Strategic planning and strategy execution are two different things. Everyone can plan, but not all plans are easy to execute. If you reviewed the manifestos of so many politicians since 1996, a lot was put on paper, but not achieved. Why? Talk is cheap. It is easier said than done. Same thing happens with companies. Great plans are laid, but all fail at execution test. Leaders have a habit of taking a specific group of people for a strategy retreat once in a year. This is a good practice, if the selected team is representative of the core staff from…
How often do you communicate?
How often do you communicate with your peers and seniors? The more you communicate frequently, the high chances of being noticed. Make sure that you get a face time with people who have potential to improve your life. The biggest challenge with many young people and even senior people who have been in the system for long is they forgot the art of climbing the corporate ladder. I can’t tell how many times I have found managers who say have never seen a copy of the organization’s strategic plan. They don’t know where in the organization the next big action…
Speaking to influence
Which top two skills do you need to succeed? By far, communication especially public speaking,is the number one key skill. If you can be able to speak to any group of people and want them tolisten to you more and more, then you have mastered the art of public speaking. You can look at the success stories of great leaders right from Barack Obama to Lincoln. These people mastered the skill of public speaking. How at any time when called to speak, do you create great impact? To speak and influence, be able to tell stories. It is very important…
Where is your focus?
Are you too good to be great? Are you too comfortable in your present good life to stress out and reach greatness? Because as great leaders have said, ‘the enemy of the best is the good.’ Many of you become comfortable when you get a small job, and think the world has come to an end. You sit, eat and sleep. You forget to stress out, always improving to reach greatness. Ask yourself; when it comes to the resources and opportunities you have, how much do you allocate from within and externally? The effort you put within is all about…
What is your winning aspiration?
Traditionally, we have been taught that we need a mission and vision. However, a vision doesn’t help us improve. It invites us to remain stagnant. We end up dreaming out of the context. Somebody begins dreaming they want to own an aeroplane. Yes, it is very good to be stressed. But what does it help to dream owning an aeroplane yet in your family you don’t have a history of owing even a bicycle! It is good to dream big, but do so within context. To dream, envision within context, personal challenges and environment. Your dreams will have specific practicalities…
Change and reaction to it
What is change? Are you changing for better or for worse? Remember, you shouldn’t fear change. Change is inevitable. When you are changing, where is the effort and driver for change coming from? Effective change comes from within the system not outside. If change came outside the system, you become the frog which kept on feeling that it is warm yet it was in a saucepan full of water being boiled. The pan was on fire and heating. The heat kept increasing until the frog was roasted alive. The change was coming from out, and the frog did not react…