and intellectual stimulation. We can inspire others with a sense of trust, respect, purpose, value, inclusivity, confidence, and encouragement.

Gone are the days of command and control leadership. People want to be inspired by the leaders they look to for guidance. Look around, your organization is brimming with individuals who have developed the relationships, earned the respect and trust, and demonstrated the knowledge that allows them to inspire others within your organization.

 Please if you find this blog informative, share it on your social media, comment, follow, favorite and let other people learn from it too. That is the spirit of entrepreneurship. We are here to support each other. No one knows everything that is why we share, exchange and learn from one another. God bless you.

 

Leadership

Posted on by Josh

Leadership-Cranes

It is better to lead from behind and put others in front, especially when you celebrate victory when nice things occur. You take the front like when there is danger. Then people will appreciate your leadership ~ Nelson Mandela

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant. ~Max DePree

 

By Okello Okello

Over the years, I have believed that business is the most important factor (apart from God) in our lives especially with the metamorphosis brought up by globalization. As I started writing more and more on business, innovation and entrepreneurship, I came to learn that without leadership, there is no success. So before a business is founded, there must be someone in charge. Leadership therefore stands triumphant over all else that pertains to success in our communities.

  • Think of a family set-up, there is always a breadwinner, who is most of the time the leader of the family, children and other members who either form nuclear or extended part of the family fully rely on the leader. These people needs a leader who can provide, take care, protect, support, advice and be a role model etc. It does not matter whether you are from a single family or with both parents, you still need a leader and if you are the leader, then you must be ready and willing to show your team the right way.
  • Leadership is also needed in our faith based organizations. There must be an individual who holds all the responsibilities and can be held accountable for all successes and failures of the organization. I am talking about successes and failures because most of the times, leaders performances are scaled in between the two points.
  • Institutions and community centers also need leaders. People who can report the management and affairs happening in the institution to both the government and the public. They take part in overseeing operations of different projects, and they also plan the future of the institutions they work in.
  • Politicians are also leaders who are engaged in daily errands and affairs of a country. They manage the country’s economy and hold the jurisdiction that governs their nations and states. Political leaders are most of the times the head of their countries security.
  • Businesses also need leadership. For success in the market that is either highly regulated or open, there needs to be a person with strong leadership skills. Somebody who is good with finances understands the market patterns, an organizer, a planner, a manager and if most likely a people person. In general, we cannot live without leadership because leadership transforms chaos into order.

Now that we briefly understand how leadership is important, ask yourself; “What if I was the one to be in charge?” Some people do not consider themselves’ leaders and often times decline a position that puts them in lime light. But can we really hide from leadership? At some point in life, you must be a leader. Either leading an organization, a ministry, a community group or your own family. It is therefore better to familiarize yourself with leadership and be ready to be called upon at any time.

In the history of the bible, God used people who were not considered naturally born leaders, therefore it is never wrong to decline that you are a leader, but if God has anointed you to become one, then what you need to do is to heed his calling.

Think of Moses and how he was anointed. He was a man of no charisma, was not fluent in speech and was the one who God picked and used. David was the last born of Jesse, and we know in our societies today that last born’s are always the spoiled ones. Probably it was the same back in the days and that is who God anointed. It is therefore good to understand that leaders are people who are anointed by God to fulfill a purpose and a need that is affecting His people.

What then is leadership? Here are a number of definitions of the word leadership.

  • Leadership is the ability to give a social aid to a mass of people who come together to achieve a common goal.
  • Leadership is doing the right things. (Peter Drucker).
  • Management and maintaining order in an organization
  • The guidance and direction of a group of people
  • The time when a person holds the position of a leader (Merriam Webster Dictionary).

Leadership is laying yourself down for the sake of other people. Not to say that the definitions above are wrong, but I like to give a different approach and view to leadership. As a leader, are you called to lay yourself down to the people you lead? Are you fully in charge of the situations and ready to be responsible for the good and the worst that your organization might encounter? Are you ready to stand for your employees and be a voice of those who are in need? Are you ready to show love? A leader is a person who considers these questions and tries to live by the standards that uplifts the people they are leading.

