During one strategy retreat, a seasoned board member told a story about a broken lock. It revealed why many internal auditors do not add value. They just collect the monthly paycheque for the role of “window dressing” compliance check-box. “We have an internal audit department.” We meet the requirement! You get the idea. He said, “A vault had five locks. Four were strong and regularly checked. The fifth, hidden at the back, was old and rusty. No one paid attention to it. One day, the vault was emptied, not broken into, just quietly opened through that one weak point. The…

Every Thursday & Friday | 9 am–12 noon | @ IFIS, Ntinda Complex, Block B, 4th Floor, Opp. St Luke Church Kampala YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A TECHIE TO WIN WITH DATA. I have seen it again and again. Executives overwhelmed. Business managers are guessing. Teams are working hard, but not working smart. Why? Because they do not understand how to read, clean, and extract insights from data. They fear Excel. They think analytics is for the IT team. That ends now. This is your weekly 3-hour Data Analytics Breakthrough Session designed for professionals like you. Whether you are a…

When the new board chairman of a regional insurer took office, he arrived with gravitas, strategy decks, and bold promises. But after his first board meeting, he put me aside and said, “That woman saved me.” He was not referring to his deputy or the CEO. He meant the company secretary. Earlier, he had fumbled protocol. Missed the nuances of a heated audit committee legacy. Almost triggered a no-confidence motion with a careless comment. The boardroom was polite, but tense. Only the company secretary, seated quietly at the far end, sent him a discreet note mid-meeting: “Pause. Acknowledge the past before…

In the old days, a blacksmith did not apply for work; he lit a fire. He showed the village his hammer, his scars, and the sword he forged last week. Today’s job applicant? They send a copy-pasted scroll, forged by ChatGPT, not fire. Last week I posted a job. Five days. 350 views. 321 applications. But here is the shock: I added a simple instruction at the end, answer a written question. Only 20 tried. Most skipped it. Those who did? They let ChatGPT do the talking. Not even an edit to show personality, insight, or hunger. Just default, lifeless…

At a recent closed-door review for a financial institution, a long-serving board member confidently asserted, “We’ve been through worse.” The room went silent. The comment, meant to reassure, exposed the core risk: legacy directors stuck in a pre-digital playbook while the business fights 21st-century fires with 20th-century tools. Modern boardrooms need a different DNA. The 21st-century board director is not a steward of stability but a strategist of disruption. Longevity on a board means nothing if it is not coupled with learning velocity. The following five traits now define director relevance: Agility under uncertainty – Directors must think in systems,…

In every boardroom I have walked into, in the public sector, financial institutions, or family-owned manufacturers, it only takes a few minutes of silence to smell the culture. Not read it, but smell it. At one board meeting, directors began as usual, heads down, scrolling through WhatsApp while nodding at the board pack. Midway through, the Chair paused and asked, “Has everyone read the strategy memo?” A few nodded. No one spoke. “Any concerns before we approve?” The room went quiet. “We trust management,” someone offered. But this was not trust. It was quiet disengagement disguised as confidence. Strategic detachment…