LOVEGOD, LOVELIFE, LOVEMUSIC.

Two Way Communication: Insights For Business

2019-08-14T21:25:00.001+01:00

"Sensible suggestions fall on deaf ears. "

"I am facing more resistance and obstacles inside than from the competition"

"This leadership is disconnected from our reality"

Working with Competency Frameworks - the skills, knowledge, aptitude and attitude required to meet the objectives of the organization - provide an opportunity to go below the surface to identify obstacles that are in the way of the effective functioning of the organization.

Much has been written about Leadership challenges and I have countered with problems that arise from inappropriate Followership.

However, there is a missing competence that has not been given sufficient attention. It is the ability to "manage upwards".

MANAGING UPWARDS

We get feedback about initiatives that were aborted or did not achieve the desired result because of failings on the part of "management".

The story from the ground floor is that their supervisors are only interested in handing down instructions from the top. There is a one-way flow of information. Nothing goes upstream.

At the middle management level, their frustration is that they are charged with ensuring that instructions not only flow smoothly downwards but that they are executed and reinforced.

At the same time, they are disappointed at not being able to get more of a listening ear from top management. Middle managers are closer to the action and get regular, direct feedback from those at the frontline. Consequently, they feel that greater value should be placed on their insights.

There is little doubt that leaders should be more attentive to feedback.

However, isn't that a comfortable deflection of responsibility?

Is there no responsibility on the part of Supervisors and Middle Managers to be as persuasive and insistent when channelling information upwards as they do when communicating with those they lead?

SKILLS GAP

It appears that the skill of presenting persuasive arguments to superiors is not widely available or is being suppressed.

A review of training plans and leadership training outlines contains no sign of skills development related to the capacity to manage upwards.

Evidence gathering would be a good starting point. Supervisors and Middle Managers need to present their cases on the basis of relevant data. They can conduct mini-research projects where they compare results from different situations to demonstrate the impact of their recommendations.

Persuasive Writing is another useful topic. Presenting a well-constructed proposal is more likely to get the desired result than moaning about an issue meeting after meeting.

Role Redefinition is also important. Middle Managers and Supervisors must see themselves as being an integral component of the leadership of the organization. From that perspective they need to appreciate their role in ensuring that the organization implements appropriate policies and procedures.

TRUTH

We are short-changing our Team Leaders and Middle Managers by not adequately preparing them for roles that are significantly different today than even 10 years ago. They need to be trained and empowered to be a two-way conduit for information exchange and informed decision-making. They need to be taught how to keep their fingers on the pulse of their domain and to relate effectively to the diverse personalities that they lead.

IMPLICATIONS

The stalemate in the middle of the organization has implications for engagement, empowerment and effectiveness.

Employees cannot understand how basic needs and missteps that are so obvious to them can go unattended. They interpret that as a lack of interest higher up and may tone down their level of engagement in response.

In situations in which all the energy is pushed into meeting deadlines and targets, there is limited focus on skills development and the empowerment of staff. Organizations must pause to reflect on the competences they need to remain relevant and achieve their objectives.

Frontline staff have a feel for what works and what does not. Blocking the upward flow of feedback negatively impacts the effective functioning of the organization.

How Conflict Stalks Us – With The Best Of Intentions

2019-06-05T15:27:00.000+01:00

"I did not see that coming!" Another unintended conflict.

Conflict might be unintentionally prompted simply on the basis of how we prefer to communicate.

Recall that conflict may be hidden or suppressed and may not be openly expressed. Conflict is the existence of an unmet need. Whether hidden or expressed, conflict influences our behaviour.

The scary thing is that even the nicest ones among could be active agents of conflict – just by being themselves!

Let's explore some scenarios.

#1. MY STORY MY STYLE

You have a burning issue to share something with a colleague or family member.

You prefer to think things through carefully before sharing. You want to ensure that it lands exactly as you have prepared.

Finally, you get the opportunity to share.

Before you get very far you are repeatedly interrupted with a question or a comment.

Since you like to be politically correct, you do not express your discomfort.

However, this represents an unmet need that may remain with you for some time. It might even carry over to how you relate to the individual the next time you have something to share. This could strain the relationship.

INSIGHT

Be alert to conflict (unmet needs). Left alone they can negatively impact your behaviour and your relationships.

Analyse each situation and defuse their potential to create challenges.

For example, in this scenario, you could view the questions and comments as an indication of keen interest by your colleague. Having someone actively engaged in your conversation is a good thing. You could embrace that thought.

But, why not calmly say something like "I see that you are really interested but sometimes you are getting ahead of me. Can I tell it my way, please?"

#2. STORMING BRAINSTORM

You are really excited about this idea. You convene a meeting to build it out. But getting input is like pulling teeth. It appears best to terminate the meeting and to adopt alternative approaches.

Unmet needs could reside on both sides.

One the one hand, your colleagues prefer to be cautious with respect to their communication. They will speak only after they have had adequate time for reflection and analysis.

They are conflicted about the absence of a structured template and time to prepare responses to it.

On the other hand, you might take the view that one output of the brainstorming could have been the development of the said template. Now you end up being tasked to create it on your own.

INSIGHT

These scenarios point to the value of stepping back from situations to view them from different perspectives.

A practice that will make a difference to your management of conflict is to figure out what the other party could have been thinking.

You might not agree with the actions or what they said. But at least that opens up the opportunity for more targeted discussion of your concerns.

Hopefully, you will better appreciate their angle also and be more understanding.

#3. INFORMATION OVERLOAD

You like to be connected. You really enjoy sharing information and you are never short of an engaging story.

While catching up with a friend you notice that they are low energy and their response is lukewarm.

You are taken aback (unmet need/internal conflict).

A look inside your friend's head indicates that they are overwhelmed by information overload.

INSIGHT

Even well-meaning, warm and friendly actions can generate conflict. We need to be alert to that possibility.

A useful tip is to get feedback from a true friend on how you might be perceived by others.

BOTTOM LINE

Conflict has many dimensions and comes in different forms. One constant is that ignoring conflict can be problematic. Take time to reflect on why you might be feeling uncomfortable about a situation. Review events from different perspectives and learn from each experience...

Be A Peacemaker

2019-03-29T12:05:00.001+00:00

Years ago Joel and I were at an event when a man whom we didn't know began a conversation with us. He was very passionate about an idea that he was trying to persuade Joel to believe as well, and the longer he talked the more intense he got. Joel mostly smiled and occasionally nodded his head. After the man was finished and walked away, I said, "Joel, I know that you don't believe what he was saying. Why didn't you tell him what you think about it?" Joel looked at me and said, "Victoria, I wasn't put on this earth to straighten everybody out. I would rather hold my peace than prove him wrong."

We all find ourselves in situations where we know we're right and the other person is wrong. We want them to know we're right because it feels good, and we want to fight back. But being right is overrated if it steals your peace and leads you into conflict. You can be right and just produce strife in your home and in your family. You can be right and have no friends. You can be right and be miserable.

The apostle Paul says, "If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone" (Romans 12:18). When you allow other people to be right, it doesn't make you wrong. It makes you a peacemaker. Sometimes you just need to smile and nod your head so that you can live at peace with everyone. That doesn't mean that you have to be others' doormat and agree with everything that people say or that you're not allowed to have your own opinion. It means that you are sensitive and aware when a conversation is going too far and getting heated. You understand that strife is knocking at your door. In those moments, peace is your guard and guide. The peace of God inside you is God's way of saying, "Hey, wait a minute. I have complete control over this situation. Don't keep pushing back. You don't have to prove yourself. Leave it to Me to handle."

In Matthew 5:9, Jesus says, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God." It doesn't say, "Blessed are the people who control situations and make them go their way." It doesn't say, "Blessed are the ones who are right all the time." It says, "Those who are willing to be peacemakers will walk in the blessings of God." That's the key. Be a peacemaker. Be a maintainer of peace. When you walk in peace, you will walk in the fullness of God's blessing.

REMEMBERING REGINALD LEWIS: FIRST AFRICAN-AMERICAN BILLION-DOLLAR DEAL MAKER

2019-02-25T17:36:00.001+00:00

Wall Street Lawyer and Business Mogul Reginald F. Lewis goes down in history as the richest African-American in the 80s. With his iconic acquisition of $985 million, it was the largest leveraged buyout in America, making Lewis the first Black billion-dollar deal maker.

In 1987, the $1 billion deal led to the development of his own company TLC Beatrice International. By acquiring the Beatrice operations, TLC, which stands for The Lewis Company, became the largest company in the United States run by a black person. He also established the first black-owned firm on Wall Street, and was the first person to be accepted at Harvard Law School without applying.

“Reginald F. Lewis was truly the Martin Luther King Jr. of Black business,” said Lawyer and Entrepreneur L. Londell McMillan. “His impact and achievements throughout his career are insurmountable. He was a big inspiration to me and many others in the Black community.”

Not only was Lewis one of the nation’s richest businessmen, he was a strong freedom fighter and advocate for supporting the Black community, donating a large amount of funds to institutions such as Harvard Law School, Virginia State University, neighborhood churches and homeless shelters.

Salute to Reginald F. Lewis!

Source

Making The Most Of Partnerships For Long-Term Growth

2018-06-01T10:58:00.001+01:00

Jennifer Warawa, EVP - Partners, Accountants & Alliances at Sage explores how strong partnerships can lead to business success

Traditionally business success could be achieved solely through entrepreneurship, acquisition, and the harnessing of capital to fuel growth.

While these strategies can still help keep a company in the black, my personal experiences have taught me that today's enterprises are more likely to find success in the long-term by establishing partnerships and alliances with complementary innovators and suppliers, rather than

attempting to forge ahead alone.

As global economies shift, and we face world changing events like Brexit, war on trade, and conflicts that impact resources, companies are expected to do more with

less. Rather than reinvent the wheel each time a new technology or service is needed, more companies are looking to partner with like minded businesses to help

improve and drive efficiency in their own business processes and operations.

Such an approach is easily said, yet not so easily done, as it requires creating partnerships that go beyond paper contracts and fixed deals. This is about building

relationships that form the foundations of smart business. For example, the partnership between budget air travel brand, easyJet and car hire service,

Europcar allows travellers to conveniently plan their journeys and enjoy seamless transition

across multiple modes of transport. The partnership clearly benefits everyone involved, but especially the customer - results from 2016 show that bookings of

Europcar vehicles by easyJet passengers rose by 36 per cent and was being extended.

To get the most out of partnerships there are several areas to consider. From finding your partner, to signing on the dotted line and beyond.

Choosing the right partner for business

The success or failure of any business relationship depends heavily on how well the partnership works. Particular effort should be directed towards ensuring the right

relationships are formed. Businesses need to establish precisely what they are seeking to achieve from these relationships, whether it be, expanding into new

territories, providing new services, or discover a new route to market.

Amazon Web Services is a good example where businesses don't have to build their own hosting infrastructure. Instead of buying, owning and maintaining their own data

centres and servers, organisations can now have access to these resources and other services on an as-needed basis. As a result, businesses are freed to focus their

time on other activities that can drive growth and influence customer satisfaction.

Building on the foundations

Once you have a partnership in place with defined and shared goals, it is important to foster growth and set up a rhythm of checking-in on the status of the partnership at regular intervals.

While a contract might be signed and sealed, a partnership has a lot more scope to grow if all parties involved provide feedback and share the what aspects of the

partnership are doing well, and where there are areas for improvement.

Emphasis on flexibility

With this in mind, it is also worth considering partnerships built around flexible contracts. This gives both sides the opportunity for adjustment of parameters set,

enabling innovation, and a cross-pollination of ideas, which ultimately delivers more value out of a partnership in the long term.

The benefits of such as partnership usually outweigh any disadvantages. For example, sharing of contacts, supply chains, or the experience of how to break into new

markets or arenas, you may not have considered before. This, could then be further expanded to develop small one-to-one partnerships, into group ventures, or even

establish a community of companies, suppliers and customers working together.

Such a community could flourish into an ecosystem, leading to the sharing of products, services, and infrastructure, thereby creating a situation where everyone

involved can benefit and support each other.

Gaining buy-in at the highest level

Whatever the size of business, and how ever lofty the ambition, partnerships can be strengthened and boosted by gaining executive sponsorship, as having the right

support can bring experience, knowledge and authority to the forging of long-lasting partnerships.

