Professionals – Page 2

Leading People

Posted on September 5, 2014September 28, 2014 by Josh

By Josh okello

Entrepreneurship is about dealing with people. Treat all equal and give them the best. They define you. Entrepreneurship is a road taken by a few and a bigger percentage of those few also fail miserably. In entrepreneurship or any leadership position, failing is the only thing guaranteed but for success, you must be ready to work for it. This then demands that you have the right team to work with.

Some people just like to make easy things impossible, get rid of them. Birds of the same feathers flock together. This is probably one of the most undervalued statements of all times. Look around you and count up to four of your closest friends. These are the people you hang-out with and have fun with when you are free.

Do these people believe in you? Do they believe in your efforts? Do they believe you can make it as a leader or as an entrepreneur? There are some people we entertain in our lives yet they cause more damage to us than good. Starting a business is so hard and stressful that it is wise to spend your time with either other business people or people who are successful in it and so is leadership of any kind.

Of cause this is not how society should be, but we either decide to sacrifice our time for the success of our business or entertain every Tom Dick and Harry that we meet. If you are honest with yourself, you will find it more beneficial to be with people who add value in your life than those who take value away from it.

It requires wisdom to discern who to be with. If your mindset is for success and happiness, then there will be tropism towards achievers. They should be your external stimulus to do more, dream more, and value more. This is the time, do not wait. If possible do not even finish reading this post, prune out people who always attract you to negative things and get close to those who have a mindset of success and happiness.

Failure is not enough reason to not try doing greater things. If birds of the same feathers really flock together, then why are you with people who do not change you for the best? I have been meeting a lot of business leaders and investors who are successful trying to learn what makes them successful. One of the things that they all agree on is hard work and being with good company. Your group defines who you are so stop wasting your time with people who have no dreams. The fact that somebody cannot dream big should not infiltrate in your mind. You coin your own destiny. Be smart.

Joshua Okello is a B.A graduate in Business Administration, International Development and Philosophy. He is also the author of the book Strategies of Entrepreneurial Leadership He has exceptional skills in organizing, coordinating projects and capacity building initiatives with key emphasis on livelihood programs; microfinance through savings and credit led models; business development services and entrepreneurial leadership. He is also the founder and Executive Director of Succeed Africa Relief Organization, a Canadian Christian Organization geared towards giving hope and transformation in lives of the chronically poor in Africa.

How to Know You are an Entrepreneur

Posted on August 9, 2014September 28, 2014 by Josh

By Josh.

This week on our Entrepreneurship Bench is non other than, an entrepreneur, a mom, a herbalist, an adviser, a consultant and a coach. Darlene M. Lopez. She takes everything she is doing as a ministry. She is ready to serve her clienteles globally through the help of internet and social media platforms. This is what she had to say on entrepreneurship

Josh: One thing I admire with you is how you keep people engaged. You are a net-worker for sure and I would like to learn from you.

Lopez: Thank you so kindly, that is very encouraging of you. I enjoy learning and you inspire me to keep pursing my dreams, knowing the outcome will be to fund ministries/work like yours

Josh: You are most welcome. So what are some of the challenges you have met on your way as an entrepreneur and a mom?

Lopez: What a good question, I think the most challenging thing thus far is that in both is being disciplined with time management along with always remaining a humble servant.

Josh: Oh yes that is a tight balance to hit. It is a challenge to me too. How did you come to learn that you are an entrepreneur?

Lopez: I never considered being an Entrepreneur, the concept had always interested me but I never fully pursued it but when people began offering to pay me for doing what I loved I began to entertain the idea but still didn’t pursue it.

I just love helping people in herbalism/natural living and friends and family and friends of family etc. would call me or ask for my advice etc. and I offered it and wrote protocols for them, they would come back with amazing testimonies thanking me over and over some would offer to pay me of which I would decline.

This sometimes would lead our family into small amounts of debt as I would purchase the necessary herbs and supplies for my clients thankfully it was never a burden to us and the debt never accumulated but nevertheless it wasn’t wise.

I still was reluctant to receive monetary compensation for my consulting it was something I loved and enjoyed doing, so I felt a bit guilty to receive money for doing what I loved, after all why charge for something that you can give for free and it is helping others.

I began to look into wholesaling houses and investing as a stay at home mom, I wanted to help contribute to the family income so Id take side jobs like providing childcare for families this helped but the concept of wholesaling and investing interested me but I needed information that only real estate professionals have.