As the son of man gave himself to be nailed on the cross for the sake of the world, we should be in a position to stand firm for the people we represent. Some have called this type of leadership “Servant Leadership.” In the history of the world, Kings ruled and reigned, Judges lead and dominated, presidents have expressed and shown power in different ways but very few have been there to lay themselves down for the sake of their people.

In the world today, we should be in a position to differentiate market celebrities and leaders. Most of the people we call business leaders are good examples of market celebrities, they are there to dominate without love, promote themselves and finish their rivals. Where is love? How are they laying themselves law for the sake of the common people?

It is good to understand that there are social leaders, spiritual leaders, business leaders, consanguinity leaders and this work is to generalize all of them to come up with shared traits and also how to empower people to take up the role of leadership with a lot of confidence.

Please if you find this blog informative, share it on your social media, comment, follow, favorite and let other people learn from it too. That is the spirit of entrepreneurship. We are here to support each other. No one knows everything that is why we share, exchange and learn from one another. God bless you.

Planned Leadership (Aim & Shoot)

Posted on by Josh

business_planning

By Okello Okello

“Failure to plan is a plan to fail,” (Unknown). This statement is misleading and not accurate, failure to plan is not a plan to fail, why so? A plan of any sort is an elaborate scheme or arrangements of a project execution. To fail is to lack a plan. Leaders who do not do well mostly do not plan. Think of a leader of a successful company, he/she reports to his board members, overseas the organization’s operations, holds meetings with his managers, strategies for the future and also takes care of his/her family. Without a plan, this leader is going to fail terribly. It takes a piece of paper and pen to write a plan. As you read this, check if you have a piece of paper and a pen on your desk, pocket, bag etc. That is where planning starts.

Professor Bob Gernon covers this in details in his “Success by Design” plan. I would highly advise any business or organization that faces challenges to consider using “Success by Design” plan.  Let us not confuse this with strategic planning. For more on strategic planning, check the chapter that follows. The part of planning covered on this chapter is a one week plan. I will call it “Aim & Shoot Plan.”

“Aim & Shoot” is a daily/weekly plan that divides portions of a project in fractions that can be worked on and achieved on a very short period of time. “Mile by mile it’s a trial; yard by yard it’s hard; but inch by inch it’s a cinch,” (Unknown). As the name suggest, Aim and shoot is a plan where you directly set an objective and you hit it immediately. Hunters know that when they are in the field, they have to act one step at a time, once they notice a target, they take aim and before the animal or the hunt knows of their presence, they take the shot. That is what you need. Have daily/weekly aims and hit them unexpectedly.

Polar Opposition

Life is full of endless battles. We strive to excel, we want to beat our rivals in the market, we fight for our families, we fight for justice, we fight for human rights, we fight for better pay, we fight for promotions and above all, we fight to make it to heaven with Jesus someday. With all these fights come’s opposition. If we give up and cave in to all oppositions we encounter, then we are going to lose. Failing to plan is a gateway of caving in to oppositions at work place.

Reason why we wake up early and go to bed late is because we want to face all the challenges and be successful. The ability to encounter your challenges and stay on top is what I prefer calling polar opposition. There will always be polarity in the leadership scenario therefore fight it back with a plan, repel it with a strategy.

Split Your Time. 

Take each day of the weak and split it in three; morning, afternoon, evening. You can cheaply find day/weekly/monthly/year planners cheaply in the stores these days. If you do not want to spend a dime then this is so basic, just write it down on a piece of paper you are seeing on your desk. For most of us who like to preserve the environment, you can plan it on your phone, tablet, computer or any other electronic devise that technology has blessed us with with such capabilities.