Equally, having a clear line of leadership and ownership on both sides of a partnership can help spearhead its early success, with people taking responsibility

to ensure a partnership expands beyond a contract and into a strong working relationship that promises to bloom over time.

Scratch beneath the surface of any of today's prominent companies and you are likely to find a handful of partnerships helping fuel that success. Companies can no longer

afford to work in silos - taking influence, technology and resources and applying them to a successful business model not only makes good commercial sense, it's a

great way to meet customers changing needs. And in the ever more competitive business world, successful long-term partnerships are likely to be the difference

between a company blazing a trail or fading into obscurity.

Why Talented Staff Leave

2018-05-28T17:22:00.000+01:00

Leadership is being severely challenged. The make-up of the workforce has changed dramatically. The majority of the workforce is not engaged.

However, the focus of my attention today is the failure to retain talented employees. It is said “people leave their managers not their jobs”.

They just can’t take it anymore.

This has huge implications not only for employee retention but leadership selection and development.

· Consider the impact of leaders who frustrate valued employees into leaving or failing to achieve peak performance?

· Could the failure to be more mindful and thorough in selecting and preparing leadership personnel at all levels be a costly oversight?

· Why do so many workshop participants wonder why the leadership team is not being exposed to the key principles being presented?

It is easy to blame the state of affairs on the changes in the workforce and the mind-set that they bring to the workplace. However, should that absolve management of the responsibility to equip their supervisory, managerial and leadership personnel to effectively lead the workforce of the future?

Why are so many talented employees leaving good jobs because they just can’t put up with the leadership style of their immediate supervisor/team leader/manager?

Others leave because they feel stifled by the archaic philosophy and closed mindedness of the upper echelons of the organization.

If leaders are not trained, key staff will not be retained.

SOLUTION

There are dramatic changes and influences that combine to make leadership today significantly more challenging.

These include:

· The increasing percentage of the workforce that are represented by Millennials and the different perspective, needs and expectations that they bring.

· The impact of technology, including Social Media, how people communicate and how their world-views are altered.

· There is also the challenge of the rapid pace of change where competitors can spring up overnight and challenge the very existence of the organization.

Future-readiness preparation is not an option. It is the solution.

Step 1: Role Fit Analysis

One critical step towards future-readiness is to map leadership team(s) against the requirements of the new and emerging environment.

We have been strong in advocating the importance of Role Fit Analysis and Mission Alignment based on behavioural preferences. However, we appreciate arguments about moving people out of their comfort zones and developing more rounded individuals.

We don't recommend the use of Role Fit to prevent people from performing certain tasks. We suggest that certain tasks may require more focus or energy for effective completion by them.

Would your organization be better off insisting that a right-handed individual write with their left hand? Many organizations are doing just that behaviourally.

Fit for purpose, finely tuned teams will have the competitive edge over a leadership team in which members strive to play uncomfortable roles.

Is the development of weaknesses to produce more rounded individuals more advantageous that building on strengths?

Should Usain Bolt focus on his start rather than sustaining his top-end speed?

Would you rather be treated in a hospital with skilled general practitioners or one with a cross-section of specialists?

People do better at what they are passionate about. Aligning responsibilities to behavioural preferences, where feasible, is an important step towards improved effectiveness of leadership teams.

Step 2: Gap Analysis

This involves mapping your leadership team’s preferences against desired outcomes to identify gaps.

Identification that there is a gap and the nature of the gap helps the organization to take laser-focused corrective action.

A quick reminder of the DISC Framework:

For example, it is helpful to recognize if a team is comprised of behavioral styles that are reserved and task-oriented (C-Style) but they are operating in the rapidly changing environment that requires innovative engagement of people (I-Style).

Aligning teams to desired outcomes requires the use of sophisticated Team Mapping diagnostics. We utilize Extended DISC solutions on the revolutionary FinxS Platform. The identification of training needs is enhanced by the application of 360 assessments. The diagnostic process is followed by targeted coaching.

Bottom Line

Organizations ignore future-readiness at their peril. The loss of key talent, low employee engagement and misaligned leadership guarantee under-performance.

Let’s have a conversation about the future-readiness of your leadership team.

Why Do We Choose To Be Persistent In Suffering?

2017-10-20T15:27:00.000+01:00

- Solomon Ojeagbase

I will illustrate my thought with the example of our Lord Jesus Christ. His price was to die on the cross, the reward is to sit on the right hand of God. He has a name that is above every other name be it in heaven, on earth and beneath the earth and by the mention of his name all knees shall bow and all tongues confess that He is Lord - this is sacrifice.

The distinction between suffering and sacrifice is the principle of price and reward. The Israelites were suffering (using our definition of suffering above) but by the sacrifice of Moses they were liberated. Moses could have remained a prince in the courts of the Egyptians but he chose to spend 40 years in the wilderness. This shows that one man can redeem a nation through sacrifice.

Is it safe to say we are suffering in Nigeria? We often confuse suffering with sacrifice in Nigeria. When our National Anthem says “the labour our heroes past shall not be in vain”, It is talking about the price and reward principle. Let’s bring this analogy to recent chronology of events. Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Jerry Rawlings, French Revolution, Battle of Hastings, Mao Zedong, Lee Kwan Yew, American Independence, the Holocaust which saw scores of Israelites killed systemically in a gas chamber but brought about the creation of the Israel State.

These event were famous in history because the price and reward principle were applied. To this end we as Nigerians must wake up from this devious illusion of sacrificing for our Nation without applying the price and reward principle. The reality is that no one is absolved from the suffering in Nigeria as the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti succinctly put it “Suffering and Smiling”.

We are all in this ship together, from the President to the billionaire to the pastors, the young to the old, male, female, genius, lame, blind, the beggars on the street, even to the unborn generation. We must apply the principle of price and reward to end this suffering.

The Myths Of Disruption

2017-10-19T18:01:00.003+01:00

Professor Birkinshaw explores other myths, such as companies failing to spot the challenges brought by new technologies and how they have to act fast or face extinction, in this video.

The notion that established industries will be disrupted by new technology is well known. But traditional businesses such as retail banks have stayed relevant by embracing online and mobile banking.

Julian Birkinshaw, Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School, says concern about longstanding companies facing major transformation in their industry is valid. But he argues that many emerging technologies will not be disruptive, as the retail banking sector demonstrates.

In this film, Professor Birkinshaw debunks the myths of disruption and challenges the claim that every industry faces a major shakeup.

“The first myth is that every industry could face a Kodak-like moment where they completely disappear. But when you look at the reality of industries like hotels, taxi cabs and retail banking, what’s clearly going to happen is that the new technologies will co-exist with the established ones,” he says.

My Success Story – Professor Ogunlesi

2017-10-19T16:33:00.000+01:00

Here are his daily routines: He wakes up by 5:00a.m (except Sundays when he is up by 3:00a.m to prepare for church, Bible study, e.t.c.); listens to the Radio daily from about 7:00a.m till about 9:00a.m; receives visitors till 11.00a.m, and from that time till about 11:00p.m, he is at his desk, writing, reading and updating some of his eight manuscripts. Welcome to the world of Emeritus Professor Theophilus Ogunlesi, the 94-year-old father of Bayo Ogunlesi, the only Blackman that was in United States’ President Donald Trump’s Economic Think Tank, which the latter later disbanded a few weeks back.

In his chat with Thisday in his Sagamu residence, in Ogun State, Professor Ogunlesi, the first Nigerian Professor of Medicine at the University of Ibadan (UI) told me that one of the reasons he still puts in so much into each working day is that he wants to pull out what is left inside of him, through God’s grace before it is all over. Enjoy his reflections.

Lesson 1: Career

No one is completely in control of his life journey.

Upon reflection on my life’s journey, especially how I came to choose Medicine as a career, the only conclusion I could come up with is that no person is in complete control of his life’s journey. A good part of one’s attainment during the journey had already been determined before birth, anyway through the inherited GENE. Did I choose Medicine as a career? My answer would be that perhaps if I had been born and raised under different circumstances, I would not be what I am today. What I know is that I began to have a say in my own life, after I left home for Lagos at 13. So, up until that time, I cannot recall that I did anything except what my parents or my teachers wanted me to do. I remember I started school in 1930, when Western education was seen as something odd. My late father put all his children in school because he was convinced about what the missionaries were saying about the value of education. Majority of the people were farmers in those days, and the choice was either you send your child to school or put the child in the farm. My father was both a blacksmith and farmer. Maybe I would have ended up a blacksmith or a farmer if he had followed the popular trend in those days that a child should toe the line of his parents.

Where a child starts will be determined by the circumstances of the time and also of the parents. When you are born of poor parents, the struggle is going to be very hard to get to the top. But what we don’t know is the extent to which predestination will prevail in his or her life. A child may be born of poor parents and end up becoming the President of his or her country.

When I look back, I think I must have done very well in primary school, because I did not spend eight years which was usual at that time. I spent six. When I got to secondary school in Lagos where I should have spent six years, I spent only five, because I started from class two instead of class one. Even at that, I led the class all the years up to 1940. I passed Junior Cambridge examinations in Form IV in 1938, and Senior Cambridge in Form VI in 1940, with five distinctions out of eight subjects and I also won most of the school prizes. The school was CMS Grammar School, Lagos, the oldest and still the best secondary school in Nigeria today as far as I am concerned. Our principal then, who was a Whiteman, Mr. L. J. Lewis, wanted me to be a teacher. So, he got me admitted to Yaba Higher College, the first post-secondary education institution in Nigeria. When I gained an admission into Yaba Higher College in 1941 (I was admitted without exams). I spent a week in the Arts class which I did not like. I came back to tell my principal that I preferred Science subjects, and that I would like to be a doctor. That choice was not unconnected with an earlier experience in Sagamu where I grew up. A doctor used to visit the town once a week from Ijebu-Ode at that time, and his arrival was usually announced by the ringing of the church bells. He came to give injections, usually to people he did not have time to examine. So, when I told my principal that I wanted to study Medicine, he said “okay, if that is what you want.” So, I was moved from the Arts class to the Science class. That was the beginning of my medical career. To me, it was just fun that I could do Science because I preferred Physics, Chemistry and Biology to Latin and Greek. That was the beginning of what amounted to the seven-year journey that led me from the Higher College to Yaba Medical School, and from there to the Lagos General Hospital where we did our clinical training in 1947. I became a doctor after obtaining my first Diploma in Medicine, L.S.M. (Licentiate of the School of Medicine of Nigeria). The point I am making is that I could not say that I consciously chose to study Medicine. I firmly believe that this was a divine arrangement. Once I realised that I decided I was going to give that career my very best, and that was what I did.

I believe that this is applicable to every career in life, but to be successful as a medical doctor all the way, there is a need for singleness of purpose. There should be no conflict between the opportunity you are given and what you make of it, because an opportunity once lost may never be regained. Once you enter the medical profession, you will find footprints of many past achievers which can guide you to the top of the ladder.

Lesson 2: Family/Parenting

Good upbringing gives a child initial advantage.

I picked up many vital lessons from the way my father raised me up by inculcating in me basic Christian values. My wife and I followed his footsteps while we were raising all our own children.

We did as much as we possibly could to make our children true Christians. The Christian religion has influenced the development of most of the nations of the Western world. If you go to England today, you may find out that their churches are half empty, but their civilisation as well as their sense of values is based on the Christian religion.

Our children were brought up never to tell lies; we tried to instill in them true Christian values. We knew the friends they kept. Therefore, we were not surprised that they turned out the way we expected them to be. Thank God!

Sometimes children are affected positively or negatively by the way the parents themselves live. There must be agreement between father and mother. A home where father and mother speak with one voice makes it easier for the child to develop his or her talents. I know that no home is perfect, but our children did not face any serious problems growing up.

Lesson 3: Health

There is a need for regular checkups.

Because I studied Medicine, I am in a position to appreciate and to tell others what it takes to be healthy. I did not control the food I ate as a child, but since I became a doctor in 1947, I have looked after my health. The average Nigerian should have a health card on his or her medical records are kept; he/she should have a doctor who does his/her annual checkup. You need to know that you have a normal blood pressure; that your vision is okay; that you are not over weight; and you need to have a good diet and regular exercises.

Exercise is important if you want to be healthy. At my age, I still do exercises.

How did I survive till 94? Answer: Grace of god….