We have some friends who are Real Estate agents, and have been in the business going on 40 years. I called her and began to explain my interest in investing in real estate and my interest in wholesaling, she educated me on the risks involved and the pros and cons.
Without discouraging my adventure she explained how I could get the access I needed in order to succeed, which the only way was to become a professional realtor.

I didn’t want to do that because well, it wasn’t something I had a passion about it was merely a means to make some extra income for our family, so I didn’t want to invest in schooling for this if I wasn’t going to pursue it passionately.

She then suggested I become her virtual assistant and manage her social media marketing for her and in exchange she would give me the access I needed to flip houses etc. I agreed and she paid for my social media for sales and success marketing class.

I became her online virtual assistant and I love marketing and social network, I have a passion and love for it, so I said sure why not. She offered to pay me and yet again I refused compensation because I felt guilty for being paid to do something you love.

This type of thinking some how held me back. I realized that there is nothing wrong with being paid, a worker is worthy of his wages. This led to me launching my own business.

I’m still a new entrepreneur and still learning to market myself as I Have spent so much time marketing and networking for others that doing it for myself on a professional level has been a learning experience.

Busy but NOT Successful – Is It Possible?

Posted on June 6, 2014 by Josh

“I’m busy.” That is probably the most abused response when you ask someone how they are. You may also be faced with that kind of situation -almost every day! But make no mistake: Going to work every day does not make one an effective worker. Yes, being busy doesn’t always equate with being successful. At times, it may be the other way around. Some may be confused about the issue because they focus on the number of hours they work. Well, we all have 24 hours a day but just to think of it: why do others have more successful life? Why do others are more accomplished, more fulfilled? It is because being busy is a state of existential reassurance. When you’re busy, there is no room for emptiness.

Time is not a factor. In fact, daily activities like going to work, sending emails, attending meetings – these are the usual things that make one busy but not necessarily leading to accomplishing anything. So what constitutes to success, you may ask. We ask different successful people and here are the 3 things that matter most to success:

Quality
Progress
Goal Accomplishment

If you want to hit the 3 essentials of success, you must first learn to avoid being busy and be productive instead:

Sure Ways to be Productive, Not Just Busy

Avoid interruptions.

What can help

Manage your time and space. Limit technology interruptions. Organize your workspace to minimize visual distractions. Learn self-management skills to help you increase your focus and reduce stress. Create a strategy and have a goal to stick to it.

Avoid doing the easy menial things first. Start doing the most urgent.

What can help

The first hours of work should be allotted to the most urgent projects. Spending a few minutes each day checking personal e-mail, handling an online bank transfer or texting is not a problem as long as you know your limitations. Doing trivial things first without control may rob your time that should have been used in more important things. It may also sap the energy out of you leaving nothing left for the more important things. Remember priority and productivity are partners to success..

Avoid working without goals or purpose.

What can help

Take time at the end of the day to reflect what happened the whole day, what was accomplished, what was not, what should be done and what other things should be done to make things more productive. Focus on the best things to do for the day to come. Write your priorities for the next day and review your list when you come in.

Avoid multitasking.

What can help

Do one thing at a time and do it well. Get it started and get it done effectively. Focus on your work and be engaged with people working around you. Always check your to-do list and don’t let your focus float to other tasks before the current one is not over yet.

Avoid decision-making paralysis. This can be experienced when you are always making decisions left and right that you feel tired all day. , making any decision makes you tired, instead get good habits, do the right things habitually, do them with unconscious effort, and save your mental energy for the things that matter.

What can help

Making decisions is made more accurate when it is based on information. To nurture your informed decision-making skills, learn to collect the right data. Mapline, a mapping software. is often used by companies to provide them with data visualization. A map visualization usually helps entrepreneurs and business leaders to identify factors affecting operations, marketing and sales. More advanced analytical features are used to uncover powerful relationships between data sets.

The next time that you’re busy doing your usual routine, sit back and really think: Are you busy just for the sake of having activities to do, or you are busy because it meant you are productive? Productivity is indeed the key to success so aim to be more productive.

*****

Author’s Bio:

Marga Dela Cruz is a thought leader and a consultant in data analysis and data visualization. She works in Mapline, a business mapping software that helps organizations simplify data and use it to optimize logistics, enhance market planning, identify growth opportunities, or mitigate market risks.