My best friend Keith Brink an entrepreneur, former school and classmate once told me how he splits his time in potions of 30 minutes with 5 minute breaks after every portion. The 30 minutes are for intense and rigorous work and the 5 minutes are for breaks, exercise, refreshments and relaxation. Find what works for you and divide your day in blocks of hours or minutes.

Top 5 To Do List

This is one of the best advises that professor Bob Gernon gave me. That to work efficiently you should never have more than 5 things to do in your daily list. beyond that it becomes useless. Remember that as an entrepreneur, there is no time to waste, you want to finish everything once and for all.

My personality results according to Myers Briggs Test shows that I am an ENFP. This sometimes pushes me to brinks and as a negative out come, I can wait until last minutes to accomplish tasks but after taking Entrepreneurship and New Ventures class with Gernon, I learned and trained my self to be on top of things and to avoid tight deadlines.

Splitting my work in top 5 or less things to do in a day makes it very easy for me to follow with my schedules and organization goals. I will encourage all readers who have not adopted this practices to not do them but try them and if they yield good results then make them a routine.

Plan for Tomorrow Today

Take the last 15 minutes of your day before you retire to bed to plan your following day. Wake up to a list of set objectives and with a plan in your mind, you are reducing time wastage in the morning, boosting your efficiency and drawing away from burn out. Mind works best in the morning, so do your best when fresh. Waking up to a planned day gives you a rough structure of your day making it easy to show up in meetings in time. They say, the early bird catches the worm, therefore hit your errands as early as possible.

Have Time for Family and Friends

Were it not for the support of my friends, family and everybody in my contact list, you would not be be reading this book by now leave alone the organization I founded. This is not an acknowledgement page therefore let me be precise. You need friends and family in life. Engage with people, and get to learn from them. After every long day of work, the only thing I enjoy is to sit and have some refreshing chats with my girlfriend or play games with friends before we do devotion together. “Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one toward another according to Christ Jesus,” (Romans 15:5-6, KJV). Be there for people who need you and they will be there for you too.

A family that prays together stays together. Be part of a family and enjoy the refreshing moments with your loved ones as you glorify in Jesus name.

Please if you find this blog informative, share it on your social media, comment, follow, favorite and let other people learn from it too. That is the spirit of entrepreneurship. We are here to support each other. No one knows everything that is why we share, exchange and learn from one another. God bless you.

Leadership, Management Dilemma (II)

Posted on by Josh

Frustration

By Okello Okello

” You have touched on some good concepts here. Leaders must not just wield power,but place the bulk of the responsibility on themselves. While we need to share responsibility with our teams, the leader must shoulder the responsibility to ensure teams are provided with the information, tools, and guidance necessary to be successful. Individuals should be shown that their contributions are valued and learning from failure should be encouraged “  (Lizstincellis’s comment on my blog post).

Entrepreneurs are people who understand that there is a little difference between obstacles and opportunities and are able to turn both to their advantage. This needs strong leadership skills. “The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him” (Niccolo Machiavelli). As a leader, you always want your name to be clean at all times and at all costs. Guarding your reputation builds your credibility and trust therefore remember that you are not only protecting your name but your brand as well. As a leader you should;

1. Build Alliances

Leadership and management of all kinds has got bits of politics in it. Politics as much as it has been defined as a dirty game, game of numbers or power struggle. To digress from these definitions, let us focus on business politics as a strategic move to form undefeated alliances. Successful leaders talk to great people, men of wisdom, the experienced and people they look into as mentors. In my last posts, I have mentioned the importance of having mentors and these are some of the simple actions that can propel you and your team to higher levels.

No politicians does it a lone and they will always merge into parties or bring parties together to form strong coalitions to defeat their rivals. As a leader, you gain a lot forming coalitions with experienced people. It is all about learning, copying and advancing what other people have done. Yes you might be having great ideas but you cannot stand a lone. You need people and therefore, take your time and listen to the lowest person holding the lowest rank in your organization. They are also part of the alliance and they might bring valuable information to you.