Lesson 4: Money/wealth

Having cash is not the same as being wealthy.

A lot people are having wrong interpretation of what wealth really means. So, they believe that being wealthy means having a lot of money in one’s bank account. That could be an aspect of wealth. But to me, real wealth means being fulfilled in the assignment God has committed into your hands, and being able to put smiles in the faces of other people who are in need. I am not a businessman in the Nigerian sense of the word, but my life-long business has been, and still is to take care of the sick, to promote health and prevent sickness through health education, and to help the poor and the needy as best as I can. That to me is success. That is real wealth.

Lesson 5: Spiritual

The joy of the Lord is my strength.

I was born of Christian parents, I have had a Christian upbringing, and so my spiritual life is guided by the Bible. My God has been very loving, very kind, and very forgiving. And I give Him all the glory for everything he has done to me and through me. If I may quote a favourite hymn I love very well:

Tell out my soul, the greatness of the Lord

Uncounted blessings give my spirit voice

Tender to Him, the promise of His word

In God my Saviour shall my heart rejoice

Lesson 6: Fun time

Have fun by doing what is purposeful.

If fun time is what amounts to lack of purpose or seriousness in what one does, then, I have no time for such things. However, I certainly enjoy relaxation with playing a few games, listening to Radio and watching Television.

Lesson 7: Personal Development

Reading develops the mind.

I do much of reading and writing now, even though retired but not tired. Reading develops the mind because you are sharing the thoughts of people who have knowledge of a particular subject or field. A sensible individual will continue to learn until he or she dies. Reading should be part of the life of every person who is able to read. The five senses should be used maximally. I have eight manuscripts which I have not fully developed. I keep working on them, hoping that I can still get at least some of them published before my time is up.

Best advice received

God Almighty has been my best adviser. He is my master, best adviser and best friend. Another favourite hymn says we must be ready to Trust And Obey, For There Is No Other Way….

Books

Professional books apart, I believe that the best book to read daily is The HOLY BIBLE. The book of Common Prayers and Hymnal Companion are worthy supplements. Also, I have my personal library which I update from time to time.

Message for Nigerians

My message to my fellow Nigerians is a simple one, but I would like this message to be accompanied with a prayer – Prayers For Ears To Listen And The Will To Do – what the Yoruba language translates to “ETI IGBO ATI AIYA IGBASE”. There is nothing original in this message, because I am merely repeating or reminding fellow Nigerians of QUOTATIONS with which we are all familiar. I have chosen just seven only, to be precise:

Whatever thy hand finds for thee to do, do with all your might.
To thine own self, BE TRUE.
WORK (hard, hard, and very hard) for the night is coming, when…
A well-known saying, which I can express in three languages, goes like this
LATIN — VERBUM SAP SAPIENTI
ENGLISH — A WORD IS SUFFICIENT FOR THE WISE

iii. YORUBA — ORO DIE TO FUN OLOGBON (tabi omoluwabi eniyan)

If at first you don’t succeed, TRY, TRY, AND TRY AGAIN.
The words of the Nigerian National Anthem, taken together with the National Pledge are more than sufficient to inspire us to build a nation where PEACE AND JUSTICE REIGN.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

Lesson 7: Legacy

Only God’s grace can guarantee success in our lives.

Since I am very fond of hymns, let me begin with the words of another of my favourite hymns: –

O for a thousand tongues to sing

My dear Redeemer’s praise

The glories of my God and King

The triumph of His grace

What I am trying to say in effect is that with just only a tongue which I have, I cannot fully acknowledge and express my gratitude to God for keeping me alive and well these 94 years, and has also crowned them with many modest achievements – a good home and family, a few firsts here and there, and so on. But the legacy which I cherish most is the name – THEOPHILUS OLADIPO OGUNLESI.

The Bible says “A good name is better than riches.” (Proverbs 22:1)

PRAISE THE LORD!!!

The Man Who Would Be King

2017-03-08T15:17:00.000+00:00

It’s virtually impossible to separate emotional reaction from analysis in discussions about Donald Trump. That’s what makes the case so important and interesting. It looks as if this is something quite new and different from the examples of leadership we have been used to in public life. In fact, it has ancient roots and illustrates some key leadership themes.

We are apt to be overwhelmed by character analysis because Trump is larger than life, charismatic (to some) and hugely visible as a personality. People say he is narcissistic. This is true, but that is not unusual in leaders. More important than the new POTUS’s traits is why they have been selected to succeed. What do his followers love about him?

The leadership formula I define in The ‘I’ of Leadership: Strategies for seeing, being and doing – to be the right person, at the right place and time, doing the right thing – offers a way of thinking about both how people come into leadership positions and why they succeed or fail. In this case, a large enough segment of America yearned for the change of style and story that we are seeing.

Yes, Trump is a narcissist, but this is far from the whole story. He doesn’t just love himself. He believes that by the force of his will and whim he can do whatever he wants. Life has taught him this lesson, at the hard schooling of his father’s creed: be a winner, attack to defend, take charge, be confident and strong. Make others around you believe in your power.

Dominance and prestige: routes to power

Evolutionary biology shows that in social animals there are two routes to becoming top of the pecking order. One is dominance – the ability to subdue and control others, by means of tooth, claw and smarts. The other is prestige – being the one who is most trusted and seen as able to enable the group to cohere and achieve its potential (this is how wolves decide who will be top dog).

Trump is probably one of the most physically intimidating people ever to hold the office. Video clips show how he routinely yanks people toward him in handshakes and conveys dominance in greetings with his grip and touch. His handling of press conferences and other public displays all demonstrate the same instinct in overdrive.

He defeated his opponent, Hilary Clinton, not just by domineering – standing menacingly behind her on the podium while she was speaking – but, more crucially, by undermining her credibility on the second path, reputation and trustworthiness. He draws his own credibility from the adulation of the crowds, the supporters who thirstily drink in his vision of “Great America”.

It is striking that he was led to the role less by ideology than by the idea that someone with his powers (this is where the narcissism comes in) should aim to go as high as he can in whatever game he’s playing. Through various twists and triggers he plunged himself into the game of presidential politics. Maybe initially he did this as just another power play, but quickly found the logic of his dominance drives making the game become real.

The best way to think about his motives, style and actions from that point onwards is that Trump has decided that to be President means to be a king, no less. Consider the evidence:

He is no politician – he excoriates them, even as they surround his podium with their hopeful upturned faces.

He is no business man – he got fat off his dad’s cash and the facile charms of real-estate deal-making.

He is no manager – his displays on The Apprentice TV show are a crude parody of real business decision-making.

He has a court – he has infused the White House machine with elements of a family dynasty.

He has a real palace – Trump Towers is a gilded simulacrum of the stuff of fairy tales.

He speaks from a throne – this virtual seat is on top of Twitter Mountain, from where he dispenses commands via press briefings, tweets and executive orders – no tiresome collective decision-making.

He claims the divine right of kings: the support of the Almighty did feature in his inauguration address and, beyond that, the next best thing, “The People” whose energy he still feeds upon at rock show rallies.

He wants to be recognised by a real monarch – Theresa May was the first foreign leader to get her foot over the White House threshold because he can’t wait to gain in return a red-carpet encounter with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.

What could possibly go wrong for Trump?

The lessons of history for leadership is that a) Leaders succeed until they fail and b) They fail by getting out of step with the challenges they face. So how does one keep in step? There are two paths: the agility path and the shaping path. The agility path means being ahead of the game and making the right moves. The shaping path means controlling the game itself.

Trump’s rhetoric is all about the latter, which is understandable. Great leaders have indeed changed the world. Most, however, run out of road before they have fulfilled their vision. Read your Shakespeare! The world obstructs them. Thatcher tried to go on transforming a Britain that had begun to yearn for peace and quiet. Mandela was super smart to walk away from the job rather than keep playing the shaping game. He understood that he was no longer the man for the times he had created.

For the shaping path to succeed, a leader needs:

1. A vision of the possible future you want to create

2. A correct assessment of the challenges, and

3. The ability to find and deploy the needed agents, tools and resources.

So what are the chances of the new POTUS against this analysis? Looking at each point in turn, the questions it raises are:

1. Is his vision a habitable future or rather a set of idealised images based upon whim and belief?

2. In his post-truth fake-news world where Fox News and Breitbart are on the dashboard, what uncomfortable truths about reality might trip him up?

3. Is his dominance strategy sufficient to blow down the barriers and opposition to his wishes? The American constitution is so laden with countervailing checks and balances that the road ahead will be increasingly bumpy. The first signs are already highly visible: his practised response to setbacks is to attack ever more vigorously.

The only other option is the Agility Path – to change one’s perspective and style to match the unfolding challenges of the times. Believe it or not, this is easier than the Shaping Path, but still beyond the reach of most leaders, who are displaced by newcomers who can achieve more effortless fit. Thus the lesson of history will surely unfold before our eyes. Quite quickly one suspects. He will succeed until he fails.

IT trends for 2017

2017-02-02T11:24:00.000+00:00

2017 will be an exciting time and may well be the beginning of a new era for productivity growth. Digital transformation will be a major business focus, and success will hinge on how successful we will be in leveraging the abundance of new technologies, with new processes and new skills. Transformation is not about making incremental improvements. It is about turning things upside down and taking exponential steps in a new direction. This will be very disruptive and will make us uncomfortable, but this will lead to growth.

Here are the top 10 trends we believe will have the biggest impact in 2017.

Data centre Trends

1. Productivity gains will be more about people, process and business outcomes Despite the explosion of new technology over the past 10 years, productivity has declined compared to the previous 10 years, even in the countries that are viewed to be the most tech savvy.

Labour productivity, or output per hour, is calculated by dividing an index of real output by an index of hours worked. While IT has become more cost efficient in terms of managing infrastructure, this has not translated into increases in business goods and services. IT will begin to be measured on business outcomes rather than by how many Terabytes can be managed by one FTE (Full Time Employee). The hope for digital transformation is to reverse this trend in productivity.

2. The Agile transformation of IT

The mantra for IT will shift from doing more with less to doing more - faster. Businesses are under tremendous pressure to transform and that means implementing innovative new applications and platforms for all aspects of their business. More IT executives are adopting Agile methodologies, working with the business units from the beginning and getting their feedback on a regular basis. IT must rethink their processes and reskill their people and their CIO must become a "business" CIO rather than a cost centre manager.

3. Buying models are changing

The market is shifting away from technology asset purchasing. Businesses are rethinking the buying model for their IT purchases both in infrastructure and services. This is influenced by the advantages of reduced costs, increased agility and improved time to value of cloud and hosted services.

4. Accelerating transition to the cloud

Cloud-first strategies are the foundation for staying relevant in a fast-paced world, according to Ed Anderson, research vice-president at Gartner. IT managers will be developing skills in cloud monitoring, cloud workload performance and security management, and cloud capacity management. It is no longer a question of "whether" but "when". Virtualisation, convergence, object storage and cloud management portals will facilitate the movement to cloud.

Technology Trends

5. Bimodal IT

Companies that are not born in the cloud have systems of record that they must maintain and modernise while they transform to new systems of innovation. Bimodal IT refers to having two modes of IT, each designed to develop and deliver information and technology-intensive services in its own way:

* Mode 1: Traditional - emphasises safety and accuracy

* Mode 2: Nonlinear - emphasises agility and speed

IT must be able to manage both modes and implement systems that can bridge between these two modes. While some may consider this to be a data centre trend, this requires technology to integrate these two modes.

6. Flash first

The TCO per bit cost for multi-terabyte flash is already lower than hard disks based on five-year projections for power, cooling, floor space, maintenance and ease of management. The cost argument against all flash is eliminated and you no longer have to argue with a user whether his data is tier 1 or 2. As a result, analysts are projecting that the revenue for flash storage will cross over the revenue for hard disks in 2017 as the transition to flash accelerates.

7. A centralised data hub Data is exploding, and data is becoming more valuable as we find ways to correlate data from different sources to gain more insight, or we repurpose old data for different uses. Data is our crown jewels, and IT will be creating a centralised data hub for better management, protection, governance and search of their data.

This centralised data hub will need to be an object store that can scale beyond the limitations of file systems, ingest data from different sources, and provide search and governance across public and private clouds and mobile devices.