Uncertainties & Risks

Posted on April 6, 2014April 17, 2014 by Josh

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.

Planned Leadership (Aim & Shoot)

Posted on March 9, 2014March 9, 2014 by Josh

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 March 6, 2014March 6, 2014 by Josh

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;

Leadership is a gift from God.
Leadership is one way of ministering God’s grace to people
Serving others is a way of using our gifts for Gods glory
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.

Leadership, Management Dilemma (I)

Posted on March 5, 2014March 6, 2014 by Josh

By Okello Okello.

Should a manager lead? or should a leader manage? I am generally speaking about management, not specifics such as micro or macro management. Leadership is one of the tightest ropes to walk in life and the balance it needs is more than you can imagine. Most CEO’s in organizations always get mixed up by the myriads of roles that come simultaneously under their titles. This post is going to extract and display some of the greatest dilemma that most leaders go through knowingly and or unknowingly.

1. Power and Responsibility

Of cause leadership automatically puts you in power and most leaders always find it a challenge to differentiate power and responsibility. This is also where leaders start to use their responsibilities despotically and the result is always a devastated team. Leaders should know that they are in a delicate position and everything they do and say is keenly being monitored by those under him or her.

As a leader, first you should learn your responsibilities. Once again, learn your responsibilities before you exercise power over anybody. Know your limits, understand your people and know how much pressure you have to mount on your team otherwise you are bringing more harm to your team and to the organization.

2. Give Incentives

Every Good Worker Deserves Favour! Always reward your best performers and remember to discipline your non performers but remember to do it with love. Give them second chances and be polite especially when dealing with failures. It is not a must that the incentives must be in currency form but even thanking your team can mean much to them and can be a source of motivation to a lot of people.

Take your team out for lunch, order pizza online and celebrate victory, give your team a half a day break to show them that you are concerned and appreciate the quality of work they do.

3. Dealing with Failures

You are having angry customers who are unsatisfied by the work your team has done. You have called your team in a board room and they can read tension on your face. Their heart is racing and their faces can read that “At the end of this meeting, one person must be fired!” Dealing with failures is more like giving incentives only that instead of giving tangible rewards, you are going to educate your team instead.

Please remember that we are not equal. Some are more gifted than others and for them to make it to your company, they have shown some wisdom or strengths that you wanted to tap into. Therefore, avoid calling names and do not shout. Self control is more than important in this case. If someone fails, always remember to give them a second chance. Nothing inspires people like telling a failure that they can do it. Be ready to show them the way, that is why you are a leader and not just an employee.

You are dealing and handling someone else future, therefore take a lot of caution on what you say. Encourage them and never set your hands flying in disgust. Show love, motivate and encourage non performers in your company and if the same problem continues then shuffle your staff, maybe they are the right people in the wrong seats. Always remind them of their calling and educate them to be great performers.

4. Change Top-Down

It starts with you! Yes as a leader, you should be a role model to people not a scare-craw. Mind your language and treat people with respect. It does not cost a penny to pay respect yet it rewards more than the revenues you can earn. Simple rule, “The Golden Rule.” In “Our Lords Prayer,” there is a line that says “forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespasses against us,” This should be a leaders prayer at all times. Learn to forgive, and change your self before the team you are leading change for the better. And always remember that “True transformation only comes from God” (Unknown).

Entrepreneur Taxonomy

Posted on March 4, 2014March 6, 2014 by Josh

By Okello Okello

Taxonomy is the science of elucidating groups of biological organisms on the basis of shared facets and rendering nomenclature to those groups. In this post, I am going to classify entrepreneurs as a special group of species homo-sapiens-sapiens. This is not to say that entrepreneurs are of different species from any other human being but they hold distinctive characteristics that set them apart from all else.

Some have called them weirdo’s, they are always in their own world, they like to cause chaos, they can be authoritative, and never give up. Entrepreneurs like to go against the currents and are great risk takers. They have faith in their efforts but plan before they leap. Strategy is always their main tool, they slip but never fall even if they fail in a particular area, they understand that failure is part of success, but some of the unusual traits that most entrepreneurs share in common include;

1. Status Quo

Entrepreneurs delete these two words in their dictionary. They always go against currents and nothing can stop them from going for their vision. Once they set up their minds in achieving something, they will go for it even if there are tough barriers of entry. The ability to start a business is by itself against so many statistical facts. It is also good to point out that entrepreneurs who are value driven tend to perform better than the profit driven. Since there are no definitive features to qualify these people as specie of their own, this qualifies everybody to be a potential entrepreneur only that some differ at the degree of resilience and persistence.

