The issue Majority of Board members add little impact on the organizations they serve. Even worse, they act counter-intuitive to their mandate. In the end, they add minimal, if any impact on the organizations. Many board members bring dysfunction as their practices make it difficult for executive management to do their work. The cause Few board members have clarity of their role and mandate of the board. My personal experience is that it is difficult for a board member to make an impact in any company if the majority board members lack adequate skills, training, and exposure on the role…
Strategy formulation and execution
Winning the Game® newsletter Are you executing your strategy? Planning is cheap, because anyone can have a plan. Effective execution requires rewarding behaviors that support strategy execution NOT focusing too much on the numbers. That is what great executives do. Anyone can have a document and call it a strategic plan. However, having a document that aligns all company resources (capabilities and systems) towards a common aspiration is not easy. The measure of a great strategy is in the ease in its implementation. Fact: over 530 executives I have interacted with during strategy execution review sessions admit that they…
Never surrender your control
Never surrender your control. The biggest challenge as an entrepreneur is trying to lose control over the critical aspects of your business like talent acquition and retention, customer relationships and quality service delivery. Any business leader must identify areas where they must win. Thereafter, invest to win. And then protect the win so that it is sustainable. In your family for the example, if you are the husband or the head of the family, you must identify the top 2-4 things which you must control. Once you lose control over those areas, you lose your family, and everything will fall…
Rethinking insurance through innovation
When the coach saw the number exceeded his limit, he brilliantly gave us a simple task. He said, “I want you to run fast as you can, go to the playing field and occupy the positions you are comfortable with.” A key note speech by Mustapha B. Mugisa at the Uganda Insurance Regulatory Authority chief executives breakfast meeting at Kampala Serena Hotel. It is reproduced verbatim. Enjoy. MC: Our keynote speaker this morning is Mustapha Bernabas Mugisa, commonly known as Mr. Strategy. He will share insights on how to rethink insurance. Ladies and gentlemen lets join hands and welcome Mustapha.”…
Is your strategy executing you?
“A poor strategy executed well is always better than a great strategy executed poorly.” — Michael Porter Strategy means choice. Unfortunately, many companies have a document labelled strategy. But when you ask “what is the strategy in your strategic plan” all they show you is a research paper full of great internal and external analysis using models like SWOT, PESTLED, Michael Porter’s 5 Forces and lots of the stuff. When you keenly analyze, you discover a missing link: lots of analysis but no relationships. Strategic choices are not properly informed by the analysis made. The measure of a great strategy…
The sophisticated “Christian”
This case study explores the role of forensic accounting in fraud detection and the need for internal auditors to adopt a forensic investigation approach. Learn the importance of standing on your foot as an accountant by insisting that your superiors put all their requests or instructions for money in writing. The golden rule is simple — don’t give away cash unless it is receipted or signed for. NB: All names and dates are not real for client confidentiality. When I was in prison, visiting, an inmate came right after my presentation and said: “Sir, I really appreciate your talk on…