A road with potholes will force you to reduce your driving speed. In Uganda, you buy a car of 180 kilometres per hour, but you hardly find a road where you can drive even at 130 km/hour. Even the Entebbe expressway, you need a very stable car to cruise at this speed! Anyway, career potholes are limiting. You can make more money or buy more cows, but you cannot manufacture even a second. Time, once you lose it, it is gone for good. For this reason, my career strategy has always been read as much as you can while you…
Blockchain and financial inclusion: winning CEO think ahead, part 2
Great executives always think about the long-term game. Where will growth come from in 3- 10 years’ time? Whereas telecom companies are investing in video-on-demand streaming, they are forgetting that winning companies like Amazon, Netflix, Apple, etc are investing a fortune in original content creation. Such companies are looking into the future 20 years ahead – in case of creators reject carrying their content, Netflix can continue to service her membership with her original content – that is the game-changer. Do you think waiting for customers to take loans shall make the bank win in the near future where blockchain…
Blockchain and financial inclusion: winning CEO think ahead, part 1
If you are a financial institution CEO, your unwritten job description is to keep the eyes on the ball — the long-term game to play and win. What are you investing in today to position your bank as a market leader in 5 to 10 years’ time? Great CEOs operate like Club managers of competitive sports like football -always on the lookout on the right team formation to win matches. Whereas the players keep their eyes on the ball throughout the match, a club manager keeps their eyes on the players who optimize their chances for the success of the…
Tool 78 of 104 is a determination to a worthy cause
“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘You have learned how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for a tooth. But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; if a man takes you to law and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to anyone who asks, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away,” Matthew 5:38-48 What…
How to nurture good culture, part 2
What is your culture? This question is asked often. Few have the answers. The reason for this is simple: you live culture. There is no such document as “our culture document.” If you have such a document, chances are that no one follows it. In 2014, I won a project to provide strategy execution support for a not for profit organization. At our first inception meeting, I asked a group of nine members of the top management team, “what is our culture here?” The room went silent. It is difficult to explain “a specific company’s culture.” For culture, comes out…
Why should we say “chair” instead of “chairman”?
The world has transformed a lot. Gender balance activism and equal pay mean that some English words have been changed to reflect the new world order. Ideally, the Chairman is the position of the overall top honcho of the board who presides all board meetings. This was true even when such a role or position was held by a woman. Today, that is an issue. How dare you call a woman, Chairman? And so started modifications of some terms. “Chair” as in Madam “Chair” or just “Chair” to refer to the Chairman is seen as a nice bet and gender-sensitive.…
