The primary duty of the board Chairman or Chairperson (in gender equality speak) is to manage the board effectively. Individual board members are very weak before the executive team. Only a board is working as a team with one voice, can provide effective oversight and sustainability to the enterprise. To do this, Board Chairman must recognize that s/he is not a boss nor a commander BUT a facilitator. The Chairman must set a tone that enables the directors on the board to conduct effective meetings. One of the critical skills all Chairmen need is the ability to listen by giving…
Who is a leader? Do you comfort the afflicted?
One of the most prolific sayings goes: wherever there is a leadership vacuum, a new leader emerges. What explains one person, of so many people, emerges and challenges the status quo? How come such a person gets accepted and rallies so many others behind him or her? People tend to follow someone with character, a track record, tenacity, and courage to challenge the status quo. Such people are willing to go an extra mile than the rest to provide a vision and a clear roadmap to go there. One of the qualities of great leaders is their ability to share…
Here is how to fix your team cohesion
Are your staff working as a team or a bunch of individuals? During these times of the pandemic, many institutions have taken drastic measures to reduce operational costs through undertaking projects like strategic redeployment and staff rationalization initiatives to optimize their human capital resources. But cutting costs through staff terminations without a deliberate focus on growing revenues is never a great solution to win. Great leaders focus on growing revenues by challenging the staff to work as a team to explore new opportunities and better ways of delivering value and cross-selling. Then consideration to identify the weak links for re-training…
The three As of digital forensics – acquire, authenticate and analyze.
Cybercrime continues to ravage the world second to the Coronavirus pandemic worsened by the corrupt public officials. Cyberwarfare, cyber weaponry, cyber espionage, cyber identity theft, and cyber privacy breaches, and a plethora of crimes by governments against their citizens and governments against other sovereign states is on the rise by the day. The digital revolution has sparked creativity and innovation by decentralizing broadcasting and or self-publishing rights. If you have anything novel, unique, and interesting, all you need is a basic mobile phone camera to record your act and broadcast to the world via YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or any other…
Do you fulfill your promises? The story of Abraham Lincoln
A (Wo)man and man is as good as their word. They say do not give promises you cannot fulfill. Sometimes in the heat of the excitement, people throw out promises freely only to become prisoners of the same. Talking about keeping promises, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States comes to mind. Below is an extract of one of the stories about keeping promises: “A story is told about Abraham Lincoln that he never indulged in drinking alcohol of any type. Let alone testing it. It is said that once the President was offered a drink by one…
Academics or sportsman? Which career path?
I used to run the 21km half marathon competitively. While in Primary six, I remember winning several of these races in our village during local primary school competitions. But spotting talent and nurturing it is next to impossible especially if you are in a village school without opportunities to partake in the district competitions. Even if one makes it to the district, and wins, getting to the national level, let alone the regional level competitive sports event is not easy. You must be an outlier and also very lucky to get discovered. In the village, the best bet is to…