8. Real-time analysis, Hadoop, visualisation and predictive analytics will be a major focus

Predictive analytics is becoming more prevalent as businesses try to anticipate the events that affect their business. This trend will see the expanded use of in-memory databases, and streaming analytics platforms to provide real-time analysis of developing trends. Real-time analytics will be connected with Hadoop analytics for further analysis and results will be stored in an object store for the possibility of future analysis. Analytic tools like Pentaho will combine structured and unstructured data from different sources to provide a 360-degree view for analysis.

IT/OT/IoT trends

9. Smart IT: The integration of IT and OT

Operational technology (OT) data may be data from sensors or logs that can augment the data from IT to provide a more complete understanding of an event or process. This will be the foundation for smart banks, smart retail, smart transportation, smart manufacturing, etc. Retailers are already at the forefront combining operational data from in-store sensors and social media to optimise purchasing and supply chain systems. More businesses will be looking for data integration tools like Pentaho to integrate their IT and OT data.

10. Growing awareness of IoT in the data centre The internet of things (IoT) is the networking of physical devices, vehicles, buildings and other items - embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators and network connectivity that enable these objects to collect, exchange and even process data on the edge. The networking of things will impact every aspect of our lives. This goes beyond the integration of IT and OT and, except for a few applications like public safety, will not be a major IT trend in 2017. However, the decisions we make in IT in 2017 should be made with an eye to IoT. The integration of IT and OT with analytics is the first step. To address IoT requires more than the vertical integration of industry silos, but a horizontal platform of reusable components so that the front end is integrated with the backend business systems.

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of Hitachi Data Systems.

A DISRUPTIVE STRATEGY For fighting CORRUPTION

2016-11-14T10:35:00.000+00:00

I reckon that about 90% of Nigerian institutions in the private and public sector have the words Integrity or Transparency listed as one of their corporate values, yet Nigeria is still listed among the most corrupt countries in the world, and if the recent statements of the President and the Vice President are anything to go by – we are very corrupt. So it means that I would be stating the obvious to say that most people just put up those fancy value statements to fulfil all righteousness, tick boxes or perhaps to even create the false impression that they should be trusted.
Another school of thought suggests that our values are not necessarily who we are just yet, but who we aspire to be, and that they refer to the things we are striving to live by. Regardless of whatever school of thought you belong too, something needs to be done urgently about the decaying values in our society, and I am not confident that the current “war” against corruption and the judicial structures that exist are enough, nor am I sure that the “change begins with me” campaign is exactly “weking” for us right now. So, something more DISRUPTIVE needs to be done

Some will argue that every society has their own corruption scandals and that perhaps fighting against corruption isn’t the issue. After all, many developed nations like Japan, South Korea, and Italy have had corruption scandals in the past, and therefore looking for a complete elimination of corruption is utopian and perhaps amounts to “chasing the wind”. Some have argued that corruption in Nigeria can only be dealt with when we give it the high prominence it deserves and when we acknowledge how pervasive it has been. Proponents of this school of thought argue that since corruption has become so pervasive, that every attempt to fight corruption will always have a political connotation – unless of course who ever is fighting is willing to cleanse the Augean stables of his own political party first – which in reality has never happened (and is unlikely to happen given our current electoral culture). Even when the military took over from civilians in 1983, it did not fight the corruption within the military with the same tenacity with which it fought the corrupt politicians, leading ostensibly to another coup in 1985 perpetrated by the corrupt elements that it had failed to flush out.

So, if corruption has been that pervasive, then may be the right response to it will be to elevate it to the status of a national disease and deal with it the same way other national diseases have been dealt with in the past a la apartheid in South Africa and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission or military dictatorship in Nigeria and the Human Rights Violation Commission (a.k.a. Oputa Panel) Perhaps rather than try to hunt down and persecute the seemingly never ending list of corrupt public officers and their private sector cronies and end up being accused of witch-hunting because they belong to the opposition, perhaps we should have a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission or Oputa Panel that exposes all the acts of corruption since Independence, gives perpetrators an opportunity to come forward and be forgiven after they have confessed to the public, returned the stolen fortunes and received the public humiliation they deserve. This will deliver a much bigger impact than the current cat and mouse approach that still ends up with plea bargains and plenty of “political” undertones that takes away the credibility of the exercise, and still leaves us with a national psyche that is not yet ready to do away with corruption. At least since 1995 in South Africa and 1999 in Nigeria, apartheid and human rights violations have been removed from the “national culture”. The approach used in both instances could seem absurd when it comes to fighting corruption, but it may represent the type of DISRUPTIVE strategy that we need, especially since the current approach of arresting and plea bargaining is seen to be “political” and “one-sided”, and the approach to moral suasion via ‘The change begins with me” doesn’t seem to be catching on, and is unlikely to catch on unless something truly DISRUPTIVE is done.

As with all strategies, we can debate the pros and cons, and there are those that will argue that this “soft” approach may not work or yield the desired results. They belong to the “Rawlings” school of thought and advocate a summary execution of corrupt public officers and their private sector cronies with the military alacrity as was done by Ghanaian strong man J J Rawlings. Unfortunately, we have gone beyond the years of military alacrity, and have embraced democracy with its inherent flaws, so at best we should be seeking the most genuinely democratic way of co-creating a culture of discipline in our country and killing the pervasive culture of corruption and indiscipline.

Overall, I do not think that we should pretend that corruption doesn’t exist and just focus on fixing our economy. When the economy gets better, the canker worm of corruption will destroy it again. So, we have some choices, let’s be DISRUPTIVE about corruption and everything else.

5 Tips To find Your Personal Purpose

2016-11-13T18:06:00.001+00:00

Invest some time in figuring out your real story and you'll be happier, less stressed and in the right job. By Richard Hytner

What’s your story? Your real story, I mean. Not some carefully curated version of yourself designed to impress friends on Facebook or to look more employable on LinkedIn, useful shortcuts though these social media provide to people wanting to get to know you.

The most authentic and enduring brands are built from the inside out. The least convincing, destined for a short shelf life, are those that believe they can communicate their way to greatness. That’s not branding, it’s spin, and people see that for what it is – manipulative, too good to be true, an over promise that the brand can only ever fail to deliver.

Seeing yourself as a personal brand, and your life story as some form of brand communication is equally perilous, likely to prove incredible at best, narcissistic at worst, nowhere close to your authentic self and not remotely useful in guiding your passionate life choices.

Don't fake it to make it

So forget personal branding, cosmetically enhanced CVs and profile page makeovers. Embrace instead personal purpose to identify and capture who you really are, what you stand for, your long-term aspirations and your nearer-term ambitions. Then live this purpose every day to inspire people's deeper understanding of your authentic self.

Finding your personal purpose has unexpected benefits: it helps you manage your energy, stay positive, and remain focused, stopping you from doing all that’s not core to who you really are and helping you to say no to activity which is joyless, unproductive and ‘off’ purpose.

The more decisions you can take that are guided by your personal purpose, the less stressed you will feel – simply because you’re not faking it. As LBS Professor Rob Goffee puts it: ‘Be yourself more. With skill.’ Here are five tips to get you started:

Tip 1: Mirror, mirror
Immerse yourself in rigorous self-reflection. Think about when you are at your best. And worst. Why is that? What insights do your answers reveal? Capture how you – and those who know you intimately – describe the authentic ‘you’. Eliminate the gap between who you really are and who you project yourself to be. Imagine if Tim Cook had projected himself as Apple’s rock star CEO when he succeeded Steve Jobs. How long might it have taken the world to feel his discomfort?

Tip 2: Would you choose this?
Review your existing commitments. Using the lens of your newly created personal purpose, how many of them would you choose afresh? Use Kim & Mauborgne’s framework to develop a blue ocean strategy for your life. What commitments would you raise, how many would you reduce? What must you eliminate to stand any chance of being you more often? What new commitments should you create to transform to the purpose you have defined for yourself?

Tip 3: Test your best
Just as great stories have many narrative arcs, so personal purpose should be a platform for experimentation. Instead of thinking there’s just one best self to be expressed consistently in every encounter, embrace different versions of yourself and test them. Tell your story in different ways, too, depending on your audience and context, whilst maintaining a strong connection to your purpose. Whether I'm in a classroom at LBS or consulting with a leadership team, I always ask myself, ‘Am I helping these people land their best ideas? That is what keeps me ‘on purpose’ – even when I find myself off-piste.

Tip 4: Focus on the 'why'
Let other people participate in your purpose. Invite people to play back the ‘you’ they encounter, the feeling they get from collaborating with you. Ask people you trust, ‘does this purpose I have captured feel authentic to you or am I kidding myself? ‘Most of us know that we’re probably not our own best storytellers. That’s where your partners and friends are so important, because they are the people who will hold a mirror up to you, who know what you really believe, who you really are.

The fundamental thing people find interesting about you is not what you actually do in your job, day in, day out. Nor your job title or your role, but your aspirations. The question that should occupy the majority of your reflection is the existential one – Why? In the world you would like to see happen, in your wildest dreams, what tiny part would you like to play in that? And why? That’s so much more interesting than which organisation’s T-shirt you’re wearing.

Ladder up the effect of what you do by asking yourself why you get up in the morning. Suppose you’re an auditor. Why might you get up today to do yet another audit? To provide some trust in a world that badly needs it, perhaps.

Tip 5: It's not all about you
Be more interested in other people’s personal purpose than in your own. You will find their dreams and values endlessly fascinating, you’ll learn a lot more about them and you’ll see how to help each other – which is of more value to colleagues and friends than if you’re just broadcasting about yourself.

Within organisations, you can give people more of the work they love to do and avoid giving them work that saps their energy only if you know – and play to – the person and their purpose. And a lot of that depends on how much of yourself you’re prepared to reveal to the people around you. If you trust colleagues with your purpose, you will engage more support for what makes you happy.

One of the things to be very clear about is, ‘which places are most likely to support and help me be myself more, with skill?’ It’s important to know what your capacity is for any sort of deviation from the core of your Purpose. Of course you don’t want to be so much a reflection of the place where you work that you feel like you belong to a cult. But there has to be a strong connection between what your company wants to do and be, and what you want to do and be.

If you can’t see any connection at all, you’re in the wrong place. Don’t expect your company to find that connection. There are many things you can – and should – delegate responsibility for in life. Your personal purpose is not one of them.

World Must Work Together To Ensure Africa's Young Can Seize Their Potential And Thrive, Says Bill Gates

2016-07-25T19:00:00.000+01:00

PRETORIA, South Africa, 18 July 2016, -/African Media Agency (AMA)/- Africa's future rests in the hands of its youth - and every effort must be made to ensure they thrive, philanthropist and entrepreneur Bill Gates said in South Africa today (EDITORS: SUNDAY, 17 July 2016).

Delivering the 2016 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture at the University of Pretoria (Mamelodi campus), Gates said he was optimistic about the future of the continent - because of its young people.

Pointing out that Africa was demographically the world's youngest continent - in the next 35 years, it is estimated that 2-billion babies will be born in Africa and by 2050, 40% of the world's children will live in Africa - Gates said he believed Africa's youth "can be the source of a special dynamism".

"Economists talk about the demographic dividend. When you have more people of working age, and fewer dependents for them to take care of, you can generate phenomenal economic growth. Rapid economic growth in East Asia in the 1970s and 1980s was partly driven by the large number of young people moving into their work force.

"But for me, the most important thing about young people is the way their minds work. Young people are better than old people at driving innovation, because they are not locked in by the limits of the past. The real returns will come if we can multiply this talent for innovation by the whole of Africa's growing youth population," he said.

Gates used the platform of the 14th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture - the Nelson Mandela Foundation's flagship programme to honour its founder, Nelson Mandela, and to raise topical issues affecting South Africa, Africa and the rest of the world - to lay out his vision of how to create a better world. The theme of his speech was "Living Together".

Gates said he had admired Mandela, whom he had met on many occasions. He said that "one topic that Nelson Mandela came back to over and over again was the power of youth".

"He knew what he was talking about, because he started his career as a member of the African National Congress Youth League when he was still in his twenties. Later on, he understood that highlighting the oppression of young people was a powerful way to explain why things must change. There is a universal appeal to the conviction that youth deserve a chance. I agree with Mandela about young people, and that is one reason I am optimistic about the future of this continent," said Gates.

But to exploit Africa's potential, its young people needed to be given "every opportunity to thrive".

