Before any competitive game, the players have clarity of what success means: win the match. Throughout the game, the scoreboard provides a real-time reminder of who is winning or losing. The mark is clear. Not machinery. Not money. Not any other kind of capabilities, the difference between great companies and average ones is people working as a team and not as an individual in a group. When one of the prospects in Nairobi Kenya wanted to undertake a staff rationalization exercise and approached us, we did not just send a proposal. We asked for a meeting to understand the context.…
The Massacre at Old Trafford
The massacre lasted for 90+3 minutes. The last 3 being the bloodiest. In the end, it was 9 – 0. Blood everywhere. The absence of fans in the Reds stadium helped the Saints. Southampton, aka The Saints, is a top tier football club in the Premier League. Founded in 1885, the club has experienced ups and downs. The ups being the good days when it was promoted to the Premier League, between 1992 to 2005, and from 2021 to the present. The Club’s lows between 2005 to 2012 were the worst. Lots of leadership changes at the senior level, loss…
Respond to threatening donor funding and stay resilient
The international humanitarian and development sector is facing rapid threats from the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, the community has a considerable part to play, both responding to immediate needs and in helping with recovery in the medium to longer term. The pandemic has hit international donors the worst, especially Europe and America. This creates lots of pressure back home in the donor countries to fix their current looming health crisis. The funding constraints risk forcing the humanitarian sector to downsize and lay off staff at the precise moment when its work has become vitally important. And your NGO is no exception!…
What winning consultants do well: know the client
My first consulting project was peculiar. I was asked by a restaurant owner to help make it better. I was new in the game and had no idea of where to start and what “better” meant. I called my then management accounting Lecturer for guidance, “if you are challenged to help improve a restaurant, how do you go about it and where do you start?” If you were with me and listening to that call, you would have heard the advice that would change your life. I know because it changed mine. He said: find out what the problem is…
Committees do not innovate, individuals do
The lie: form an innovations committee to explore novel ways of winning. An innovations committee will transform your company. Why it is a lie: individuals innovate. However, teams, committees, and groups implement faster. Committees do not innovate. They may help evaluate ideas. If you want to find novel ways of winning, share your vision, and empower individuals to find better ways of solving your challenges and then you may have a committee to evaluate the best idea. Insight in detail During a strategy retreat which I facilitated at a financial institution client, one of the participants reacting to the recommendations…
Unmasking the daily lies: VPN has security holes, be aware
The lie: A virtual private network (VPN) connection is very secure. Why it is a lie: VPN encrypts your traffic. But someone could hack into your VPN username and password and access it, and therefore your traffic and all personally indefinable information. Also, your VPN service provider has access to your internet protocol address, URLs you visit, the amount of time you spend connected online, your browsing patterns, data, etc are visible to your provider. A VPN may protect you against your ISP from seeing your traffic, but not from the VPN owner. That is why many governments now use…