2. Tenacity

This is the ability to grip something firmly for so long before you let go. Entrepreneurs can hold an idea for so long before they let it slip off their hands. Mostly they are never worried of time it takes before they see their dreams come true. Tenacity drives them in tough economic times and since they understand the sinusoidal market behavior, they can predict light at the end of the tunnel.

3. Self-Belief.

As the name suggest, to be an entrepreneur you must have self confidence and believe in your self before anybody else believes in you. “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve” (unknown). Most entrepreneurs believe in themselves and their potentials. After all, it is never wrong to try, if you are trying the right thing. “It is only when you hitch yourself to something greater than you that you realize your true potentials” (Barack Obama).

4. Duo-Contemplation

Duo-contemplation is a word that I coined after being in strategic management for over two years. It is the ability to match two contrasting ideas in preparation to any unforeseen occurrences. Most entrepreneurs do not have this mentality and the single line of thought makes it very hard for organizations to bounce back in the market in case of any contradicting happenings. Successful entrepreneurs never take one side of thought and ride with it, they look at all facades and calculate a tentative solution for both. This elevates their management skills at all times.

4. Design a Master Piece.

Leonardo daVinci is crowned for his master piece Monalisa, Michelangelo contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, also rival of Italian Leonardo da Vinci is known for his master piece Pieta. In recent years, Martin Luther King junior was known for his phrase “I have a Dream,” Barack Obama was propelled to presidency of the United States of America by a simple phrase “Yes We Can.” These are master pieces that were crafted by the artists themselves. Successful entrepreneurs develop master pieces, things that make them standout and unique. These are also ideas that later down in history are considered to have revolutionized an age. As an entrepreneur develop your own master piece.

Entrepreneurs are few in numbers, though through technological advancements and a paradigm shift that has happened in the work force globally, there has been a rise in the number of people who start their own businesses. Question to you; Are you falling under the classification of entrepreneurs? Yes You Can!

Why be King if you can be god?

Posted on February 24, 2014February 24, 2014 by Josh

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.

Leadership & Investment

Posted on February 14, 2014February 14, 2014 by Josh

By Okello Okello

Some of the factors that determine our financial planning include; age, personality, education, experience, health and family status. But what exactly does it take to build a financial empire? The simple answer to investment success is strategic planning and discipline.

1. When planning, one needs to think of realistic goals.

Financial planning must have short term, intermediate and long term goals. This is where you ask yourself why you want to be financially stable and once that question is answered, you can build a pyramid of reasons of what to do with the invested money. It is always good to plan to spend otherwise use money to get money will be rendered a dysfunctional statement.

2. Reward comes at a greater risk.

All entrepreneurs know and believe that success is not for the faint heart but for the bold who are willing to take the bull by its horns. Business is about how well you can handle shock in the market and how you can cope with failures. People always think of financial risks at first but risks covered here extends to even individuals reputation. To paraphrase from Nicolo Machiaveli, “reputation must be guarded at all costs.” Risk in business according to my definition will be any attempt that leads to the kind of disgrace that could precipitate a fall from power.

3. Go for Value not quantity.

This is a great challenge to almost all consumers; often times we tend to skew our emotions and satisfaction towards abundance and forget about the value we get. Let me give an example with a daily stock trader who makes decision out of greedy and self centered-ness. His goal is to gain all at the end of the day but real investors go for value. Always remember never to trade stocks but to invest in companies.

4. Investment is a philosophy, study it.

Investment Philosophy is the critical study of the basic principles and concepts of appreciation in value and market knowledge, especially with a view to improving or reconstituting them. Investment therefore needs a thorough research, study and plan. To start-up businesses this process is covered in the business plan or in the marketing plans either knowingly or unknowingly.

5. God first.

Psalms 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. It is easy to do our financial plans and work hard towards achieving our dream and forget about God in the equation. For a moral and ethical business, God plays a greater role in giving direction, a day of rest away from the busy work we do every week. Put God first, and start your financial plan today.