"We are the human beings who must take action, and we have to decide now, because this unique moment won't last forever. We must clear away the obstacles that are

Standing in young people's way so they can seize all of their potential," he said. Added Gates: "If young people are sick and malnourished, their bodies and their brains will never fully develop. If they are not educated well, their minds will lie dormant. If they do not have access to economic opportunities, they will not be able to achieve their goals.

"But if we invest in the right things - if we make sure the basic needs of Africa's young people are taken care of - then they will have the physical, cognitive, and emotional resources they need to change the future. Life on this continent will improve faster than it ever has. And the inequities that have kept people apart will be erased by broad-based progress that is the very meaning of the words: "living together."

The co-founder of software giant, Microsoft, said issues that needed to be tackled to ensure Africa's youth thrived were:

(i) Health and nutrition;

(ii) Education;

(iii) Productivity and economic opportunity; and

(iv) Governance

He said health and nutrition were a top priority because "when people aren't healthy, they can't turn their attention to other priorities. But when health improves, life improves by every measure".

Next was education without which children cannot develop the knowledge and skills to become "productive contributors to society", said Gates.

Then, Africa's youth needed to have the "economic opportunities to channel their energy and their ideas into progress".

But Gates said good governance was vital to ensure that this happens - and he urged governments to play their part.

"All of these things - advances in health, in education, in agricultural productivity, in energy - won't happen on their own. They can only happen in the context of governments that function well enough to enable them," he said.

Gates concluded his lecture by insisting he believed that Africa could achieve the future it aspired to.

He said Africa's young "believe in themselves, and they believe in their countries and the future of the continent".

"The priority now is to make sure they have the opportunity to turn those beliefs into action. Because young people with this sense of purpose can make the difference between stagnation and more and faster progress. Nelson Mandela said, 'Young people are capable, when aroused, of bringing down the towers of oppression and raising the banners of freedom.' But our duty is not merely to arouse; our duty is to invest in young people, to put in place the basic building blocks so that they can build the future. And our duty is to do it now, because the innovations of tomorrow depend on the opportunities available to children today."

Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) on behalf of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Five Reasons Why Leaders Fail

2016-06-15T14:39:00.000+01:00

Is the lesson from history that leaders succeed until they fail? You might think fixed-terms presidencies or other forced retirement options help to avoid eventual inevitable failure, allowing leaders such as Nelson Mandela to quit while they’re ahead. His laudable example is an exception; we often face leadership disappointment, even in the most promising people.

This article is provided by the Leadership Institute

Indeed, one might be tempted to wonder if we can just skip the problem altogether and go leaderless. We see this in families, sports clubs, music groups, and even in business. Several companies such as the makers of Gore-Tex have pioneered self-managing teams with fluid sharing of responsibility, and the minimal or episodic involvement of leaders.

But on the other hand, history also seems to tell us that bad leaders are sometimes preferable to no leaders. Look at how the Arab Spring removal of despots too often left a legacy of factional anarchy. Might we have an irrational, biologically-based yearning for people to look up to, almost regardless of their misdeeds and flaws?

These are among the themes that were covered in a round table discussion hosted by the Leadership Institute at London Business School. The exchange, which I had the pleasure of leading, featured male and female leaders from government, industry, sports, finance, services, education and commerce. I was supported in leading the conversation by my colleague Vyla Rollins, the Executive Director of the Leadership Institute, who is also a Programme Director of Custom Executive Educational Programmes and Executive Coach at LBS.

A starting point for the group was the need to avoid equating leaders with leadership. Leadership evolved in social species as a way of serving the needs of the group, helping it to adapt to the environment by co-ordinating and directing human effort. Among wolves, the alpha helps the pack to work coherently and function. It is the same for us humans.

Leadership has to be adaptive. As the Nicholson Leadership Formula says, effectiveness involves being the right person, at the right time and place, doing the right thing. This means leadership can take myriad forms for a multitude of situations, and leaders fail when their model, insights or relationships are wrong.

The following five types of failure are commonplace:

1. The pathological leader
There is a disturbing tendency for us to elevate narcissists, bullies and psychopaths to lead us. Perhaps they make us feel safe for a while, but ultimately people like Robert Maxwell, Al “Chainsaw” Dunlap and political despots through history leave us a tattered legacy.

2. The inflexible leader
The world does not stand still, and neither can leaders. Business history is littered with the wreckage of firms whose leaders failed to adapt their style and strategy to changing times, such as Kodak or Lehman Brothers.

3. The over-reaching leader
There have been leaders who have tried to bend the world to their will – stretching their vision to breaking point. There have been plenty of these in political history, from Napoleon to Margaret Thatcher.

4. The lopsided leader
It is OK for leaders to have an unbalanced portfolio of skills, but only if they have re-balancing co-leaders and teams. Those who don’t fail to meet critical challenges of the role, such as Fred Goodwin of RBS, who was all operations and no strategy.

5. The unlucky leader
Louis Pasteur said: “Chance favours the prepared mind”, and leaders have to be able to ride their luck. The financial crisis destroyed many firms, but good leaders hedge against extreme circumstances. Yet even good men and women can go to the wall if the sky falls in on their business.

Discussion turned to the issue of leadership, competence and motivation.

It would nice if the world were just populated by leaders and followers, but we have the uncomfortable reality of people in box B who want to be leaders for all the wrong reasons – status and power being common drivers – and people in box C whom we could really use as leaders, but they just won’t put their heads above the parapet.

Many people in box C are women. The female leaders taking part in the discussion agreed that women are too often demotivated by the games they see being played by male macho aspirants in competitive hierarchies.

The discussion stimulated a spirited debate about what we need more and less of in leadership, and what we can do about it. Some key observations were:

We need more flexible leadership models, where the function is more rationally shared among people
Organisational structure and culture reform is part of the key to attracting more women into leadership
Leadership has to have value propositions at its core. We all suffer when leaders are self-serving rather than oriented to their communities
The role of boards and their chairmen is widely misunderstood and needs to be reconstituted around the fitness of the firm
The ability to learn is the only way to gain competitive advantage and leaders are central to the process
Vision is key – leaders with the ability to see what others can’t and make a dream or idea tangible are needed
We are impeded by our primitive desire for perfect, god-like leaders. We need to shape organisational life to expect and deal with imperfections.

Of course, the purpose of gatherings such as ours is to explore what goes wrong in leadership, the root causes and what we can do about it.

Luckily, as with the news, we tend to hear much more about failure than success. But we should not forget that so much goes right in business and society, because of good men and women stepping up and taking responsibility for making sure that the world works and delivers not just value, but values for our benefit.

Professor Nigel Nicholson is the author of The ‘I’ of Leadership: Strategies for seeing, being and doing (Jossey-Bass, 2013)

Owan West Local Government of Edo State

2016-03-30T11:41:00.000+01:00

Owan West is a Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. It is one of the six Local Government of Edo north which are collectively referred to as Afemai. It headquarters is in the town of Sabongida Ora. Owan West Local Government Area was created from the defunct Bendel State on the 27th August, 1991.

Geography of Owan West

Owan West Local Government Area occupies a Landmass of about 827.93 square kilometres. It lies along on Latitude 6°East of Greenwich Meridian and Latitude 7° North of Equator. The distance between the Local Government Area and the State Capital, Benin City is 120 kilometres. It is bounded in the North by Owan East Local Government Area and in the South by Ovia Northwest and by Ondo State.

The Local Government derives its name from River Owan which rises in the Northwest of Otuo and flows South West to Eme and Uhonmora before turning South West to join River Ose in Ondo State.
The Local Government Area has tropical Climate Characterized by two distinct Seasons, namely, the Wet and dry seasons, which occur between April and October with a break in August and average rainfall which ranges from 180cm – 250cm, while the dry season last from November to April. The harmattan season is experienced between December and January.
The vegetation of the Local Government Area varies from swamp forest to rain forest. There exists forest belt in the Local Government Area which account for the very tall trees, although deforestation has eaten deep into the forest belt which has turn part of the forest belt to grassland.

People of Owan West

Owan West Local Government is made up of four (4) clans with the administrative headquarters at Sabongidda – Ora. The four (4) clans are as follows; Ozalla, Ora, Iuleha and Sobe. The latter was carved out from Ondo State on 27th August, 1991 to join Owan West Local Government Area for administrative convenience. Each of these clans has its Traditional Ruler with distinct title. In Ora Clan, traditional ruler is addressed as the “Oje of Ora”, Ozalla traditional ruler is titled the “Onotare of Ozalla”. In Iuleha Clan, the traditional ruler is called the “Okumagbe of Iuleha”, while Sobe Clan traditional ruler is known as “Odibiado of Sobe”.
The traditional rulers form the Owan West Local Government Traditional Council. These four Clans are further divided into eleven political wards. Ozalla and Sobe Clans have only a single ward each, Ora Clan have three (3) wards, while Iuleha clan have six (6) wards. However, there exist Igbira, Urhobo, Hausa and Yoruba Settlements/Camps in the Local Government Area.
All the Clans share a common origin and are distinguished by their relative Cultural and linguistic linkage. The four Clans traced their origin to the Ancient Benin Kingdom. Although, there now exist difference in language(s)/dialect(s). Cultural Similarities exist in the area of traditional mode of dressing and it varies in terms of traditional festival each clan celebrates. The people of Owan west Local Government are mostly Christianity, Muslims and Traditional religion practitioners.

Demography of Owan West

The Population of Owan West Local Government Area as revealed by the 2006 population is 99,056 in 2006 and with a population density of 120 persons per square kilometre as at 2006.
The projection for 2014 estimated the Local Government population to be 127,439 and with a population density of 154 persons per square kilometre. Its population is estimated to growth rate of 3.20 percent annually. Facts have shown that fertility has been growing while mortality has been on the decline though still relatively high when compared with the International bench mark. From the 2006 Census for the Local Government Area, Uzebba, Sobe, Ozalla, Sabongidda – Ora and Uhonmora Constitute the core Semi – Urban Towns in the Local Government Area.

Socio Economy of Owan West

Agriculture is the mainstay of Owan West economy. The Local Government Area is a Major Food Basket of the State.
Among the common agricultural crops include; Cassava, Plantain, Yam, Cocoa, Oranges and Cashew. The Forest Belt of the Local Government Area house economic trees such as Iroko, Obeche, Mahogany etc. while fruits such as Oranges, Pineapple, Mangoes, Pear and Banana are also cultivated.
The Local Government is in forefront of Cocoa Production in the South-South Zone and this induced the establishment of Nigeria Institute for Cocoa Research in the Local Government Area.

Owan West is also endowed with solid minerals. Among the solid minerals found in the Local Government are Mica, Gysum, Kaolin, Sandstone etc. Though, the solid mineral deposit is yet to be utilized.
There are a number of wood and timber processing industries and other form of commerce activities exist in the Local Government Area.
The tourism industry is yet to take its place in the Scheme of things, there exist sites for tourist attraction such as Ogela Hills, Giant foot prints, Orhueren river, Udolivbranmi Shaiashile. These Tourist Centres are yet to fully develop for tourist attraction. Historical Monument in the Local Government Area are as follows; Ora-Ekpen Statue, Uzebba Khile Statue and Iuleha Symbol (three-in-one stone). In the area of Music, traditional performers still entertain at burials and other Ceremonial events as well as folkleric lyrics and Modern rhythms with Local Inspiration.

3 Social Audiences You Should Target

2016-02-07T15:20:00.000+00:00

When considering social media engagement, it helps to think of the audiences you hope to reach in categories. On a recent episode of the podcast “Social Business Engine,” Avery Dennison Director of Global Digital Communications James Moat listed seven types of social media users most important for brands to target:

1. Creators – Publishers of blog posts, those who upload videos, and creators of memes and other content.

2. Conversationalists – People who update their status or post a tweet at least once a week.

3. Critics – Those who mainly respond to the content other people post rather than post content themselves.

4. Collectors – Using RSS feeds, social bookmarking, and tagging, collectors organize the material they want to receive.

5. Joiners – The Joiner will maintain social media profiles on numerous accounts, though they may not be active in any of them.

6. Spectators – The most common of all social media users, Spectators read blogs, watch videos, listen to podcasts, and scan review sites, but rarely post.

7. Inactives – People who sign up for but don’t use social media are called inactive. This is a slowly disappearing breed as more brands incorporate social media into their websites.

