You are 30 years old. You are still at University. You have a great job and two children. You live is a great apartment. You have heard about the green gold in farming and have bought over 20 acres of land up country. You have not yet started developing the land as you are waiting for it to increase in value. You feel confident. You are happy at work. And you are becoming a motivational speaker of sorts. Are you successful? How do you measure success? What is your current market value? The accountants ask: what is your…
Why do good strategies fail to execute?
If a strategy is good, it should be easy to execute. To execute a strategy, you need great leadership – you must align your strategy to the structure. Unfortunately, many companies are run like a riot group. Everyone is doing their own things. Different departments are not aligned. It is a challenge. To implement a strategy, you need great people in key positions. Most of the time, there is a skills mismatch. Many companies reward good performance and punish failure, which effectively kills innovation. You must reward behaviors that produce the results you need. And that way, you create a…
Of Tacca’s atheism and blasphemy
I found the article, Sorry, Prof Kanyeihamba, I am not for demolition, in The Sunday Monitor, June 11 2017 comical. Science was discovered by man and therefore cannot explain his existence. “If you want instant recognition, give contrarian views. Avoid the majority position. Try to challenge known thought leaders”, goes my mentor. Few people pay attention to popular truth. This is the foundation of all great comedy: create an expectation and suddenly break it. Luckily for Tacca, the expectation is already there in the form of religion. However, the belief in Allah or the Trinity (God the Father, the Son…
Which skills are you developing?
There are two types of skills: process skills and technical skills. For example, when you study medicine, and pass Internship or practical training you are admitted as a medical doctor in your field of specialization say Dentistry. That is a technical skill. You cannot practice as a dentist, unless you’ve the technical skills both theory and practical, and have been certified having passed the requirements for the award. The same applies to accountants, engineers, lawyers, etc. Technical skills can get you a job, but may not help you keep it. To succeed in your career, you need more than technical…
Specialize and die
Developing economies cannot reward specialization. Majority of buyers are less exposed or traveled and do not yet understand what good looks like. They cannot easily tell the difference between exceptional service and average service. They don’t focus on value delivery. They focus on the cost since they need any service. In markets where clients want a kickback and just any output, there is no reward for specialization. Such a market is anti-experts. When you specialize, you stick to a particular field and seek to be the best by studying and applying all the principles. You spend over 90%…
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…