2. Be Ready to Serve.

Kyle is one of my best friend who has served in the army and it has become part of him that as a leader, he serves those under him first. He puts them ahead of everything including when it come’s to simple things like serving meals. Since this has been part of him for so long, he is nowadays extending it involuntarily to everybody everywhere he is. This is one major discipline in the forces and if something that leaders and managers should imitate from our boys in uniform, then it should be the heart of servant-hood.

To those of us who are Christians, the bible says “Each one of us should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms,” (1 Peter 4:10).  It logically follows then that if you are gifted in leadership, then you should use it to serve others. In a deductive argument, I would put it this way;

  1. Leadership is a gift from God.
  2. Leadership is one way of ministering God’s grace to people
  3. Serving others is a way of using our gifts for Gods glory
  4. therefore leaders can use their positions to glorify God through stewardship.

The world needs servant leaders therefore try and be one.

3. Risks

Entrepreneurs and leaders are known for their risk taking capabilities. This is actually one of the most important characteristics of all business people. The ability to expose their valuables to danger, harm and or loss. Since entrepreneurship is all about increasing your NPV (Net Present Value) and always keeping it positive, it is worth doing your calculations right before you try out a new idea. Plan every step and act with a lot of boldness. What this means is that you should eliminate unnecessary risks in your business life.

4. Mind the two extremes. 

As a leader, you should be both a manager and a friend. Never cross the boundaries and never offend the wrong person. You do not want to appear too bossy because then you will be scaring people away. As a manager, you want to build a harmonized team that brews the best chemistry at work.

As a leader, you should also be a friend of many, your employees or people under your leadership should be in a position to see you as a man of wisdom whom they can freely walk into and ask for help. Design a way that works for you and always  let your people know that you are the leader. Remember to be a servant leader. You definitely need respect from your team therefore be willing to show respect to them too. Respect and attention are two of the virtues that can be afforded by any body, pay attention and attention will pay you back.

By this time, you probably understand that leadership challenges come in pairs and the decision you take is not important. What is important is living with the standards that come with the decision you make. What comes after the decision is what is important. For more of this check our leadership and management Dilemma series posts.

Please if you find this blog informative, share it on your social media, comment, follow, favorite and let other people learn from it too. That is the spirit of entrepreneurship. We are here to support each other. No one knows everything that is why we share, exchange and learn from one another. God bless you. 

Why be King if you can be god?

Posted on by Josh

Business gods

By Okello Okello

This is probably one of my most controversial writings I have ever done but before you judge this post by reading the headline, I would like to make it clear that I am a theist, who fully believes in Jesus Christ, I am a pro-life and an apologist. Then what prompted me to talk of being a king if you can be god? The point I am putting across is that there is always a space for improvement and as an entrepreneur it is even better to go for nothing less. Dream big!

Over the years, most kings were worshiped, adored and held higher ranks in the community. Some kings also pledged allegiance to gods of their time and in my view this makes gods above all else. Let me repeat again that when I talk about gods I do not mean the God of heaven and earth the maker of the universe and all that is in it. I am talking symbolically about holding higher ranks in a  business community. Is there anything that entrepreneurs can learn from this?

One of the greatest rappers of our time, “Eminem” released a song referring himself as a “rap god“. Yes I think he is right to call himself “rap god” as long as he does not mean that he is holding a position of equal ranks to God of heaven. Now for the rest of this article when I talk about being a god, take it as a way of being ahead of your competitors and nothing spiritual. At the end of the song, Eminem asks, “Why be a king if you can be god?”

As an entrepreneur, there is always a room to start feeling like an “entrepreneur god“. You are more than you can imagine. Entrepreneurs are creative people who dream big and as I always say, “go big or go bigger.” The same applies, switching from a king to a god in the market place is the best way of flexing your entrepreneurial muscles over all your competitors.