For brands seeking to amplify their story with social media sharing and engagement, the most important targets will be the first three categories — creators, conversationalists, and critics — because these are the most engaged users.

And while three types of users out of seven might seem like a lot, the reality is that 90% of all social media content is posted by 1% of all users, while the bulk of the remaining 10% is posted by only 9% of users. That means 90% of all social media users are unlikely to engage with your content. So, you must identify and define your target audience.

To help you refine your messaging more precisely, you can categorize the users you are attempting to engage into four groups:

1. Customers – Though it goes without saying, current and prospective customers who follow your brand and connect with your employees should be included.

2. Shareholders – These are all the people who have a stake in your company, from collaborators and vendors to potential investors. Make sure they know your company is in good shape and moving into the future with confidence.

3. Communities – Is there something your brand supports passionately, such as a charitable cause, a technology, or a social issue? Include the communities that are important to you in your target audience.

4. Employees – Your employees are a vital asset. Make sure they are in your social media loop as audience members and ambassadors.

Once you define your target audience in this way, you can develop strategies and tactics to engage each segment of your audience, rather than creating generic content, shotgun style, for a random audience.

As James said in the podcast, “The power of social media can be so big for any company on the B2C, B2B side. For any size company, 10 employees to 100,000 employees, there’s so much opportunity there.”

Tapping into that opportunity begins by segmenting your audience.

The Worst People To Serve Are The Poor People

2016-02-07T14:50:00.001+00:00

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba said "The worst people to serve are the Poor people. Give them free, they think it's a trap. Tell them it's a small investment, they'll say can't earn much. Tell them to come in big, they'll say no money. Tell them try new things, they'll say no experience. Tell them it's traditional business, they'll say hard to do. Tell them it's a new business model, they'll say it's MLM. Tell them to run a shop, they'll say no freedom.
Tell them run new business, they'll say no expertise. They do have somethings in common: They love to ask google, listen to friends who are as hopeless as them, they think more than an university professor and do less than a blind man.

Just ask them, what can they do. They won't be able to answer you. My conclusion: Instead of your heart beats faster, why not you just act faster a bit; instead of just thinking about it, why not do something about it. Poor people fail because on one common behaviour: Their Whole Life is About Waiting."
So what kind of person does this make you?

My thought:

The poor are afraid to take risk and even if they do, it is usually not a calculated one or it is just a foolish choice. They prefer the route with less resistance. They would rather sit on the fence than make a choice. They feel life is too hard so they can't be hard on themselves. They feel life is unfair so they want to be fair to themselves by being lazy in their thinking and actions.

The choice is yours. Don't forget that the poor is not necessarily the man with no money in his pocket but rather he is the one with no idea in his mind.

History And Migration Of Iuleha People.

2016-02-07T14:49:00.000+00:00

Iuleha is in Owan West is a Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria. Its headquarters are in the town of Sabongida Ora. It has an area of 732 km² and a population of 97,388 at the 2006 census. The postal code of the area is 313.
Uzebba is the headquarter, capital and seat of the Oba of Iuleha. The Osi of Eruere should have been the Oba and head of Iuleha clan. The supremacy of Uzebba was because they helped their neighbours win inter tribal wars. This made Uzebba the center of all activities in Iuleha. Uzebba had repositioned itself to its present site from its former site near Umiehi stream. She made this move primary to prevent its vulnerability to attacks.

Iuleha people occupy the north-western part of Edo North in Edo State, in the South-south geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Iuleha clan is the single largest conglomeration of community in the Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, in terms of size and population. It has continued to play a vital role in the socio-political, cultural and economic development of the local government area. Like many other clans and subclans in the area, the development of Iuleha’s history was highly motivated and influenced by the phenomenon of market rings, ancestral figures and age-grade celebrations. At the same time, these factors were very important as unifying elements among the various villages or communities that make up Iulehaland. Their stories of migrations and settlements are largely woven around the factors of age grade celebrations, market organizations and chanting of primordial songs during major festivals.

Historically, the foundation of Iuleha community relates to one Irimo who is believed to have had a Yoruba ancestry. For instance, Ife and Ijebu-Ode sometimes feature in the discourse relating to the origin of Irimo. This contentious issue is discussed in details in the course of this work as it related to the roles played by market rings, ancestral figures and age-grade celebrations as unifying elements among the people of Iuleha. Iuleha comprises of the following sub clans Aoma,Okpuje and Eruere
Irimo[Aremu in Yourba language] is believed to have migrated from Ile-Ife via Benin or directly from Ife before settling down in Iuleha land around 1200 AD after a brief sojourn in Uokha(or Isokhai), a community believed to be the first and earliest settlement in Ivbiosakon area of present day Owan East in Edo North. It should be added that majority of Ivbiosakon communities and inhabitants claim descent from Benin.However, it appears that Iuleha is the only clan that claims descent from Ile-Ife, the cradle of Yoruba’s sociocultural empire.Evidence indicates that Irimo traced his friend from Benin to Uokha. It is safe to conclude that Irimo sojourned in Uokha with his friend called Akpewewuma According to Iuleha historian Ayo Obuhoro,Aremu is the son of Izoduwa or Oduduwa of Ile Ife;the present day Osun state. Aremu migrated forst to Ibini or Benin in the company of Oranmiyan,where they met Oba Awaika(pronounced Eweka) who was the then Oba of Benin.

Mr Ayo Obuhoro further states that Aremu moved from Benin with his wife Ooto (Meaning truth in Yoruba language) to his distant cousin in Uokhai. Ooto is commonly called Otoi or Otai in many books on Owan history. Ambition and incompatibilities from Aremo's Yoruba mannerisms led to their separation that made Aremu (Irimo or Aremo) move to the Kukuruku land that had a mixture of Hausa,Ebira, Yoruba and other migrants.They were called Kukuruku because during the Nupe War: when the Nupes come to capture them,they shouted as cockcrows to deceive their captors. They were protected by hills that surrounded them. Those hills are called "Kukuruku hills."
The popular market where the Yorubas and the Kukuruku people traded in Etu (meaning antelope in Yoruba) was called Oja Etu. Oja Etu or market for antelope blossomed and was synchronized as "Jattu" located in Auchi land or Etsako.

Ora historians have a different view about the Origin of the Iuleha people.They disagree that Irimo is the founder of Iuleha. They were of the opinion that when Obazua and Okpame me at Uokha, a bond was formed. When the father of Okpamen [the Oba of Benin ]died,he was recalled to come back to inherit the throne of the Oba of Benin. He went to Benin leaving childless and wifeless Obazua with his wife and children at Iregbe [a village that exist today at west side of Ojavun between Ojavun and Iuleha-Avbiosi] Iregbe now called Odorere today has no inhabitants but is still claimed by Ora people especially when they want to inflate their census figures.

Aoma, the second son of Irimo,see that Obazua was lonely invited him to stay with him.Before Obazu died, he told Aoma people to play Ikpele instrument during his burial which they did. This is what is today the Obazu festival celebrated by Iuleha people.
Some writers were of the opinion that Okpamen and Obazua were great hunters and on one of their hunting expedition,the met a village called Ukpele. Obazua made visits to Ukpele a regular event and on one occasion he saw them in the middle of a festival that strangers are not allowed to observe.He hid and secretly observed the festival.

As he became familiar with Ukpele people, he was allowed to observe the festival. Of the seven instruments were used for the festival, Obazua was allowed to take three of them with him which he used to teach his people about the festival. These same instruments were used during his funeral and today these instruments became an intergral part of the famous Obazu festival. Women stay indoors during the Obazu festival
Some writers believed that Irimo came to Benin from Ile Ife with Oranmiyan. After sometime,Oranmiyan commited some crimes in Benin ans was banished from Benin by the Oba.He left Irimo behind.Irimo,a hunter and spiritualist committed crimes in Benin and was also banished by Oba Ewuare. Similarly, Prince Okpamen Uguan was banished from Benin and he also headed towards Edo north and settled at Uokha where he crossed path with Irimo.

Irimo left Uguan at Uokha and sojourned northwest with his wife to a place he name Oke hill. Otoo had a baby girl named Okosanmi [meaning, this bushy area is homely and favourable to me]. The baby developed upper set of teeth first and this is a taboo in Benin culture. It is called Akon Ohan in Iuleha language. The baby had to be killed or thrown alive into the bush. After consulting an oracle baby was thrown into the bush alive with food to last her for a long time.A hunter from Ikpele (a town in present day Ondo state) found the baby alive and later married her. These people from Ikpele are progenitors of Uroe, a town in present day Owan West Local government area. Other writers believed that Uroe farmers heard the baby crying in the bush and took her to the elders of Uroe,who took care of the baby till she grew up.After some time when Irimo heard that the baby was alive,he went to see her and gave her a name- Omo-Emi [meaning this is my child]. Presently Omo-Emi is a shrine in Uroe and Iuleha.

After the daughter that was thrown into the bush came the sons. Irimo is believed to have had three sons that made up the three sub-clan of Iuleha, namely, Eruere, Aoma and Okpuje, in order of seniority and based on customs and traditions.
The first son was named Ore lu ere named after a their hero,a war lord that ruled the aborigens Azanomos. The second son of Otoo was Aremo named after Irimo's father and now pronounced Aoma. The third son of Otoo(also pronounced Otoi) was named Opa Oje- a Yoruba name;meaning a stick made of silver .This is now pronounced Okpuje in Efenma-Iuleha language
Other historians potray a different picture that Irimo and Otoi, his wife, produced Aoma[a son], while Okpuje seems to have been from a second wife and that Eruere is from a third wife. In any case, it is believed that Otoi lived and died in Oah, a sub-unit of Okpuje. If this is true, it would mean that both Otoi and Okpuje are related.

The major ancestral figures that contributed to the building of centrifugal forces in Iuleha clan included Otoi, the mother figure of Iuleha people and possibly wife of Irimo and Obazua, deified, worshipped and revered among Aoma sub-clan. The spirit of Otoi was remembered through the celebration of Okosan, a non-annual feast organized in her honour. The place of the celebration was in Oah in Okpuje sub-clan, believed to be the last place of abode of Otoi when she agreed to live with her last son, Okpuje.
Irimo Is referred to as Era Iuleha or the father of Iuleha.some Iuleha historians portray a different picture of Irimo. The alleged that when Irimo went back to Ife for the Obaship and refused the Obaship title, on his way back,he founded a town called Erimo near Ijesha land where he died. However; Chief Benjamin Ojeaburu Okpoje Imiewarin; the present custodian of Irimo's burial site opposed this arguement and said that Irimo and his wife lived and died in Oah Okpuje in Iuleha land. These historical facts were passed to him by his late father who he alleged died at the age of 120years and he at 2004 is 84 years of age. He alleged that his father passed every thing about Irimos burial site and that of his wife to him before he passed away.He affirmed that Okosan the burial site of the Irimos still exist till date and he took Mr Ayo Obuhoro to this site for verification and authentication.

Irimo still had ambitions to be the Oba of Ife. He went back to Ile Ife, but was unsuccessful,so he returned to his family at Iuleha. Upon his return, he continued farming. On one occasion, it was alleged that as he ploughed the land, he struck a mysterious three-in-one gourd co-joined at the head ( it is called Ukoleha in Aoma language). At some other time he also struck another mysterious object with designs carved like a tripod for use as a cooking native fireplace or stove called Awe. Unable to unravel the rationale behind these mysterious discoveries, he sojourned back to Ile Ife to consult the oracle. There he was told that he will never be an Oba but, from his blood lineage will emerge kings. There he was told that the mysterious findings of three headed gourd and the tripos styled earthware precludes the future of his three sons. Dejected that his ambition to ever become an Oba will never be fulfilled,he returned home. On getting home he delivered the spiritual message to his family and further implored his wife to use the tripod earthenware (three styled stones) to make fire and cook his food ( this is called IU in iuleha language). He preached unity among his children and gave Eruere his oldest son three headed gourd for safe keeping. This revered gift is still worn today by the oldest man during traditional functions in Eruere.

To Aoma Irimo bequeathed a calabash filled with stringed coral beads given to him when he went to Ile Ife for consultation.to Okpuje, he bequeathed the mysterious tripod styled heart. Okpuje was also saddled with the responsibility of taking care of their mother Ooto which means truth
historian Ayo Obuhoro also alleged that Irimi name his farm Okosanmi (meaning I have gained from tilling thiss ground in yourba language). The name is now altered to Okosan. Irimo and his wife died at Okosan somewhere in todays Oah in Okpuje in Iuleha land.

