Want to take your career to the next level? Think deep and provide answers to the following four exercises that will ignite your creativity. Remember, creativity is about making something new to solve existing or future needs.Innovation improves an existing idea or product to meet existing or future needs. If you come up with an idea, product or service that has never existed, you are said to be creative (the way God is believed to have created the world). However, if you improve an existing idea, product or service to perform better, then you are just innovative. If you make something that looks like…
5 tips for your career success: be a leader who inspires
Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to work hard to get to the top. You need a career strategy by investing in the right skills (assuming you already have the minimum technical qualifications like a bachelor’s degree). One of the top skills for your career success is effective communication. By far, great public speaking skills will get you ahead of the pack when it comes to promotion, exposure or ‘representing the CEO’ at the next conference. A great leader must be able to mobilize teams and have others rally behind his agenda. Fact: great leaders and influencers are great…
The best advice I ever got – error on positive float
When I started a consulting business on 20 June 2004, I felt on top of the world being my own boss. I thought succeeding as entrepreneur was all about starting a business. I was naïve. Running a business is not easy as I later found out. The good thing is it helped me face reality and understand it takes hard work, persistent and resolve to make it. If you live in a city, you know how tough life can be without a job. I made one of the worst career mistakes –resigning a full-time job without another job and a clear…
Here is how to avoid poverty during your retirement
In Graph 1; unless you are lucky to be born in a wealthy family, your personal wealth (driven by your earning potential) starts from the bottom. Your wealth will grow or stagnate depending on your productivity, financial discipline and shrewdness. Many people start earning at the age of 20; and reach their productivity peak at the age of 45. After this time, they start losing momentum, energy, as different health challenges take a toll on their work ethic. Beyond this age, productivity starts decline. If you solely rely on your capabilities (earning only when you are working), your net worth…
Here is my take on innovation… everyone can innovate
Innovation does not require any model and those schools that teach innovation have got it wrong. Innovation is situational and has no formula. You just need to put in place a process of getting great ideas from everyone who can give you and an open policy to look into each and every idea. No one monopolises knowledge and by far, the most people with noble ideas can come from anywhere. You just cannot rely on your staff for ideas to take your company to the next level. Customers who use your products and services on a daily basis, by far,…
Old mobile phones on the comeback: here is what they are not telling you
The news on all global top media channels from CNN to New York Times, are that old is good. More and more people are buying old phones whose prices are now increasing, and the likes of Nokia and Motorrola quietly dusting off their old production lines to make more to the market. It is a new development that is threatening the market value of smart phone makers especially Samsung and Apple. So why are people going back in time to say old is gold? Here are my expert views – things they are not telling you. After eight years as…
