What is nepotism? Nepotism is biased favouritism to relatives and friends for the sake of edging off others unfairly. This happens when offering positions and opportunities of preference including appointment to positions, jobs, business, religion and politics. Nepotism is favouritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word ‘nepos’ which means nephew. Nepotism has been condemned and criticized as unwise and evil. If a person is chosen for a job just because is loved or liked him, he/she will lead everyone to endless futilities. Nepotism is a common accusation in politics when the relative of a powerful figure ascends…
Leveraging technology is NOT a strategy
One of the commonly misused words in strategy is “leveraging technology” to win. Many leaders use it to refer to technology use across the board as a strategy to win. But if everyone is leveraging technology in some way or another in their business, how then can “leveraging technology” be a competitive strategy? The great god of Strategy, Michael Porter, said it precisely, “operational effectiveness” is not a strategy. Continuous improvement or doing things better and better is not a strategy. Lowering costs is not a strategy. Increasing productivity is not a strategy. A strategy is about making choices on…
Fainting or Slumping in the Bathroom
? What is the cause? ☝ We always hear of people who have a stroke after a fall in the bath. ? Why have we not heard of falling elsewhere? ? When I took part in a healthy lifestyle course, a National Sports Council Professor, who also participated in the course, advised that: ? the head should not be washed first in the process of taking a bath (even washing of the hair). ? other parts of the body should be cleaned first. ? This is because when the head is wet and cold, blood will flow to the head…
Creative thinking: Managing your business during hard times, part 3
“To achieve efficiency, this year, the idea of ‘tweaking your budget’ need not happen”. “Re-write it”! We advised. The intention was to help our client achieve organizational fitness. The traditional approach of horizontal extrapolation of numbers cannot work. No company had expected and budgeted for a pandemic. It happened as a shock and has turned the world upside down across all industries. Continued from part 2. If you are to win, you must throw the old strategy out of the window. And get back to the drawing table. Re-write the strategy. And now more than before, you cannot just go…
Creative thinking: Managing your business during hard times, part 2
What about the number of years the business has been in existence? No. Not at all. Historical pre-existence does not necessarily provide immunity to the troubles caused by hard times. The corporate graveyard is full of dead companies that failed to respond to the modern VUCAP – volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous, and pandemic times. Many others are on their sickbed. Continued from part 1. Then what matters? It is the behaviours of business leaders and managers that matter the most! It is about the response and recovery decisions taken by business leaders during and after the hard times have struck.…
Winning in the COVID-19 era of scientific living
Scientific this, scientific that, ‘scientific’ is now in vogue. COVID-19 has created the need to keep a social distance. It is a punch in the gut to what makes us human – social interactions. People have therefore resorted to using technology to interact and deliver services. The national elections of 2021 have now been baptized ‘scientific elections. Just because this time around candidates shall not be allowed to conduct mass rallies to the campaign. They must do so via digital channels – television, internet, mobile phones, and social media. All Church activities are now “scientific” – you now have a…