Ooto had become a diety for all Iuleha people and whenever she is to be worshiped, a cow or Emela is slaughtered with the accompanying song: Oke Amudo, amudo oo do do Egua Okpuje Oto;Ooto's burial ground is slightly distant from that of her husband Irimo, who died before her
to educate his children the importance of unity; Irimo used tree huge rocks to symbolize Hearth IU ( native fireplace). He demonstrated how only two stones can make the pot on top of the stones to loose its contents. This is a mark of instability. He affirmed to his the children, the power of the triangle or three
As a consequence of this demonstration the tree children of Irimo agreed to call their unity,union,land and nation "Iu'leha" meaning three stones used to make a native stove can provide collaterally to provide the necessary fore and support to any pot or Uwawa when cooking.

White Hat SEO Techniques: It’s Not About Gaming Google

2016-02-02T17:58:00.002+00:00

SEO isn’t about gaming Google. It’s simply about creating content that people want and that satisfies their search intent.

Looking at SEO from this perspective can make it easier to understand and easier to execute white hat SEO techniques. By putting aside the spammy tactics of yesteryear, you can produce and publish customer-focused content without that scammy vibe.

Now let’s talk about how to know what content topics people want.

White Hat SEO Technique #1: Use Keyword Research to Discover Content Demand

A little keyword research can go a long way in helping you understand what your audience wants.

Not only will you find topics that are frequently searched, you’re also likely to stumble on search language they are using that you might not have anticipated. One reason for this–your knowledge and expertise in your industry is deeper than theirs. The language you use is probably industry jargon that your audience doesn’t use. This is a great opportunity for you to find long tail keywords that your audience can understand, and create content that speaks to them.

Creating content using language your customers use is as white hat as it comes. Forget stuffing your content with a single keyword over and over again. This is about meeting customers on their turf, speaking to them naturally and in terms they understand.

White hat do’s:

Do — choose to target keywords that are fairly popular. The ease of ranking for those keywords will depend on the competitive strength of your site. Be realistic in how high of a competition level you can take on and still get results.

Do — include the target keywords in all the right places–URL, title tag, alt images, body content, etc

Do — use other keywords that are related to your target keyword within the body of your content.

Example: If you’re writing a post about doing a competitive analysis, you should also include related terms like competitive analysis report or competitive analysis example.

Do — use the target keyword in the anchor text of internal links to the new content.

Black hat don’ts:

Don’t — aim for quantity over quality. With all the searches Google receives every day, you can be certain its algorithms understand synonymous phrases. Instead of repeating the same keyword phrase as often as possible, use like-keywords to reinforce what your content is about.

Now that you know what your audience is searching for, let’s talk about what they want to find.

White Hat SEO Technique #2: Create SEO Content That Answers The Search Intent

You don’t need to be a technical genius to do SEO right. Like most marketing disciplines, a little bit of empathy for the user searching can go a long way to getting results in SEO.

Think from the perspective of the searcher.

What are they looking for?
What are the problems they are seeking advice or solutions to?
Are they looking for advice, or are they looking to buy something?

Search intent tends to fall into one of these categories:

Learn something
Find solution to a problem
Purchase something

When evaluating your list of keyword opportunities, think about whether a person searching that phrase is hoping to learn something, find a solution to a problem, or make a purchase.

The phrase they’ve entered reveals a lot about their intention.

When you create your SEO content be sure to give users what they are looking for. If they are looking for an educational “how to” article, don’t create content that pushes a sale.

White hat do’s

Do — think of your content as a Q & A. The keyword query is the question. Your content is the answer.

Do — be a useful resource by giving the searcher what they want.

Do — be clear in your title tag and meta description about what your content promises.

Black hat don’ts

Don’t — bait and switch the searcher with misleading click-bait titles. Your title should always tie directly to your content. If it doesn’t, the visitor is more likely to bounce, sending Google a signal that your content didn’t serve their search interest. As a result, Google will drop your position in the SERPs like a hot potato.

White Hat SEO Technique #3: Help Google Know What Your Content is About by Getting Votes of Confidence

Google needs to know what your content is about in order to place it in the right SERPs for the right search terms.

One way it does this is through on-page signals–things like the inclusion of keywords in the URL, title, body content, etc.

Another way is through on-site signals–internal links from related pages on your site using anchor text that is descriptive of the content (i.e. it includes the target keyword).

And then there are off-site signals–inbound links from 3^rd party trust-worthy sites that have related content linking to your content. A 3^rd party citation of your content tells Google that a real, live person who created it thinks your content truly is about “xyz” (aka your keyword).

This is the origin of SEO’s spammy reputation. Bad-actors manipulated off-site signals by fabricating inbound links with things like link farms–clearly not living, breathing humans giving a vote of confidence that the content is indeed about what you claim it to be.

As a result, Google has put great effort into knowing when an inbound link is from a quality, trust-worthy site, versus a fabricated link purely for manipulative gain. The former helps you. The latter hurts you.

So when you hear the term “link building,” forget those old school black hat tactics. The game has changed. When done right, link building can be an extremely powerful way to boost search rankings. As a bonus, it could drive referral traffic too.

The key here is in building relationships and reaching out to bloggers and journalists to let them know about your awesome content. We’ll need to write a whole other post on white hat link building.

But the point is–

If you followed #1, you’ll have content that’s in demand–and the bloggers you reach out to will know their audience enough to know that.

If you followed #2, bloggers will appreciate the resourcefulness of your content and be more likely to cite it when it is relevant and complimentary to the content they are creating.

White hat do’s:

Do — reach out to influencers to let them know about your content, pointing out why it might add value to their content.

Do – personalize your outreach in a genuine, one-on-one way that shows you know the blogger.

Do — be patient. Building mutually beneficial relationships takes time.

Black hat don’ts:

Don’t — send mass emails to influencers with no personalization. It won’t be effective. It won’t get you to the top of Google. And you’ll burn bridges in the process.

Summary of a White Hat SEO Strategy

In sum, you can practice good SEO without feeling like a spammer if you follow white hat SEO strategies. In fact, the more you focus on serving the searcher’s needs, the more you’ll benefit. It’s a win-win for everybody involved.

The searcher gets what they want–an answer to their search
Google gets what they want–satisfied searchers (aka happy customers)
You get what you want–top rankings on Google and “free” organic traffic

4 Most Important SEO Tasks In Order Of Priority

2016-02-02T17:55:00.001+00:00

SEO can be overwhelming for any number of reasons.

Between local considerations, seeding the right content in the right places, and various other on-page and off-page factors, it’s tough to know where to begin even when it comes to basic SEO essentials.

What makes things even more difficult is that you can’t just start anywhere and chip away at your work. If you want to see the most success, it’s important to prioritize the SEO tasks correctly.

Although it’s not always publicized, prioritizing SEO tasks is actually one of the things we see companies’ mess up most often. If you do certain SEO tasks out of order, you’re going to spend a lot of time and use up most of your resources to finally meet your goals.

In some worst-case scenarios you actually won’t be able to meet those goals because you started with something advanced and skipped the basics (without even knowing it!)

Although there isn’t an exact order to follow, it does help to split up the most common SEO tasks into categories, starting with the highest priority first…

#1 SEO priorities

Identify and remove duplicate content.

Nothing kills a website faster than duplicate content issues. It’s confusing for Google bots so you won’t get any good visibility, and even if readers did somehow make it to your website, duplicate content is seen as spammy. Get rid of this immediately so you can start with a clean slate.

Check navigation and UX factors.

You have to make sure your website is easy to navigate and everything is cohesive. This has to do with the architecture and design. If you send people to a website that is confusing, it’s far too easy to click-away.

Make sure you have a responsive design.

In the past this may not have been such a priority, but mobile compatibility is crucial. According to Google, more searches now take place on mobile than on desktop, so you have to make sure your site looks good on the small screen. The biggest and most basic way to do this is through a responsive design.

responsive design

As you may have noticed, all of your top priorities for SEO have to do with on-page tasks. Keep this is mind if more ideas pop-up in the future. You don’t want to be sending traffic to an unfinished or poorly optimized website because that traffic will immediately click away (and likely never return), so this is a crucial step to understand.

#2 SEO priorities

Setup Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools.

Although you may not use it right away, getting setup with these tools is crucial to being indexed quickly and accurately. It can help solidify your website as real.

Make sure you’re being indexed.

You have to double check that Google is indexing your site, meaning they’re crawling your website and you’re therefore showing up in SERPs. To check this, visit your Google Webmaster Tools account and click the ‘Google Index’ tab to see the total number of pages Google has indexed. Make sure it seems right!

Complete preliminary keyword research.

Understanding which keywords you want to target can help you learn a lot about SEO if you’re unfamiliar, but it also sets the stage for many of the other items in the next three sections (content creation and back linking, most notably).

Create local search accounts.

The sooner you can setup local search accounts the better. This is definitely more of a priority if you have a local business looking to attract local customers, but it’s so easy to do, that every type of company should get involved as soon as possible.

where's good for steak search

Start creating quality content frequently.

You want to be consistently putting out great content. This not only gives you more options for Google to index your website, but it helps show credibility and gives readers a way to engage. Start getting a good rhythm going with high quality articles. That’s all you need to do at first.

#3 SEO priorities

Create audience personas and get creative with your content.

Once you have a good content team and schedule in place, you can start to really bring your content to the next level. This involves creating personas to better understand your audience, writing on keywords/ topics that are trending, and getting more advanced with infographics, interviews, video, and more.

Create relationships with influencers.

You want to start getting your name out there in your niche community. This is how you will eventually earn natural links and hopefully get some great social shares out of the relationships.

Edit your title tags.

As you published content you likely wrote whatever headline you wanted, which is fine at first, but eventually you should go back and optimize your title tags. This will help you categorize your pages and make sure that you’re sending the right people to the right pages. Visit this article to learn more about title tags.

how to write title tags Google Search

#4 SEO priority

Start working to build backlinks.

It usually surprises people that this would be so far down on the list, but remember that SEO is not about backlinks—it’s about readers. Focus on creating relationships, quality content, and understanding your audience first.

Utilize SEO tools.

There are many different SEO tools out there that can help you with different aspects of your SEO (usually best used for data). This is a priority #4 because which tools you want to use and for what reasons can get tricky, so it’s best to focus on this after you have the basics down.
#5 SEO priority

Follow SEO industry news and blogs.

This is incredibly important, but following the latest news and SEO blogs can be a little bit overwhelming if you’re a beginner. That’s why hearing about the latest and greatest new tactics is probably better handled after you’ve been in the trenches with all of the items in the last four categories.

The takeaway

Of course this is not an extensive list. There are hundreds of little things you can do to improve the SEO of your website, but above are some of the biggest and most important tasks. What needs to be done will also depend on your company – industry, size, goals, etc. – but this is a great place to start. In the meantime, let us know what you would change or what you would add to the list in the comment section below.

Segmentation Is Key To Engaging Your Audience; 3 Social Audiences You Should Target

2016-02-02T17:49:00.002+00:00

When considering social media engagement, it helps to think of the audiences you hope to reach in categories. On a recent episode of the podcast “Social Business Engine,” Avery Dennison Director of Global Digital Communications James Moat listed seven types of social media users most important for brands to target:

1. Creators – Publishers of blog posts, those who upload videos, and creators of memes and other content.

2. Conversationalists – People who update their status or post a tweet at least once a week.

3. Critics – Those who mainly respond to the content other people post rather than post content themselves.

4. Collectors – Using RSS feeds, social bookmarking, and tagging, collectors organize the material they want to receive.

5. Joiners – The Joiner will maintain social media profiles on numerous accounts, though they may not be active in any of them.

6. Spectators – The most common of all social media users, Spectators read blogs, watch videos, listen to podcasts, and scan review sites, but rarely post.

7. Inactives – People who sign up for but don’t use social media are called inactive. This is a slowly disappearing breed as more brands incorporate social media into their websites.

For brands seeking to amplify their story with social media sharing and engagement, the most important targets will be the first three categories — creators, conversationalists, and critics — because these are the most engaged users.