As much as I do not believe in competition with business rivals, go for what you do best and expand it to more elevated grounds. For a successful transition from a king to a god, an entrepreneur should have a grand plan or a blue print of his/her projects. Do your calculations and reach a solution before you implement them.

Most entrepreneurs start by drawing their goals then walking their way backwards to where the grand plan starts. Having a strategic plan will will help you develop a systematic approach of reaching your targets. Planning ahead of time takes away the idea of improvising along the way as it can distract away from the master plan. Always cause ripples but never waste your time stopping unnecessary waves. What I mean is, come up with a step by step plan that covers all the challenges along the way and be ready to tackle them within the shortest period of time possible.

Bob Gernon, a friend of mine, a professor and a successful business consultant on his strategic plan talks of Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Tactics (GOST). To be a god you must have a GOST. Goals are the immeasurable achievements that you want to attain in your organization, Objectives are the measurable end products of why you are planning, strategies are what needs to be done to get your objectives right and lastly tactics are what you have to do to get the results you want.

You are in business because you want to be a god, so stop thinking like a king and act like a god for you to be treated as one.  You are the only one who is standing on your way to success so stop being  a king and act like a god.  After all, why be a king if you can be a god?

Please if you found this blog helpful, share it on your social media, follow, favorite and let other people learn from it too. That is the spirit of entrepreneurship. We are here to support each other. No one knows everything that is why we share, exchange and learn from one another. God bless you.

Socratic Leadership

Posted on by Josh

Socrates

By Okello Okello

Is there anything business leaders can learn from Socrates? If anything then let us first start by getting to know who this man is. Socrates was a classical Greek philosopher who is credited as one of the founders of Western Philosophy. He came to fame through later classical writers most of them his immediate students namely Plato, Aristotle and Xenophon. He (Socrates) is widely known for his contribution in the field of ethics through arguments and self defense that puzzled most of his antagonists.

As an entrepreneur and apologist, I know that business leaders can learn a lot from this great philosopher, from ethics, bargaining, intelligence to reasoning.

1. Piety 

Socrates was so pious that he did nothing without the counsel of the gods, so just that he never did an injury to any man. This dependence on God is what most entrepreneurs lack, let me call it Socratic proslogion for now. The ability to have faith in God that all well thought-of ideas can work is a trait that can propel any business to higher levels. A lot of entrepreneurs lose hope so easily and shred their blue prints at early stages when they meet challenges. My advice is, seek counsel from almighty God and he will bless you with faith to believe that you can do it.

2. Temperate

Socrates never preferred pleasure to right. The ability to show moderation and self-restraint is very important when it comes to business. Successful entrepreneurs never do it for money but to change life standards of other people or to solve a need. When you are starting a business, my advice is; never put money first, always think of your customers and the value you are offering them. This is a concept that is very easily forgotten in business today. Accordingly, Socrates practiced temperance and self-denial to a degree which some thought ostentatious and affected

3. Intelligence

Socrates was so intelligent that he could not fault making judgement between what was good and what was evil. As a business leader, the ability to make right judgement is more than important especially in strategic management of any kind.  One very successful investor once told me, that it is never wrong to make mistakes but learn from them. His second advice to me was that it is okay to take risks, as long as they are critically thought of and well calculated.

4. Logical

Originating from the Greek word “Logike”, logic has got more than one meaning. a). It describes the use of valid reasoning, b). It is the study of reasoning. Socrates was a logician, who could reason out his thoughts in debates and arguments and that is how he won most of the accusations against him. A business leader should be a person who can reason well, logically and should tell when to quit if statistics do not tally. Business is about value both to the customer and to the entrepreneur and if any side is not gaining then it is time to apply logike.

5. Virtuous 

Socrates lived a life full of high moral standards. This could also be the reason why they teach business ethics in schools today. If something is not worth doing then do not it. My principle is; if something is against my moral and ethical standards then however good it is, I will not do it. Above all go to point one and know where the source of all morality comes from. Be pious.