And while three types of users out of seven might seem like a lot, the reality is that 90% of all social media content is posted by 1% of all users, while the bulk of the remaining 10% is posted by only 9% of users. That means 90% of all social media users are unlikely to engage with your content. So, you must identify and define your target audience.

To help you refine your messaging more precisely, you can categorize the users you are attempting to engage into four groups:

1. Customers – Though it goes without saying, current and prospective customers who follow your brand and connect with your employees should be included.

2. Shareholders – These are all the people who have a stake in your company, from collaborators and vendors to potential investors. Make sure they know your company is in good shape and moving into the future with confidence.

3. Communities – Is there something your brand supports passionately, such as a charitable cause, a technology, or a social issue? Include the communities that are important to you in your target audience.

4. Employees – Your employees are a vital asset. Make sure they are in your social media loop as audience members and ambassadors.

Once you define your target audience in this way, you can develop strategies and tactics to engage each segment of your audience, rather than creating generic content, shotgun style, for a random audience.

As James said in the podcast, “The power of social media can be so big for any company on the B2C, B2B side. For any size company, 10 employees to 100,000 employees, there’s so much opportunity there.”

Tapping into that opportunity begins by segmenting your audience.

Solomon's Turn Up Party. January 9th, 2016

2016-01-27T07:45:00.002+00:00

What better way to start your year than to be with the 3 most important f's in life; family, friends and fans. It was a memorable day as people turned in to turn up with Solomon Ojeagbase on his Birthday party. The atmosphere was cool, in an exotic location in Ikoyi, Lagos State. Foreshore Harbours (Boat Club) was the venue, A place almost everyone who came was visiting for the first time, it is a harbour for private ships owned by some of the most ostentatious Nigerians living in Lagos State.
We could have easily opted to go on a boat cruise but we had more people than the yacht's can carry, was never an option though I don't like water so I wouldn't want to have my party on a boat well except for my wedding anniversary. I will also like to own my own Yacht one day but as my Jewish friend and mentor advised "you don't have to buy a cow to get milk", you can simply lease it when you need it and save yourself the headache of maintenance.

I thank everyone for coming out that day, you made my day a wonderful colourful day, you could have been anywhere else, but you chose to spend your precious time with me and my family. Also my parents in the States for their support through the years, my Lagos Business School, EMBA 20 family thanks for coming out I pray almighty God rewards you all till there is no room to contain your blessings.
Feed your eyes with the pictures from my Birthday Party, wish you all happy, prosperous new year ahead.

Why the Best Leaders Sometimes Get Mad (and Show It)

2015-11-17T14:30:00.001+00:00

Think about remarkably successful people. They're logical. They're rational. In the face of crisis or danger or even gross incompetence, they remain steely-eyed, focused, and on point.

They don't get angry -- or at the very least they don't show their anger.

Unless they happen to be Steve Jobs. Or Jeff Bezos. Or Bill Gates. Or Larry Ellison. Or...

Most of us were taught that the only way to lead effectively is to eliminate, or at the very least swallow and hide, emotions like anger and frustration. Go professional or go home, right?

Wrong.

According to research conducted by Henry Evans and Colm Foster, emotional intelligence experts and authors of Step Up: Lead in Six Moments That Matter, the highest performing people -- and highest performing teams -- tap into and express their entire spectrum of emotions.

Which, when you think about it, makes sense: we all get angry (even this guy must get angry once in a while) so why not take advantage of that emotion?

Evans and Foster say anger is actually useful when harnessed and controlled because it fosters two useful behavioral capabilities.

Anger creates focus. Get mad and you tend to focus on one thing -- the source of your anger. You don't get distracted. You're not tempted to multitask. All you can see is what's in front of you. That degree of focus can be extremely powerful.

Anger generates confidence. Get mad and the automatic rush of adrenaline heightens your senses and reduces your inhibitions. Anger -- in small, controlled doses -- can be the spark that gets you started.

But there's still one major problem with getting mad: it's easy to say and do things you later regret. That's why the key to harnessing anger is to find a way to stay smart and in control while you are angry.

Sound impossible? It's not. Here are two examples:

Get mad about an action, not a person. Say an employee makes a mistake. Venting by saying, "How could you be so stupid?" may make you feel better --for about 10 seconds -- but it certainly won't help.

Instead try saying, "You do a great job... but I'm really struggling to understand why you did (that). Can we talk about it?" Directing your frustration at the action and not the employee helps reduce his or her feelings of defensiveness while still allowing you to express your frustration--which will help you both focus on solving the problem.

Use anger to overcome anxiety or fear. When we're nervous or scared we often later regret what we did not say.

Say you're mad because a supplier didn't come through, but you're afraid to say anything for fear of damaging a long-term business relationship. Don't hide from your fear or your anger. Accept that you're mad. Show, at least to a limited degree, that you're mad.

When you do, the rush of adrenaline will help move you out of the fear zone and into the sweet spot where you're excited and passionate and motivated -- but not unreasonable or irrational.

Just Make Sure You Start Small

Most people hold on to feelings of anger too long. Their feelings build and build until they can no longer control themselves and then they explode. Totally losing your cool is counterproductive at best and incredibly damaging at worst. The key is to slowly and steadily allow yourself to express lower levels of anger, working up from irritation, then to frustration, then finally to anger.

Step one: when you feel irritated, don't swallow those feelings. Think about how you feel. Think about why you feel the way you feel. Then work with how you feel. Say what you need to say, letting a little of your irritation show through. You won't have to worry about losing your cool because, after all, you aren't angry -- you're just irritated.

Then you can move up to the next level, expressing frustration. As you do, stay focused on how you feel. Ask yourself whether you're using your frustration as a weapon or as a tool.

Then move up to the final level, expressing anger. Again, step outside yourself as you do. Are you in charge of your anger and actions, or is anger in charge of you?

In time, as you learn to control and harness your feelings, you will be able to get well and truly pissed off and still handle yourself in an appropriate and productive way.

Anger is Authentic -- and So Are Great Leaders

Great leaders are genuine and authentic. That's why we follow them.

Want to be a great leader? Stop trying to hide negative emotions. (Besides, the chances you can successfully hide how you're feeling are slim. You may be angry and think you're hiding it... but you're not. Your employees know.)

So don't pretend. Express the way you feel, but in a controlled and harnessed way.

"As we say to our clients," write Foster and Evans, "don't pretend. Be upset, but be intelligent while you're upset." That way you sustain your professional relationships as you work through challenges. That way you can be your authentic self -- in a higher state of being.

Say you lose a major contract to a competitor you and your team didn't take seriously. Don't be afraid, in the months that follow, to bring your team back to that moment. If you're frustrated with your team's current performance don't be afraid to say, "Let's think back to that day. Remember what happened when those [jerks] took that contract. Remember how we all felt. Remember the letter they wrote us canceling our contract. Every time I read it I get mad. So let's make sure it never happens again."

Expressing your feelings not only helps you stay focused, it can help your team stay focused -- and serve as a powerful reminder that sometimes business cannot not be business as usual.

Now it's your turn: as a leader, do you think showing a little frustration or even anger can result in positive outcomes?

5 Surefire Tips To Get That Promotion!

2015-10-27T09:49:00.003+00:00

There’s no algorithm or checklist for advancing your career. But across industries and companies, there are some simple things you can do to set yourself up for success. Last week I had the honor of sharing my tips with viewers of the TODAY Show, and wanted to share them with you, too!

1 - Get feedback all the time.
You know who knows what it takes to get promoted? The person who has the power to give you that promotion. Ask your boss what you would need to demonstrate to get promoted. Ask her advice on how to get there. Then do exactly that and circle back.

But don't be a pest. Make it a natural part of working together by sprinkling these questions onto your regular interactions. When you come out of a meeting, ask, "How did that go? What should I do differently?" Every six months or so ask, "What skills should I be developing? What evidence do you need to see that I'm growing and having impact?"
Checking in let’s you know where you stand ... and if you don’t get promoted, you can point out that “I did everything you said was required.” That's not a fun conversation for you or the manager, but sometimes it's the only way to uncover why it's been five year since your last promotion. (And see #5 below for more on that!)
Ask your co-workers for feedback as well. Use them as your personal career coaching panel. When you’re coming out of a meeting or wrapping up a project, ask, "what worked well?" "What could have gone better?" Those are two very simple questions, but you’ll be surprised at how powerful the feedback can be when you ask for it and express a willingness to work on it.

2 - Solve your boss’ problems.
Figure out the biggest problems your boss has and solve them. Seems obvious, but are you today working on your boss' biggest problem?
I went into my first one-on-one meeting with Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt, with grandiose ideas about the kinds of programs we could develop to better manage careers and help senior leaders develop. Eric wasn’t particularly interested in my strategic vision. He had more pressing concerns.
Google had almost doubled from about three thousand people in 2004 to 5,700 people in 2005. Over the next year, Eric knew, we were going to do it again, ballooning to almost 10,700 people. We needed to go from hiring fifty people each week to almost a hundred, without compromising quality. This was the biggest people challenge we had.
I’d made an amateur mistake. Before Eric would entertain any esoteric ideas, my People Operations team had to deliver on Google’s most important issue. I learned that to have the privilege of working on the cool, futuristic stuff—like making sure everyone had an awesome manager—you had to earn the confidence of the organization.

3 - Think three moves ahead.
None of us know what jobs we'll have in 5, 10 or 20 years. So you want to build skills that will make you more marketable for not just this promotion, but the next jobs after that. Use your time at your current job as training for the next one. Especially if you feel stuck.
Put another way, every day you should be creating future opportunities for yourself. Most of us are going to be working for at least 40 years and every move doesn’t have to be straight up. Take the time to go sideways and invest in yourself.
Plus, when it comes time to compete for that next job, having a different profile will make you stand out. If you're a waiter (as I once was) but someday hope to run a restaurant, make sure to spend some time behind the bar, as a host or hostess, and even in the kitchen.
At Google, we’ve built a different kind of People Operations team by applying an unconventional “three-thirds” hiring model. No more than one-third of our hires in People Operations come from traditional HR backgrounds. One-third of our hires are recruited from consulting, and the final third of hires are deeply analytic, holding at least a master’s degree in analytical fields ranging from organizational psychology to physics. By applying our three-thirds model, we recruit a portfolio of capabilities: HR people teach us about influencing and recognizing patterns in people and organizations; the consultants improve our understanding of the business and the level of our problem solving; the analytic people raise the quality of everything we do.
Don't be afraid to take a detour from the conventional path. You'll stand out and have more, better options.

4 - Ask for the promotion.
On average, women wait longer than men to raise their hands for promotion. At Google we let engineers nominate themselves for promotions. Years ago we saw that women were nominating themselves at a lower rate than their male colleagues, but when they did nominate themselves, they were more successful. This might sound familiar because the same thing happens in classrooms: In general, boys raise their hands and try to answer any question. Girls tend to wait to be certain, even though they are right as often as boys, if not more often.*
So now we send out reminder emails to nudge women to nominate themselves. And we don’t see the gap in promotion rates any more. As Alan Eustace, our former head of search engineering put it in one of his emails: "Any Googler who is ready for promotion should feel encouraged to self-nominate and managers play an important role in ensuring that they feel empowered to do so....We know that small biases—about ourselves and others—add up over time and overcoming them takes conscious effort."
Whether promotion decisions at your company are made by your boss or by an impartial committee, be sure to raise your hand.

5 - Have a firm grasp on reality.
If the only way to get promoted is to take your boss’s job, and she’s not going anywhere, you need to move on. If you’re consistently being sabotaged and you can’t fix it or fight it, move on. And if you’re told no three times, even if you know in your heart you deserve a promotion, cut your losses and move on.
Part of success is picking which game you’re playing. In the tech industry we call this pivoting: if your current plan or company isn’t winning, pivot to a new one where you can win. Choose to be somewhere where you’ll be valued.
If you do decide to move on, you'll find some tips here and here about crafting a resume that will get you through the door!
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If you’re enjoying these posts, check out my book, WORK RULES!: INSIGHTS FROM INSIDE GOOGLE THAT WILL TRANSFORM HOW YOU LIVE AND LEAD. Learn more at www.workrules.net.
* Drew H. Bailey, Andrew Littlefield, and David C. Geary, “The Co- development of Skill at and Preference for Use of Retrieval-Based Processes for Solving Addition Problems: Individual and Sex Differences from First to Sixth Grades,” Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 113, no. 1 (2012): 78–92.